Wang holding an unfinished sundatang during the making process. — Photo courtesy of Wang
ROGER Wang has already stamped his mark as a renowned acoustic guitarist, but soon he might be known as the person to bring back the sundatang, Sabah’s traditional string instrument, into the limelight.
The 49-year-old composer and music producer is using the instrument to compose the soundtrack for an upcoming local animated film, where the main character happens to be a sundatang player.
A Sabah-based animation company, Siung Studio, has engaged his services for the project and it is part of Wang’s efforts to revive the instrument and popularise it in the modern world.
But 15 years ago, the Kota Kinabalu-born guitarist known for his fingerstyle technique, was unaware of the existence of sundatang.
He then learned that the sundatang was once a popular instrument among the Kadazan Dusun of Tambunan and the Rungus of Kudat, where they were performed mainly for entertainment and non-ritual situations. The guitar’s arrival has been linked to the phasing out of sundatang.
“I grew up believing that Sabah doesn’t have a traditional string instrument, unlike Sarawak, which has the sape.
“About 15 years ago, I learned from Malaysian luthier Jeffrey Yong that, unknown to many, Sabah had a string instrument called the sundatang, which is part of the boat lute family found in South-East Asia.
“I assumed the sundatang had become extinct because I had never seen or heard of one. In fact, the sundatang had almost never been mentioned.
“Then, in 2016, an indigenous musician friend, Hezekiah Asim, discovered a sundatang in Kudat and brought it to my studio,” he said in the first of his “Reimagining the Sundatang – Sabah’s Lost Lute” Facebook series of posts in April.
The sundatang his friend found, however, was lacking a drone string, a tuning peg, frets, and a back plate, making it tough to figure out, and raised questions about the tuning, scale and how it should be played or sounded.
Fast forward to today, Wang has already reached Part 10 of his Facebook series, where he has documented the development of the first few sundatangs he made himself.
Along the journey, he has consulted a few fellow sundatang makers as well as referred to the research paper written on the instrument by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) ethnomusicology professor Dr Jacqueline Pugh-Kitingan.
So far he had made three sundatangs, where one was gifted to craftsman Johann Adam Kitingan, who runs the Sundatang Society page, the person he sought earlier to share his idea about building a contemporary sundatang that is rooted in its heritage but can be relevant to today’s expectations.
“I have begun using the sundatangs to compose the soundtrack for the animated feature film, which is still in development stage with estimated release date in 2025,” Wang said, adding that the film endeavour is sponsored by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre (Scenic) and the Communications and Digital Ministry.
Asked what similarities or differences he feels between guitar and sundatang, he said both are string instruments that are played by plucking the strings and have a hollow body that amplifies sound.
Compared to the sape, Wang found the main difference was in the construction – the sundatang has a long narrow neck and a compact body while the sape’s body is the same size as the entire instrument and lacks a neck in the traditional sense.
While Wang is not the only one who has been promoting a sundatang revival, most have been doing it from the cultural preservation context while he is tackling it from the musical angle, thus making it more accessible and marketable.
“There is already a small group of enthusiasts working on sundatang revival ... As a Sabahan guitarist and a wood artisan, I have a sense of obligation to contribute to this.
“My view is that in order for the instrument to be revived, it must be adopted and placed in a more modern context.
“The sundatang has to be seen and heard in more mainstream contexts; right now, it still occupies a niche.
“It will be nice to see it being used in some contemporary songs – as long as sundatang is being seen and used, people will talk about it,” he said.
The performer said he himself has yet to try playing the sundatang for one of his live performances, but it would be an interesting step to take in future, including in recordings.
“I have to be a bit careful on how I approach composing music using the sundatang, because it has the traditional element and I do not want to stray too much from what the instrument is,” he stated.
Ultimately, Wang hopes that by learning to make the sundatang himself, he can come up with an affordable version in the similar price range to a ukelele so that it can be introduced to the bigger market.
Those interested to follow his Facebook series on sundatang can visit his page at “Roger Wang”.
