ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Sasando a Traditional Music Instrument from Rote - Indonesian Heritage Series

Updated on September 24, 2009
Sasando from Rote East Nusa Tenggara. Indonesia
Sasando from Rote East Nusa Tenggara. Indonesia

What is Sasando ?

Sasando is a stringed musical instrument or cordophone type musical instrument. It comes from the island of Rote, East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia. The most southern island in Indonesia archipelago. (My father in law was born in this island)
Sasando word comes from Rote word sasandu. It means vibrant instrument

Sasando form is similar to other stringed instruments such as guitar, violin and harp.

Sasando

The main part of the long tubular Sasando commonly made from bamboo. Then in the middle, circling from top to bottom is placed some lumps in which the strings that stretched across the tube, from top to bottom resting. The wedge gives different tone  to each passage of the string. Then this Sasando tube placed in a container made from a kind of woven palm leaves (Lontar leaves ) like a fan made. This container is the place of Sasando resonance

The composition of the notation is irregular and you can not see it because it is wrapped.  Sasando is played with both hands from the opposite direction. From left to right and left to right. Left hand plays the melody and bass, while right hand plays the accord. That makes Sasando unique because somebody could play the melody, bass, and accord at once. And the harmony is awesome.

Sasando's sound is very unique. Compare to guitar, Sasando's sound is more various. Sasando has 28 strings and it hard to play. Sasando player should have the ability to combine and make the right rythm and feeling from the whole strings.

Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara. Indonesia
Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara. Indonesia

The History of Sasando

Ana Sanggu created the early shape of Sasando in the 15th century on a small island near the island of Rote, the Dana Island , which then controlled by the Taka La'a King. Sanggu is citizen on the island of Nusa Ti'i Southwest Rote. He was arrested by the King  when stranded on the island while searching for fish with his friend, Mankoa. In addition to a fisherman, Sanggu also an artist.

The King at that time had a daughter. Princess in love with Sanggu. To Sanggu, the Princess requests for a new instrument created by Sanggu that could entertain people. Princess likes to entertain  people when the moon is full.

Sanggu then created the Sari Sando, an instrument that is vibrating when picked. As with seven ropes made from wooden roots. The Princess relationship with Sanggu was discovered by King . The King Taka La'a was furious and executed Sanggu.

Sanggu mate who could run away, Mankoa, reported it to the Nusa Ti'i. Sanggu's son in Ti'i, Nale Sanggu, angry at his father died. Nale revenge with 25 knights Ti'i. He destroyed the whole Dana island, only the children and musical instruments Sasando inherited from his father who rescued to Ti'i.

In  Ti'i, Sasando was modified, the string added to nine. "The music only consist of five notes mi, sol, la, do, re. Si and fa did not exist.

In the Dutch period, 18th century, the number of strings added to 10 strings. After independence again amended by adding a string to 11 string. In the 19th century, Sasando (Sasando haik)  was modified into a violin by Ti'i son named Kornelis Frans. Called Sasando violin because when it created the tone is adjusted like the violin tone. Number of ropes become 39 pieces and the main tone become 7 notes.

Click thumbnail to view full-size
A man wearing Tiilangga (traditional hat) with Sasando beritadaerah.comSasando indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.comSasando indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.comSasando  indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.com
A man wearing Tiilangga (traditional hat) with Sasando beritadaerah.com
A man wearing Tiilangga (traditional hat) with Sasando beritadaerah.com
Sasando indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.com
Sasando indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.com
Sasando indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.com
Sasando indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.com
Sasando  indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.com
Sasando indonesiaculturalnews.blogspot.com

Type of Sasando

Sasando Engkel : Sasando that has 28 strings
Sasando Dobel  :  Sasando that has 56 strings, some type has 84 strings.
Sasando Gong (Sasando Haik)
Sasando Biola (Violin Sasando)

Click thumbnail to view full-size
Mr. Yusuf Nggebu amirsodikin.comMr. Jeremias Pah poskupang.com
Mr. Yusuf Nggebu amirsodikin.com
Mr. Yusuf Nggebu amirsodikin.com
Mr. Jeremias Pah poskupang.com
Mr. Jeremias Pah poskupang.com

Sasando With Tehyan played Amazing Grace

The Sasando Artists

1. Mr Yusuf Nggebu ( 82 years old), he is a famous Sasando artist and maker in Rote. He is a maestro in Sasando. Because of age, he is no longer play the Sasando. For him, Sasando is not just a music instrument, Sasando is a Rote's identity. He could play the Sasando Haik or Sasando Biola (Violin Sasando) perfectly. Now, in Rote the Sasando maker is rare. This makes me sad. It hard to play Sasando and Sasando Biola is the hardest one. Only Mr. Yusuf Nggebu could play the instrument.

2. Mr. Jeremias Ougust Pah (70 years old)
He is another famous of Sasando artist. An Indonesian maestro that really cares of Sasando. The Indonesian Culture and Tourism Minister, Mr. Jero Wacik (2007) gives him an award for caring and developing the Sasando as a traditional music instrument.

He lives in Timor Raya Km 22 Street, in Oebelo, Central Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. "I want that young people in Timor will always love and learn about Sasando." said Jeremias. Why ? Because the young people tend to leave the Sasando and love western rock music more than its own culture.  He said that Australian and Japanese tourists have more interested in Sasando than his own youngsters. He was surprised by the visiting of one Japanese man named Masamu Takashi that is specially visit him to learn how to play the Sasando.

Jeremias Ougust has been played the Sasando in front of Japanese people in Yokohama and got high appreciation. The appreciation made him proud but a little sad. "If foreign people could appreciate my culture, the Timor people should love it more."

Beside Sasando, Jeremias Ougust also developing the Rote traditional woven cloth.

3. Mr. Arnoldus Edon, deceased
Mr. Arnoldus is the inventor of Electric Sasando. He modified Sasando and combined it with modern music instruments like guitar, drum, organ, and many more. Then, Sasando could be played like an orchestra. He got the patent rights in June 14, 2009.

Sasandu from Rote to Tokyo, Japan(4) AMAZING GRACE

How Great Thou Art - Jacko HA bullan in Sasandu Rote

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)