About the Kolintang

Kolintang is a xylophone type instrument from North Sulawesi made famous by blind musician Nelwan Katuuk after world war II it is played around the globe by cultural music enthusiasts.
There are four types of Kolintang Instruments:

• The Melody (Dark Green)
• The Tenor (Light Green)
• The Base (Brown)
• The Alto  (Dark Green)

 

 The Kolintang's name is derived from the  local words, TONG (low pitch note), TING (high pitch note) and TANG (moderate pitch note). Therefore in the local dialect to say lets play Tong Ting Tang is Mangemo Kumolintang.

The basic requirements to playing a Kolintang is just to be able to read music and the ability to hold the mallets right. Unfortunately the Kolintang is a very sensitive instrument and does require extra care when playing. When playing a note, the mallet must not remain on the wood after hitting but pulled back after a short 'tong, or ting, or tang'.