History of angklung

In the Hindu period and the era of the Kingdom of Sunda, the people of Sunda, as West Java is called, used the angklung to signal the time for prayer. Later, in Kingdom of Sunda these instruments were used as martial music in the Bubat War (Perang Bubat) as told in the Kidung Sunda.

The angklung functioned to build community spirit. It was used by the Sundanese until the colonial era (Dutch East Indies, V.O.C). At that time, the Dutch East Indies government forbade the playing the angklung. Because of this, the popularity of the instrument decreased and it came to be played only by children.

The angklung got more international attention when Daeng Soetigna, from Bandung, West Java, expanded angklung tuning not only to play traditional pélog or sléndro scales, but also the diatonic scale in 1938. Since then, angklung is often played together with other western music instruments in an orchestra. One of the first well-known performances of angklung in an orchestra was during the Bandung Conference in 1955. A few years later, Udjo Ngalagena, a student of Daeng Soetigna, opened his "Saung Angklung" (House of Angklung) in 1966 as a centre for its development.

UNESCO designated angklung as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on November 18, 2010. As part of the acknowledgment, UNESCO insisted that Indonesia preserve their heritage.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.