Kolintang History: Used To Be A Ritual Musical Tool, Now Minahasa Icon

Portrait when traditional Minahasa musical instrument, kolintang wood is played. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Bumi Nusantara is not only known for its diversity in natural wealth. The wealth of musical arts is no less popular. This narrative is evidenced by the presence of distinctive musical instruments from the eastern to western tip of the archipelago.

Take, for example, in the Minahasa area, North Sulawesi. Minahasa people have a proud musical instrument. Kolintang, his name. The musical instrument is often present in every pantas of life -- the ritual of the Minahasa people. Recently, Kolintang has become a musical instrument to accompany all kinds of Minahasa celebrations.

The art of Indonesian music is never talked about. The number of bejibun. In fact, each region has musical instruments with its own style, shape, and speech. The narrative was proven by an etnomusicologist from the Netherlands, Jaap Kunst in the 1930s.

He became the first figure to have traveled around the archipelago to research, document, and record the uniqueness of musical instruments. This means that since the first time the archipelago has been recognized to have abundant musical arts. However, the existence of traditional musical instruments is often a question in the modern era.

Some have been forgotten. There are also those that still exist today. Take for example the musical arts from Minahasa: kolintang. The types of kolintang vary. There is iron kolintang that was used earlier. There is also a wooden kolintang that was later known.

At first, the name kolintang itself emerged from the Land of Minahasa, which has various versions. Minahasa people have folklore related to kolintang. It is said that the presence of the musical instrument began with an anonymous young man in the previous Minahasa era.

The young man is known to have broken up. He then saw his idol with another man near Lake Tondano. Hurt and disappointment enveloped him. He also ran into the forest. He hit the wood he found.

In particular, the blow was considered to be rhythmic. Different forms of wood, different sounds. He also composed the wood and then a melodious voice was heard. The musical instrument was later called the nycolatitude (colintang). However, it is different from what is explained in history.

Kolintang was already present long before the influence of western music emerged. The first Kolintang did not come from wood, but iron. The musical instrument was brought by music from Ternate, then spread throughout Minahasa.

There are also so-called iron kolintang (in Bolaang Mongondow, also called only kulintango in Bintauna) and copper kolintang (in the Minahasa area). Prior to the arrival of Western nations even after that, the kings in Bolaang Mongondow had their ratification carried out at the Sultanate of Ternate. The first king was ratified to be given a musical instrument of metal material that resembles a gamelan called iron kolintang or kulintano.

"Most likely this musical instrument is in Ternate imported from Java; in Java itself, gamelan musical instruments are used to accompany wayang performances and dance arts. The kings of Bolaang Mongondow who were inaugurated in Ternate, apart from being given gamelan (the so-called kulintango or iron kolintang) were also deployed with an umbrella over the greatness of the king in Bintauna called paungo, "said Bambang Suwondo in the book History of the National Awakening of the North Sulawesi Region (1978).

The presence of kolintang in Minahasa land brings many benefits. The playing of kolintang music is also considered sacred. Kolintang is played as part of the life charter and an important ritual in Minahasa, from traditional ceremonies to parties.

This sacredness is reaffirmed by those who can have limited iron kolintang musical instruments to the aristocrats and the rich only. The musical instrument is also used as valuable wedding gold. Even the most important thing is that kolintang musical instruments are often captured during war.

In the past, a set of iron kolintang consisted of six bronze gongs. The average was lined in the middle 23 cm and 12 cm high. However, recently kolintang wood began to enliven the musical arts world in Minahasa in the 1940s.

Minahasa people then began to gossip about wood kolintang. The brief manufacture and materials that are easy to find are the estuaries. The presence of kolintang wood at that time served to replace the hawaiian orchestra, which is popular in northern Sulawesi.

The wood used by the average local wood is like Cempaka wood to waru. When the rows of wood are pounded, it will produce a melodious voice. Tong (low notes), ting (high notes), and Tang (usual tones). This narrative makes people begin to love the arts of Kolintang.

At its peak, wooden kolintang began to shift iron kolintang. The users of iron kolintang began to disappear a little. This condition makes the influence of kolintang wood even bigger. There is no big celebration in Minahasa that does not use kolintang.

The musical instrument is used to welcome guests. The musical instrument is used to accompany dances. As a result, kolintang then became an icon of Minahasa tourism.

At that time, Kolintang Kayu's musical equipment only replaced the highly famous Hawaiian orchestra in Minahasa around the 1930s. Hawaiian musical instruments that use electricity plus Kolintang Kayu that play the melody, accompanied by guitar, ukulele and large bass strings.

"Starting in the 1960s, ukulele musical instruments, guitars, bass strings were even replaced by Kolintang Kayu, which became Kolintang music as it is today: Melodi Kolintang, Guitar Kolintang, Bas Kolintang, and Ukulele Kolintang," explained Jessy Wenas in the book Sejarah and Culture Minahasa (2017).