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View all search resultsVan Halen, guitar legend with Indonesian roots
Van Halen's mother, Eugenia van Beers, who hailed from Rangkasbitung met and married the guitarist’s father Jan soon after Indonesia won its independence from the Dutch. The senior Van Halen was a traveling jazz musician employed by the Dutch Air Force.
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T
he passing of guitarist Eddie Van Halen hit Indonesia’s rock music scene particularly hard, not only because he was a master of the instrument and part of the pantheon of rock music alongside artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page but also because he could trace his ancestry to the city of Rangkasbitung in Banten.
Van Halen's mother, Eugenia van Beers, who hailed from Rangkasbitung met and married the guitarist’s father Jan soon after Indonesia won its independence from the Dutch. The senior Van Halen was a traveling jazz musician employed by the Dutch Air Force.
After spending six years in Indonesia, the senior Van Halen and Eugenia relocated to Amsterdam in 1949. Eddie, born Edward Lodewijk van Halen, was born six years later, in January 1955. The family then moved to Pasadena, California, in 1962.
But for many Indonesian musicians who mourned his passing last week, it was mostly his guitar pyrotechnics and jubilant rock compositions like "Jump," "Running with the Devil," and the virtuosic "Eruptions" that left an indelible mark.
Legendary guitarist Eet Sjahranie crafted a sound and employed guitar techniques inspired by Van Halen for the debut album of his band Edane, The Beast, released in 1992.
Eet's playing was so similar to Van Halen’s that he became known as Indonesia's version of the guitarist and rumors spread that he was a mentee of the American guitarist.
"That's a total hoax. I went to the United States in the early 1980s to study sound engineering, and there was no way for me to study under him. He was so popular; how could he have time for me?" Eet said at a live memorial for Van Halen on Thursday of last week.
