民族音樂學家陳天國，一九三八年五月一日出生於廣東潮州市。陳氏為著名潮州箏家蘇文賢之婿，善奏潮州二弦、三弦、椰胡、秦琴、板胡等多種樂器。一九六二年七月，畢業於廣州音樂專科學校，留校任教四十載，並致力於潮州音樂之實地採錄與研究，在《中國音樂》、《音樂研究》等多種音樂學術刊物發表論文近百篇，出版有關潮樂專著有多種。所涉之廣、之精深，為當今所罕見。
陳氏搜集、整理的書稿有《潮州大鑼鼓》、《潮州寺堂鼓樂》、《潮州禪和板佛樂》、《潮州弦詩全集》、《潮州民間樂譜》及《潮州音樂目錄》等。
Chen Tlan-guo Chen was born in Chaozhou, Guangdong in 1938. He was an expert in the Chinese traditional musicology. His father-in-law was the zheng master – Su Wen-xian. He could play Chaozhou er-xian, san-xian and many other instruments. He graduated from the Guangzhou Conservatory in 1962 and remained there as a teacher for over 40 years. One of his main role was to gather Chaozhou music elements and doing research on them. Many many of his important essays and research results had been published and definitely he was the number one specialist in the Chaozhou music research.