Behind its simple shape, who would have thought that the traditional wooden kentongan musical instrument made by Sutaji, a resident of Curah Renteng Hamlet, Pancakarya Village, Ajung District, Jember Regency, East Java, was once exported abroad, namely Australia. Meanwhile, in the country itself, the market has begun to spread evenly to various regions. Starting from Bali, Situbondo, Probolinggo, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Madura, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and others. Even though the tools he owned were very limited, that did not dampen Sutaji's enthusiasm. Evidently, he was able to fight against these limitations so that his business survived for 39 years. He started it since 1983 ago. At that time Sutaji was still a poet, but already married to his soul mate. At the beginning of starting a business, what crossed his mind was not financial. But how to create a simple musical instrument but the resulting sound is special. "That's why I focus on making kentongan as good as possible. I don't think about money first," he said. As a result, his works have begun to attract attention from traditional music art lovers and are considered to have more value than others. "Finally, many art galleries have started coming to order. The price for a set of Kenthongan starts from IDR 12 to IDR 14 million. One set contains 11 kentongan. Starting from the smallest to the jumbo size," he added.
Tuesday, 20 December 2022 07:23
Make Proud! Kentongan Musical Instruments in Jember Had Been Exported to Australia
