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In Sulu, they sing of Rihik. They sing of his love for Rohana and his voyage to Borneo. They sing of the tragic sinking of the [[underline]]Sitibulkia[[/underline]],/And [[strikethru]]they sing[[/strikethru]] of the pirate Amak who once terrorized to the waters of Tawi-Tawi. [[strikethru]]The songs are ballads, the singers are balladeers, and the events are parts of Sulu's unwritten history.[[/strikethru]] And of Mohammad Palis who took his life rather than [[strikethru]]life![[/strikethru]] live without the girl he loved. They sing of the outlaw Bandun and his final defeat on Jolo Island.

The characters and events are parts of Sulu's unwritten history, woven into song by Sulu's balladeers, and disseminated throughout the Sulu Islands by the traveling singers. A few of the more significant events probably pass into the permanent reserve of Sulu legend, but most of the song last only for a few months or years until a more dramatic event comes along to replace them in the balladeers repertoire. To most of the people of Sulu the[[strikethru]]y are accepted as fact[[/strikethru]] ballads are accepted as fact, and they essentially are fact as interpreted by the balladeer.
In the scattered island-world of Sulu,/ [[superscript]]local[[/superscript]] news still travels largely by word of mouth – although a provincial newspaper [[strikethru]]weekly[[/strikethru]] is published weekly in Jolo and reaches the small, more sophisticated element of Sulu's population. Thus, in many respects, the balladeer is a disseminate or of local news as he sings throughout the archipelago at weddings, circumcision celebrations, religious festivals and other holidays.

Sulu is draped in legend and romance. Long before Europeans made their permanent entry into Asia, [[strikethru]]Sulu's reputation throughout Malaysia was made by its far-ranging pirates and sea rovers.[[/strikethru]] Islam entered Sulu and gave its peoples a unity and strength which no later powers were ever to break. At various times, the powerful Sulu Sultanate extended its powers beyond [[strikethru]]Su[[/strikethru]] the Sulu Islands to the present state of Sabah in Borneo to the southern interiors of Mindanao.