Angklung Instrument, Indonesian Cultural Heritage

credit:instagram@angklungudjo

No one knows for sure since when the angklung instrument existed. But what is clear, angklung is used to show gratitude to God Almighty and entertainment at the celebration of every party such as circumcision or harvest more than 400 years ago in Tatar Sunda.

At that time, the existing angklung could only be used to accompany simple folk songs, Angklung with Salendro or pentatonic tones, namely the original tone of Sundanese angklung consisting of "Da, Mi, Na, Ti, La, Da".

Diatonic Angklung

In 1938, Daeng Soetigna was inspired by a beggar who played Sundanese folk songs with two pentatonic angklungs that stopped by his house in Kuningan, West Java. He then bought and studied it and tried to make diatonic angklung, but because Mr. Daeng didn't know how to make angklung, he asked Mr. Djaya, an angklung expert who was 80 years old at that time, for guidance.

According to Pak Djaya, the things that must be considered in making an angklung are patience, accuracy, sensitive ears, sharp knife blades, and large hollow bamboo. After doing several experiments, finally, an angklung was created with a diatonic tone that can produce the tone "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do" from the basic material of bamboo Ater (Awi Hideung).

The angklung instrument can sound because of the friction of its own body when it is moved, in contrast to the flute whose sound comes from the vibrations of the air from it which is the determinant of the air in the formation of the resulting sound. As for what determines the high and low of the tone in the angklung is the tone source (bamboo which must be comparable) and the resonator (the air in it) to produce one tone source or one resonator.

Pak Daeng's struggle to make the angklung a musical instrument that can be used in the school environment was hampered by the origins of the angklung, which is usually used by the lower class. But according to him, angklung is a musical instrument that can be used and introduced in schools because angklung is 5M, namely: easy, cheap, interesting, educational, and mass (can be used by many people).

After diatonic angklung was known among Scouts, finally the angklung music game could be accepted and taught in schools. In 1955, at the request of President Soekarno, Pak Daeng held an angklung concert he created at the Asian-African Conference (KAA) at Gedung Merdeka, Bandung.

Since the international show, diatonic angklung began to be known by the wider community, even to the corners of the world, and got a new name as angklung Daeng Soetigna.

Daeng Soetigna, Father of Modern Angklung

Daeng Soetigna who was born on May 13, 1908, is known as the Father of Modern Angklung. Before he died, he passed on his expertise in playing and making angklung musical instruments to two of his students, namely: Obby AR (late) and Udjo Ngalagena (late).

After his death on April 8, 1984, his two students succeeded in continuing Pak Daeng's struggle to make the angklung a traditional bamboo musical instrument native to the Sundanese Tatar. One of them is the establishment of Saung Angklung Udjo, in Bandung as a means for the wider community to learn angklung or know how to make the bamboo musical instrument.

So, it is appropriate for us to preserve the angklung as a bamboo musical instrument as the cultural heritage of the Indonesian nation, by wanting to know more or at least enjoy angklung and appreciate it as the work of the Indonesian children.

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