Kolintang, Traditional Musical Instrument of Minahasa, Recognized as UNESCO Intangible Heritage

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Photo Source: Doc. Jamkrindo via Detik.com

FEMUSINDO.com - Kolintang is one of the traditional musical instruments of Minahasa, North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. This musical instrument is played by hitting wooden bars arranged in a row and mounted on a wooden tub.

Kolintang is usually played in an ensemble. Kolintang in Minahasa society is used to accompany traditional ceremonies, dance, singing, and music.

The wood used to make kolintang is local wood that is light but strong, such as egg wood (Alstonia spp.), wenuang wood (Octomeles sumatrana Miq.), cempaka wood (Elmerrillia tsiampacca, syn. Magnolia tsiampacca), waru wood (Hibiscus tiliaceus), and the like that have parallel fiber construction.

There is a Minahasa folk tale about the origin of the discovery of the kolintang musical instrument. In a village in Minahasa there was a very beautiful girl who was good at singing named Lintang.

One day Lintang was proposed to by Makasiga, a young man and wood carver. Lintang accepted Makasiga's proposal with one condition, Makasiga had to find a musical instrument that sounded more melodious than the golden flute. Makasiga with his wood carving skills managed to find the musical instrument, which was the forerunner of the kolintang.

Apart from the folklore, this traditional musical instrument has existed since ancient times and is used as an accompaniment to ancestral spirit worship rituals. Uniquely, people who will play the kolintang will say "Let's go tong-ting-tang" and some will say "maimo kumolintang".

Kolintang was included in the Guinness World Records on October 31, 2009 with two records achieved, namely the kolintang music performance covering the countries of Singapore, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, and England.

Not only that, the kolintang has also traveled the world to Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The many countries explored by this musical instrument have made the kolintang hold the record for the largest traditional music performance in the world.

In 2013, the Kolintang musical instrument was recognized as an intangible cultural heritage of Indonesia by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.

This musical instrument is also recognized as a UNESCO Intangible Heritage. In fact, in the more modern era, the kolintang is often used as backsound and accompaniment for various music genres such as jazz, rock, and pop. (*)