Kolintang

Kolintang

A kolintang ensemble, a traditional musical instrument from the Minahasa region of North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Classification	Percussion instrument
Developed	North Sulawesi (Indonesia)
Playing range
Diatonics scales

Various hanging Gongs (gong ageng, gong suwukan, kempul) of Gamelan in Indonesia
Music of Indonesia
Genres
Dangdut Campursari Celempungan Funkot Gambang kromong Hip hop Indo pop Jaipongan Kecapi suling Kroncong Langgam jawa Pop melayu Pop kreatif Pop Sunda Rock Tanjidor Tembang sunda
Specific forms
Angklung Beleganjur Calung Gambus Degung Gamelan Gambang Gender Wayang Gong gede Gong kebyar Jegog Joged bumbung Melayu Salendro Selunding Semar pegulingan Surakarta Gendang beleq Gordang sambilan Karinding Kecak Kendang Kolintang Kulintang Kuriding Kurung-kurung Saluang Suling Talempong Tarawangsa Tifa totobuang
Regional music
Bali Borneo Java Moluccan Islands Papua Sulawesi Sumatra Sundanese Malay Minangkabau Bataks Dayaks Ambonese Buginese Acehnese
v t e

Kolintang (also spelt as Kulintang) is a traditional Minahasan instrumental ensemble originated from the Indonesian state of North Sulawesi. It is composed primarily of wooden xylophones that produce melodious, percussive sounds. The instruments are typically made from lightweight yet resonant native Sulawesi woods, such as wenang, cempaka, or waru. Kolintang ensembles are known for their ability to produce a wide range of harmonies and melodies.

Kolintang has its roots in the ancient Gamelan tradition, a Java-origin musical form, specifically derived from Gambang, Saron, Gendèr and Slenthem of the Gamelan sets. While Gamelan uses primarily metallic instruments such as gongs and metallophones, the Kolintang transitioned to wooden instruments, likely due to the abundance of suitable wood resources in Northern Sulawesi and specific musical preferences of the native Minahasa people.

During the Dutch colonization over the Indonesian regions of Sulawesi (which includes North Sulawesi, where Kolintang developed), the Dutch colonizers brought enslaved Minahasan people to their other colonial territories, namely West Africa and South Africa. In the post-Dutch South Africa specifically, Kolintang later become known as Marimba, meanwhile in its West African counterpart (such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire), Kolintang better-known as Balafon.^[1]

Since 2013, the Kolintang (including its cultural practices and expressions) officially recognized by the Indonesian government through its Education and Culture Ministry as integral part of the Indonesian Intangible Cultural Heritages.^[2]

In 2024, the Kolintang gained its international recognition as one of the Indonesia-origin Intangible Cultural Heritages by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) due to its cultural influence, contributuon and importance for communities in its own native homeland and across the world.^[1]

The "Kolintang" or "Kulintang" is a Minahasan (Northern Celebic) term,^[2] derived from the Old Javanese "kalintaṅ" or "kalintaṅan", terms used in Gamelan, literally means 'pass' (an act or instance of moving past or through something), referring to the act or movement of playing the Kolintang itself. These nomenclature is in-line to its Gamelan nomenclature root, which referring to the act or movement to play the instrument itself.

There is a Minahasan folklore about the origin of the discovery of the kolintang musical instrument. In a village in Minahasa region, there is a girl who is very beautiful and good at singing named Lintang. One day Lintang was proposed by Makasiga a young man and woodcarver. Lintang accepted Makasiga's proposal on one condition that Makasiga had to find a musical instrument that sounded more melodious than a gold flute. Makasiga with wood carving skills managed to find the musical instrument that is the forerunner of kolintang.^[3]

Initially, the kolintang musical instrument consisted of few pieces of wood placed in a row on top of the players' legs, who were sitting on the ground with both legs straight in front of them. From time to time, the use of player's feet is replaced with two banana sticks. The use of resonator boxes began to be used since the arrival of Prince Diponegoro and his followers who brought gamelan to Minahasa to undergo exile in 1830. The use of kolintang musical instruments is related to traditional beliefs of the Minahasa people, such as in ceremonies for worshiping ancestral spirits.^[4]

Along with the arrival of Christianity to the Minahasa land, rituals of worship of animism and dynamism began to be abandoned. Kolintang reappeared by a blind man named Nelwan Katuuk who composed kolintang notes according to diatonic scales and was introduced again in 1940. Kolintang only consists of one melody consisting of diatonic tones, with a distance of two octaves. As an accompaniment, stringed musical instruments such as guitar, ukulele, and bass are used.

Kolintang develops continuously. In 1954, kolintang already has a pitch of two and a half octaves and still has a diatonic tone composition. In 1960, it grew again until it reached three and a half octaves with notes of 1 sharp, naturel, and 1 mole. The basic tone is still limited to three keys (naturel, 1 mole, and 1 crus), the pitch has expanded to four and a half octaves from F to C. The development of the kolintang musical instrument is still ongoing, both in terms of the quality of the instrument, the expansion of the pitch range, and the shape of the resonator box.^[5]

As a musical instrument, kolintang is developed. At first only melodic kolintang instruments. Currently complete kolintang has up to ten instruments:

• melody 1 (ina esa)
• melody 2 (ina rua)
• melody 3 (ina taweng)
• cello (cella)
• bass (loway)
• tenor 1 (karua)
• tenor 2 (karua rua)
• alto 1 (uner)
• alto 2 (uner rua)
• alto 3 (katelu).

The notations system used on the kolintang musical instrument is the diatonic scale. The diatonic scale is a scale consisting of 7 notes, the notes are Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, which have a distance of one and a half notes. This scale is divided into two groups, namely the major diatonic and minor diatonic scales. As for the kolintang musical instrument, the chord arrangement is the same as the chord system used on piano and guitar.

National Kolintang Association of Indonesia (Persatuan Insan Kolintang Nasional (PINKAN) Indonesia) is a kulintang association in Indonesia that encourages the improvement of the quality of Kolintang Musical Ensemble artworks in line with the increasing public appreciation of the Kolintang art. PINKAN Indonesia organizes events both independently and in collaboration with the 4 main pillars, they are coaches, craftsmen, players, and kolintang conservationists.^[6]

• 
  Playing Kolintang in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
• 
  Kolintang ensemble
• 
  Kolintang performance in Gedung kesenian Jakarta, Indonesia.

• Kolintang - Indonesian intangible cultural heritage by Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.
• Kolintang - A traditional musical instrument of Minahasan people by Galeri Indonesia Kaya.
• National Kolintang Association by Persatuan Insan Kolintang Nasional (PINKAN) Indonesia.
• Kolintang- Traditional musical instrument craftsman by Kolintang Petrus Kaseke

• Kolintang - Introduction by The International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP).
• Kolintang - Performance by Kolintang Nyong Noni Sulut.
• Kolintang - The Sound of Harmony by Sanggar Bapontar dan Galeri Indonesia Kaya.
• Kolintang and Angklung - Rayuan Pulau Kelapa song by Kolintang KEYTUJI and Angklung Cantare.