Petrus Kaseke

History

Kolintang which is a traditional folk instrument played Minahasa had banned the Dutch colonial period. Because, kolintang originally used to accompany ritual worship of ancestors by the local community. Over a century, the existence of kolintang increasingly pressured and nearly extinct. Just after World War II, around 1952, a blind musician named Nelwan Katuuk brought back this musical instrument musical performances broadcast via RRI Minahasa.

Kolintang performance from Nelwan Katuuk has inspired a boy aged 10 years from Ratahan, North Minahasa, for making musical instruments named kolintang. The taste of music from his family environment that shape his sensitivity to tones combined with the skills to make wood craft obtained from the grandfather.

As a result, in 1954 the boy succeeded in making kolintang with two and a half octave diatonic scales. With the instructions elderly residents, he who never heard the sound of musical instruments kolintang before, continues to learn and develop these instruments and can create a scales of up to three and a half octaves in the 1960s.

He is Petrus Kaseke, the only son of Pastor Johanes Kaseke and Adelina Komalig. Correlation of the high sensitivity to the tone with a high level of intelligence seem self-evident in Petrus Kaseke. Although the life from poor family, at the age of 20, Petrus was awarded outstanding students and a scholarship from the Bupati Minahasa to pursue graduate studies in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Gadjah Mada. However, after the decrease in the number of scholarships from Bupati Minahasa, Petrus was forced to survive by playing music kolintang in Yogyakarta.

Ups and down

Increasingly heavy burden of life, wander alone in the land of Java, while scholarships from Minahasa regent also disconnected. The end of six years and just earned baccalaureate, Peter was forced not to continue his studies. These conditions would make Peter more active in developing kolintang musical instruments.

At that time kolintang not widely known in Java. Unexpectedly, the public response to the show kolintang accompanied by guitar, ukulele and bass strings have turned out to be outstanding. In fact, kolintang when it had become one of the media campaign of the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo) so that he and his colleagues received many job playing music kolintang.

Time passed, Petrus making kolintang business is growing. He also has a music group that has crossed the stage to cities and abroad. Then he decided to move to Salatiga, Central Java and build his business there, with his wife, Tjio Kioe Giok.

Salatiga is the best option city for growing kolintang manufacturer, raw materials readily available such as hibiscus wood, which is found around the lake Rawapening.

In the era of 1989 to the 1990s, musical instruments kolintang very popular for people in the country and abroad. Demand for kolintang increasing. Within a month, his shop located at Jalan Osamaliki 4 Salatiga, able to serve the order of musical instruments kolintang up to 10 sets. At that time he could employ about 20 carpenters.

Orders from abroad continued to flow, among others, from Australia, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. Almost all Indonesian embassies in the world collecting kolintang musical instruments.

The era of financial crisis in the late 1990s marked the fall of the musical instrument industry kolintang. One by one musical instrument maker loss, bankrupt. But Petrus was one of the musical instrument maker can surviving, despite decreased orders being just around 1-2 sets per month.

Petrus Kaseke expertise make traditional Minahasa musical instruments are rarely found. He was not the only kolintang musical instrument maker surviving. However, in his hands, the instrument began to spread to Java and even venturing into the entire world.

Overseas Performance