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n ages past, the Korean art of sarnul nori played a key part in agricultural life, energiz ing the soil at planting time and thanking the earth once fall's bounty had been gathered in. Part ritual and part recreational activ ity, banging on the drums and gongs known as the buk, jang gu, jing, and kkwaenggwari also brought farm folk together at times of crisis and celebration, serving much the same purpose as brass bands in English mining villages or gamelan ensembles in Java. "Percussion music was a kind of community entertainment," confirms Joo Jay-Youn, execu tive director of Samu!Nori, the Seoul-based ensemble named for the music it plays. "All the com munity members could play per cussion at that time. They played between hard work, to ease the physical pains, and for seasonal community festivals. At wed dings and funeral ceremonies, all the community members played." Now, of course, Korea is one of the world's most technologic ally advanced societies, with younger urbanites far more likely
to download K-pop from the cloud than practise an ancient musical form inspired by the sounds of rain, wind, and thun der. Both samul nori and Samul Nori, whose members serve as unofficial cultural ambassadors, remain a source of national pride for Koreans, however. And a possible source of international contention, too, if any Japanese
readers take offence at what Joo has to say when asked about the links between the Korean style and the superficially similar pulse of taiko drumming. "I think for western people, they're very similar forms," he allows. "The two musics are quite similar to western ears, but each has a very different form and style. For example, when it
comes to the way of hitting the piece'," Joo explains. "It is ap instrument, the Japanese per propriate that we do variat_ions, former plays in a quite direct reconstructions, and re-creations way. Koreans, they play in more based on the traditional rhythms, of a circular form. Also, Korean in which each instrument has music has a variety of rhythms. a different musical job. We ar Japanese percussionists, they range rhythm patterns from an play just taka-taka-taka, but we cient times. have many, many polyrhythms." "Sometimes we use dance or Joo might be selling his computer-crafted images to en Japanese counterparts short. In hance our performances," he con recent years, at least, taiko has tinues, "but the audience can also grown in complexity, attract fee.I the sound of nature from our ing the attention of performers percussion music." worldwide and drawing compos That's not necessarily a bad thing, ers who might otherwise write for given that SamulNori performs in chamber ensembles or symphony concert halls around the world rath orchestras. Samul nori, in com er than in rural village squares. parison, remains staunchly trad "As society moves towards itional and resolutely Korean, technological development, people with only a handful of mostly are looking for the other side," Joo university-based troupes per says. "I mean ecological values, forming outside its homeland. analogue sound. So when we com As for the idea that new com bine this music with theatrical ele positions might be written for ments, we create a whole, complete Samu!Nori, the band, Joo says poem. We might lose the value of that's not quite the case. The en community, but we find unity in semble's founder, Kim Duk Soo, the spirit of the music." � arranges most of its music, but he's apparently more a scholar of SamulNori plays the Chan Centre · for the Performing Arts on Saturday the form than an innovator. "We don't say 'to compose a (March 15). MARCH 13 - 20 / 2014 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 61
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