民族音乐学家陈天国，一九三八年五月一日出生于广东潮州市。陈氏为著名潮州筝家苏文贤之婿，善奏潮州二弦、三弦、椰胡、秦琴、板胡等多种乐器。一九六二年七月，毕业于广州音乐专科学校，留校任教四十载，并致力于潮州音乐之实地採录与研究，在《中国音乐》、《音乐研究》等多种音乐学术刊物发表论文近百篇，出版有关潮乐专著有多种。所涉之广、之精深，为当今所罕见。
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.