Sasando is recognized all the way to Madagascar. Traditional sasando is pentatonic, modern sasando is diatonic.

“Dai … damedong …” The man sings, his voice wails; the musical instrument in his arms wails as well. A song for travellers, titled Batu Matia, flows from his mouth. The melody circles as if to emphasize the same message: let the traveller’s blood keep boiling. It is quite obvious: Rote island is located in the middle of the ocean. Even in the time of Dutch colonization, the men were forced to work as forced labor.

            Yes, across the sea, the sons of Rote might suffering. Yet they still meet and sing with their musical instrument: sasando. Hendrik, the man singing and playing the instrument is well versed in the history of the Rote’s struggles. “Love dilemmas of the Rotes – even distances apart, we will still meet, all thanks to God’s protection.” Yes, Hendrik Patuah, son of Rote, 59 years old, on Wednesday two years ago performed in Bentara Budaya, before a limited audience.

            That night he wore full traditional costume: long dark pants, white shirt, tied woven scarf and ti’i  langga. Ti’í langga is a hat made from dried young almyra palm leaf and has a tentacle-like tip of about 40 centimeters. This is a special night. All this time, Hendrik receives singing orders and plays the sasando at least twice a month.

            Originally, sasando was people’s entertainment, played with traditional songs and daces. The traditional sasando is pentatonic and its melody ranges to mi, re, do la, and sol. The instrument that only uses nine to twelve strings is called sasando gong. Three bass strings, the rest are melodic strings. Traditional sasando may sound monotonic. But when combined with Rote kingdom songs such as taebenu, fete boi, teo renda, or fafotik, its presence seems to surpass physical limitations: sacred, spiritual.

            Sasando is akin to the harp, the mother of all string instruments. That day on stage, Hendrik sat with the sasando on his lap. Both hands around the bamboo staff, his fingers plucked the strings. The high- or low-pitch was achieved by pressing a button or a small wooden tab placed beneath the strings which can be raised or lowered.

            Sasando is made from the almyra palm leaf, bamboo staff, motorcycle transmission string, and guitar string or suasa (mix of gold and copper). The palm leaf is knotted to shape a half-circle hollow (haik), which functions as resonator. “The resonating sound of the sasando strings are enhanced by the haik,” said Hendrik.

            In its development, this instrument becomes not just a part of traditional song. Look at Lewi Pinggak, 42, who was playing a sasando violin that was no longer pentatonic. “This sasando is a development of the sasando gong,” said Johny Theedens, a music teacher in Kupang. Indeed, for those more accustomed to modern music, their ears may be more tolerant of the sasando violin. Lewi sat on the stage. All fingers active: three right hand fingers to pick the chords, forefinger and thumb for double-stringed melody, and three left hand fingers to pick the bass strings. Like a guitar. Its ability to combine harmonies have given this instrument a character similar to an orchestra.

            Time passed, and sasando advanced more intricately: from seven-stringed instrument to nine to 12 strings; and now up to 50 strings. From an instrument only able to play three major keys C, D and F, to an instrument able to reach minor keys., D minor or E minor. Unquestionably, as Lewi, a priest, music teacher, and professor said, the sasando violin is a modern instrument.

            But the sasando gong is irreplaceable. In Indonesian music, most use a melismatic method. It means that one syllable of a word is given several melodies. “It is not like that with the sasando. We do not feel the ambience. Listening to this music, I feel as if I am in Africa,” said Rizaldi Siagian, an ethnomusicologist.

            The people of Rote have their own story on this magical instrument. Once upon a time, a leprosy epidemic struck Rote. Due to the epidemic, two brothers, Lunggi Lain and Balo Aman, were exiled by their family. One day, Lunggi’s illness overtook him. He lay beneath an almyra palm tree and fell asleep. Meanwhile, Balo left to find food, tapping the almyra palm sap. At that moment, Lunggi had a dream and heard a strange noise behind the tree. Lunggi then awoke to find his illness had gone.

            The noise was still heard, so Lunggi rushed to find the source. It turned out to be made by a spider’s web hanging between the almyra palm leaves. A few days later Balo returned, and to his surprise found his brother healed. Out of curiosity, Balo then followed Lunggi to enjoy the sound made by the spider’s web. Balo was then healed too. To commemorate the miracle, Balo and Lunggi then decided to make a musical instrument out of the almyra palm leaf. Sasando was born with almyra palm stems as strings.

            Another version said that sasando was created by Sangguana, a young man from Oetefu-Thi village. When fishing, he was stranded at Ndana Island, north of Rote. A native found him and brought him to see King Takala at the Nusaklin palace who was at the time holding a Kebak, at traditional art festival.

            To cut a long story short, the princess then fell in love with Sangguana. The King was to give his blessing with the condition that Sangguana should create a new musical instrument. At night, Sangguana dreamed of playing music melodic, beautiful and comforting. He eventually made the instrument from almyra palm leaf, which was to be called sandhu. The princess changed the name to hitu (seven) since the instrument has seven strings.

            Hendrik and Lewi are worried that if not conserved this music will fade, sooner or later. Many of the younger generation are not interested to learn the sasando. Also, for the people of Rote, the price of a sasando equals one month’s food. The maestros themselves live on barely enough, and that limits their movement.

            Life goes on, the people of Rote keep travelling, and the sasando travels along. In Madagascar, sasando is called baliha and is acknowledged to have come from Indonesia. Yes, they have travelled far to the west. “Dai …. Damedong … “ so Hendrik Patuah serenaded.

Tempo, July 18 2005 – L.H. Idayanie, Jems De Fortuna (Kupang)