Kolintang is wood percussion instrument originating from Minahasa (North Sulawesi), that belong to the pitched percussion group. As idiophone instrument, sound source kolintang derived from wood bar that vibrates when struck (distinguished by percussion instruments with the same name but are made of metal ‘kulintang gong’). Kolintangs bar made of soft wood such as:
eggs wood (Alstonia sp),wenuang
wood (Octomeles sumatrana Miq),Chrysolite wood (Elmerrillia Tsiampaca), Hibiscus wood(Hibiscus tiliaceus). All of the wood that mention above, have similar characteristics that are: light, dense , straight fiber and produce a loud sound when struck. While for the resonator box using a harder wood such as:
Teak wood (Tectona Grandis),Mahogany wood (Swietenia Macrophylla). Considerations for selecting the type of resonator box used is not because of the sound produced, but because of other factors such as: appearance, durability and available budget, although some have argued bass resonator of teak wood is better than the other wood. Origin of the word Kolintang, comes from the sound: Tong (low tone), Ting (high tone) and Tang (middle tone). In Minahasan language ,to encourage people to play kolintang (Let’s play Tong Ting Tang) by the phrase “Maimo Kumolintang” so that from that habit appears the name “kolintang”, tool used for playing music. According to ethnomusicology, the percussion instruments roots are ancient, in line with the human instinct (ability) to strike something like wood, stone, metal or body parts to produce rhythmic sounds. Percussion instrument exists in various forms all over the world in accordance with the culture of each place either in Asia, Africa, America, Europe and other places. Another instrument with the same root as Kolintang are:
-Gambang (Java) and Gabbang (Philippines),the difference is they use pentatonic tunings.
-Marimba and Xylophone ,even though both tone with chromatic tuning , but Marimba and Xylophone use pipe (gourd) resonators. The kolintang interesting characteristics that have never been found in other wood pitched percussion instrument is the ability to produce a low tone which can reach A0 = 27.5 Hz (USA standard pitch notation ),same as the lowest tone of grand piano. For kolintang sample sound in Android Application follow this link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kolintang.elagotech
For more Information : http://www.kolintang.co.id
