Josh and I love this instrument - pagang. It was played by Kelabit women in the past, way before we played the sape’. Our dance was originally to the sound of the pagang. There are variations of this instrument across Borneo (and Madagascar cause our ancestors left Borneo to go to Madagascar). The Kelabit one is made specifically from the larger species of bamboo called “buluh betong”. No one makes it anymore, but two cousins in Bario are trying to revive it. This one go attacked by insects 😣 because the bamboo wasn’t harvested at the right time of the moon; and because it wasn’t treated in the flowing river. That was the process in the past. Here’s the traditional way of getting rid of insects in instruments (including the sape’). Rendam in flowing water (the river) for days & dry in the sun. This also changes the sound of the instrument. High time we learnt to make our own dear cousin Josh! Btw we used pagang as the percussion on “Pemung Jae”, you can listen to it on l YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, etc. ✨🍃
