‘I wish to preserve Indonesian culture wherever we are’: Introducing the angklung to Hong Kong

Music by the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng can be heard playing from portable speakers in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. The cover version of the legendary singer’s The Moon Represents My Heart is accompanied by the unique sound of the traditional Indonesian instrument, the angklung. It’s performed by a group of Indonesian migrant workers, who gather every Sunday on their day off to practise playing the angklung as an ensemble. The instrument from West Java is made from bamboo tubes of varying sizes bound to a wooden frame. With each angklung producing a single note, performers can hold multiple pieces to play different notes. In 2010, the angklung was added to the Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.