Jaap Kunst

Jaap Kunst (August 12, Groningen - December 7, 1960, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) was a Dutch ethnomusicologist considered as a founder of modern ethnomusicology. Kunst worked in banking and the law before joining a string trio (1919), which made a successful tour of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). He subsequently remained in Bandung (Java) until the mid-1930s to study and collect the indigenous music (particularly that of the gamelan) while working for the government. Kunst made long tours of the Indonesian archipelago during the next few years and, with the help of his wife Katy, established an archive of musical instruments, field recordings, books and photographs for the museum at Batavia (now Jakarta).