A Jazz Musician From Lombok Fight For Klenang Nunggal To Become NTB's Intangible Heritage

Jazz musician Suradipa. (Photo: Doc. Antara/Spotify)

JAKARTA - A jazz musician from Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Suradipa together with the Nuansa Community Cares for Culture (Numadi) continues to fight for the traditional musical instrument Klenang Nunggal to become an intangible heritage of NTB.

"Currently, we are just waiting for the submissions that have been made since 2019. Meanwhile, the research has been carried out since 2016," he said, quoted by Antara, Sunday, March 20.

He emphasized the effort to make klenang nunggal gain national and international recognition is nothing but a form of concern for traditional arts.

It is said, if these efforts are not carried out, it is feared that other parties will claim it. "What is clear at this time, we are in the process of being recognized as an intangible heritage of NTB," said the musician who graduated from the Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Yogyakarta.

He explained that the kleneng nunggal musical instrument in the form of iron plates arranged one by one to produce sound.

Then, each player plays an iron plate or has a pitch. "So to play the instrument, it took five people," he said.

The klenang nunggal tool was formerly an accompaniment tool for bridesmaids at weddings such as in East Lombok.

However, its existence was replaced by the musical instrument Gendang Belek. "So a joint strategy is needed to revive this Klenang Nunggal," he said.

Previously, a folk song musician from Lombok, Ary Juliyant, said that the richness of art and culture is so large that it deserves to be introduced nationally.

"Like gula gending which produces an interesting sound and is pleasant to hear," he said