In his book "Toba na Sae; Sejarah lembaga sosial politik abad XIII-XX ( Jakarta: Komunitas Bambu, 2004) the Indonesian poet Sitor Situmorang describes the encounter between Guru Somalaing and Elio Modigliani who later wrote a book about his journeys into the independent Batak lands in his book "Fra i Batacchi indipendenti; Viaggio di Elio Modigliani" (1892 Roma: Società Geografica Italiana).
For "To My Friends on Legian Beach", Indonesian poet Sitor Situmorang wrote the lyrics, while Eddy Iskandar handled the lyrics for "Gita Cinta".
When he was 15, he was inspired to translate Saijah and Adinda (a poem), a part of Max Havelaar by Multatuli, from Dutch to Batak which was his mother tongue even though his Dutch was limited for this kind of literature.