The Kudlong is a two-stringed lute that is boat-shaped with wooden tightening rods and frets made of beeswax. One string plays a drone and the other string plays a melody.
The body is also carved to represent a mythical animal with two heads of either the naga (or serpent) or crocodile or the sarimanok.
Kudlong is distributed among the southern Mindanao groups – the Tiboli, Bilaan, Manobo, Ata, Bagobo, Mansaka, and Mandaya.
Among the Ata people of Southern Mindanao, the long-neck kudlung is usually played by a man who dances with the instrument as he follows the foot-steps of a woman playing and dancing with a polycordal zither called saluray.