13 May 2016
Daeng Soetigna's 108th Birthday
Music can instantly transport a listener to a unique place and time. The melodic sounds of the angklung are no exception.
One rap of the hand on this Indonesian bamboo instrument, and we’re transported to the tranquil islands of Southeast Asia. For this, we can thank Daeng Soetigna, whose novel seven-note diatonic angklung brought the tones of Indonesia to an international audience. While the oldest known angklung dates back to the 17th century, it was Soetigna’s modifications in 1938 that lifted it out of obscurity and into orchestras, concerts, and classrooms around the world.
We celebrate Soetigna’s ingenuity, and contribution to modern musical education with this bamboo-themed doodle by Lydia Nichols.
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