User:Jacqke/Petrus Kaseke

Petrus Kaseke (born in Ratahan, Minahasa, North Sulawesi, October 2, 1942) was an Indonesian conservationist of Indonesia kolintang musical instruments.

He was labeled a "pioneer of kolintang" for Java because of his contributions to keeping the kolintang instruments from being lost. As a carpenter, he was able to build instruments; as a teacher, he was able to inspire another generation to learn to play them. His efforts were important, because much of the konlintang-playing community has left their ancestral land, losing contact with community culture. His efforts have led to reconnection, manifesting in an October 2009 concert, in which 1223 musicians came together for a concert, witnessed by the Guinness World Records.

As a musician, he performed internationally in Singapore, Australia, the United States and Continental Europe and Sweden in the early 1970s.

Personal life
Kolintang, a traditional musical instrument of the Minahasa people, was banned from being played during the Dutch colonial period. Initially, the kolintang was used to accompany the local community's ritual ceremony of worshipping ancestral spirits. For more than a century, the existence of kolintang has been increasingly pressured and almost extinct. Only after World War II, around 1952, a blind person named Nelwan Katuuk brought this musical instrument back through a musical performance broadcast by RRI Minahasa.

Nelwan Katuuk's kolintang performance inspired a 10-year-old boy from Ratahan, North Minahasa, to make the kolintang musical instrument. His musical tastes from his family environment shaped his sensitivity to tones combined with the carpentry skills he received from his grandfather.

As a result, in 1954, the boy made kolintang with two-and-a-half octave diatonic notes. With the guidance of several parents who had heard the sound of the Kolintang musical instrument, he continued to learn and develop this instrument so that he could create scales of up to three and a half octaves in one sharp, natural, and one flat in 1960.

He is Petrus Kaseke, the only son of Pastor Yohanes Kaseke and Adelina Komalig. The correlation between high sensitivity to tone and a high level of intelligence is evident in Petrus Kaseke. Despite living in an underprivileged family, at the age of 20, Petrus won the title of outstanding student and received a scholarship from the Regent of Minahasa to continue his studies at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gadjah Mada University. However, after a decrease in scholarships from the Regent of Minahasa, Petrus was forced to survive by playing kolintang music in Yogyakarta.

Ups and Downs
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.

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.

The burden of living was getting heavier, wandering alone in Java. At the same time, the scholarship from the regent was also cut off. After six years and having just earned a baccalaureate degree, Petrus was forced to drop out of college. This condition made Petrus even more determined to cultivate the kolintang musical instrument.

At that time, kolintang was not widely known in Java. Unexpectedly, the public's response to the presence of kolintang, accompanied by guitar, ukulele and string bass, turned out to be extraordinary. In fact, at that time, kolintang became one of the campaign media for the Indonesian Christian Party (Parkindo), so he and his colleagues received many jobs playing kolintang music.

As time went on, Petrus' business grew. He also has a music group travelling to various cities and abroad. Then he decided to move to Salatiga City, Central Java and build his business there with his wife, Tjio Kioe Giok.

Salatiga is the most appropriate city because the raw material for Kolintang in hibiscus wood is easy to find around Rawapening Lake.

From 1989 to the 1990s, the Kolintang musical instrument was trendy for people at home and abroad. The demand for kolintang is also increasing. Within a month, his workshop on Jalan Osamaliki 4, Salatiga, can make up to 10 sets of kolintang musical instruments. 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 the monetary crisis at the end of 1990 marked the fall of the Kolintang musical instrument industry. One by one, the Kolintang musical instrument companies fell and went bankrupt. But Petrus is one of the many kolintang musical instrument craftsmen who still survive despite declining orders, only around 1-2 sets per month.

Overseas performances

 * 1970 appeared in Singapore for three days.
 * 1971 performed in Australia for roughly three months and visited more than 50 cities, including Canberra, with the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, Sujitno Sukirno.
 * In 1972 he performed in several New York and Los Angeles, United States cities.
 * In 1973 he appeared in continental Europe, including Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands (with the Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Sutopo Yuwono).

Activities in old age and the end of his life
He had engaged only in the Kolintang Angklung business all his life, both when there were many requests to supply musical instruments and during recessions and low orders.

In the case of Angklung, even though it is a traditional musical instrument from Java, Petrus Kaseke gives it a Minahasa touch. The Angklung chord produced by Petrus Kaseke can be seen from the arrangement of three tubes which place the fundamental tone between the other two tubes, known as the second reversal chord, for example, the C chord with the composition of the notes 5-1-3. The basic tone in the middle follows the ancestral concept of Minahasa Toar, which is from the word Tuur or the main stem, the center of balance.

Activities are undertaken in old age:

- Leader of the Angklung Kolintang choir at the Bethany Salatiga church.

- Music teacher at Bible school in Magelang.

- Advisor at the Pinkan Regional Management Board (National Kolintang Human Association) Central Java.

-Making a textbook of Kolintang Maimo Kumolintang

At the end of his life, Petrus Kaseke was still actively playing kolintang. Even with his grandchildren, he took part in virtual kolintang competitions. These activities were usually carried out during the Covid pandemic.

Petrus Kaseke is a kolintang craftsman whose production is widely spread throughout the archipelago and worldwide. Unsurprisingly, the Central Java provincial government gave a certificate of appreciation as the initiator and figure for the development of Kolintang music in Java.

Even though he comes from an aristocratic family because his great-grandfather, also named Petrus Kaseke, married the daughter of the king of Ratahan Dotu Maringka, that is not what he is proud of. He is most proud of his grandfather, a carpenter whose name his eldest son, Leufrand Kaseke, immortalized. Meanwhile, the name of his late mother, Adeline Komalig, is remembered as the name of his youngest child, Adeline Kaseke.

The pioneer of kolintang in the Land of Java, Petrus Kaseke, died and was buried on August 17, 2022, at Bancaan Salatiga. He died at 80 after saying parting words: "No more, I want to rest." at Telogorejo Hospital, Semarang.

Petrus Kaseke 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.