The Kolintang

At the moment I am taking an instrumental class, taught by Ibu Megan, She’s a new teacher from New Zealand she’s very kind and funny. Currently we are learning an instrument called Kolintang, and this is what I’ve learnt so far about it;

Kolintang is an instrument from Minahasa, North Sulawesi. In the old days the indigenous people in North Sulawesi used Kolintang for ceremonies and rituals to worship their ancestors. When the Christians came, the Kolintang was forgotten, but It was brought back again by a blind musician Nelwan Katuuk after the World War 2 ended. Not only that, originally Kolintang only consist of 1 type of instrument which is the Melody but now they have 4 more; Contra, Tenor, Alto and Bass

When playing the Kolintang you use two sticks or mallets, and every instrument of the Kolintang have different types of mallets, for Melody and Alto you’re supposed to use a dark green colored mallets, for Bass and Contra you use a brown colored mallets, and for the Tenor’s you must use a mint colored mallets.

Those are the things that I’ve learnt so far about the Kolintang, so far I think that my knowledge about the Kolintang is still limited so I’m really looking forward to learning about it more and also playing the Kolintang.