Udjo Ngalagena

Born on March 5, 1929 from the couple of Wiranta and Imi, Little Udjo started his journey in music, art and culture, since he was 4 years old. Udjo began to learn Angklung in both diatonic and pentatonic tone scales – which made him good at playing traditional Sundanese, popular Indonesian songs and even Dutch ones.

His talent kept growing and he became an art teacher in several schools in Bandung. To improve his knowledge and ability, Udjo did not hesitate to learn directly from the experts, such as : Mang Koko (the creator of Kacapi); Rd.Machyar Angga Kusumahdinata (the gamelan guru); and Daeng Soetigna the re–inventor of diatonic Angklung. Soon he became the assistant of Daeng Soetigna, and led performances on behalf of the teacher. He was married to Uum Sumiati and had 10 children, and thank God they are all inherited much of Udjo’s passion and talent for Angklung. His passionate love for art and culture was a reason for Udjo Ngalagena and his wife Uum Sumiati to establish Saung Angklung Udjo by itself. As he died on May 3, 2001, the daughters and sons kept continuing Saung Angklung Udjo