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Category Archives: Korean traditional music

Pansori and bibimbap – fusion in Korea’s cultural content

03-Oct-08

By Peter Corbishley Last Thursday and Friday 24-25th September an itinerant band of Pansori sellers displayed their wares at the Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) and the School of Advanced Study, University of London. The main event was Yonsei University’s (Institute of Media Art) Jeong Taeg Lim and Jung A Huh’s talk on ‘The Aesthetic modernity of the traditional Korean music drama “Pansori”’ as part of the joint Institute for Germanic and Romance Studies (IGRS) & Institute for Musical Research conference on ‘Opera, Exoticism and Visual Culture’ mistress-minded by another Korean, Dr Hyunseon Lee of IGRS. The hors d’oeuvre (almost literally as the main focus was on ‘bibimpap’ as a metaphor for fusion in Korean culture) on the previous evening at the ...

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Book now for some outrageously fun evenings

29-May-08

A regular feature of the summer evenings is the SOAS world music summer school. Two years ago I went along to the Samulnori summer school run by the excellent Dulsori and had a ball. Last year, LKL woman of the year 2006 Rowan Pease went along with her daughter and had a whale of a time. This year it's your turn. Korean Samulnori Percussion Dulsori Ensemble Date: 7 July 2008, Time: 6:00 PM Finishes: 11 July 2008, Time: 8:00 PM Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings Type of Event: Summer School Series: Summer Music School Timetable Course Dates: 07-11 July, Mon-Fri 6-8pm Course Fee: £75 (concs £55) Samulnori is the contemporary form of a rural percussion tradition stretching back into antiquity. Today, Samulnori is the most popular style in the Korean traditional ...

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Some New Year drumming

04-Jan-08

First, a video posted to YouTube on New Year's Eve: a Korea-Japan collaboration in Los Angeles, from Doppo Nagata. "New year celebration of dance and music 2008" from Los Angeles, California. "Japan-Korea cross-cultural future traditional music and dance". Music composed and produced by Doppo Nagata (Soul of Japan and beyond). Choreography by Soo Hyang Lee (Soo Lee's dance studio in Torrance, California). We are looking for dancers for collaboration. Ensemble name: Soul Of Japan And Beyond. Tune title: Great Asia (Drum Dance) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG2CgpTw7ho[/youtube] And, from a performance in Cologne, in December 2007 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOPfzHMwdMo[/youtube] For K-drama fans, here's Lee Da Hae from My Girl wielding the sticks: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4YFYU8AGgw[/youtube] And some more female drummers in Gyeongju [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5llH0caePo[/youtube] I'm sure there must be some male drummers in Korea somewhere...

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Choi Jin at SOAS

24-Nov-07

Concerts at SOAS always seem to have a good turn-out. Monday (19 November) was no exception when Choi Jin and colleagues presented a programme of modern compositions and arrangements of music for traditional Korean instruments. Keith Howard provided some informative introductions to the music to be performed, which provided useful context as well as some breathing space for Choi to slip into a different hanbok. Professor Choi, who teaches at both Ewha Women's University and Chung-ang University, started with Hwang Byung-ki's Chimhyangmu for 12-string kayagum (top), probably the best-known modern composition for the instrument. It appears in the soundtrack to Dan Gordon's documentary on the North Korean mass games (A State of Mind), and had two public performances in London last ...

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Kayagum and dance at SOAS

06-Nov-07

As part of the SOAS autumn concert series there's a kayagum recital, with traditional and contemporary dance, on 19 November at 7pm. Choi Jin (최진) : Evocative Korean Kayagum and Dance Choi Jin is one of the most brilliant kayagum players in the Korean music world. As a well-known performer, she has given many concerts around the world and has published 3 CDs. At SOAS, she will combine brilliant technical artistry on the zither with traditional and contemporary dance. The sound of Choi Jin and her kayagum ensemble will transport you to one of Asia's most distant lands, evoking ancient and contemporary worlds. Free admission, no booking required. It's first come, first served. Venue: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, ...

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Bang goes Chuseok

05-Sep-07

Two events to celebrate Chuseok, Korea's harvest festival. Firstly, the Anglo-Korean Society will be having a buffet dinner at Young Bean Kwan on the Barbican highwalks in the City on 20 September. Guest of honour will be Ambassador Cho. There will be a short pre-dinner talk on Korean customs and food, and guests will be entertained by young Korean musicians on traditional instruments. Pre-booking required with the AKS. Download a flier for the Chuseok dinner here. AKS membership enquiries to Sylvia Park (sylviaparkairtravel at hotmail dot co dot uk) Second, the British Museum will be celebrating Chuseok on 22 September. Many of the entertainments from the Thames Festival the previous weekend will be appearing in the forecourt of the BM, and also in some ...

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Last chance to register…

13-Jul-07

The Samulnori Summer School at SOAS is next week. If you can spare five evenings you'll have a great time. I can't promise you'll end up being able to drum like the fellow on the right, but you'll be able to do a convincing imitation of being able to hit a changgo. And by the end of the week you will be able to touch your toes if you weren't able to at the start of the week. Even if you don't see this post until Monday, you may be OK. Last year one of our class only found out about it on the Monday night at a Samulnori concert on the South Bank (I think Kim Duk-soo was in town) - ...

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Rivers dance for Dano

18-Jun-07

A roving reporter's account of yesterday's Trafalgar Square Dano festivities by Jennifer Barclay with photos mostly by Jeon Sung-min (photo of the b-boys by Katie) It was a grey day on Sunday 17 June; but I donned a slightly sparkling T-shirt and set out for Trafalgar Square for the first 'Korea, Sparkling' Dano festival to be held there. 'Korea, Sparkling' is the new brand to lure foreigners to Korea. Dano? A traditional Korean summer festival, where people from neighbouring villages came together to have fun and celebrate the spirit of community. It would be just as likely to rain in Korea too, but warmer. The dark clouds looked like they might just hold off. And the cute little kids waving flags provided enough ...

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Some videos to persuade you to come to Trafalgar Square on Sunday

14-Jun-07

Korean open-air Dano (early summer) Festival, Trafalgar Square, Sunday 17 June, 12-6pm First, here's Team Kroniculs, aka the Jaguar Demo, who will be participating in the Taekwondo display. It's not just martial arts they do: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZSQ1W7NTCo[/youtube] Next, here's the Korean b-boy crew Rivers: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcEU3CMpN-E[/youtube] They'll be battling against the UK's Bad Taste Cru. Here's b-boyTime: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmnZzCAKX_4[/youtube] There will be some Samulnori percussion (though not the group illustrated here): [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz1IiPlGa-0[/youtube] and a traditional Korean fan dance like this: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsvCfkWmlb8[/youtube] and a Korean sword dance, which might look something like this: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUdkQQQnOXA[/youtube] The things you can find on YouTube nowadays... For a full listing of the events on Sunday 17 June in Trafalgar Square, celebrating the Dano Festival, click on the link below. Thanks to Asiana Airlines for generously providing some of the funding. Links: Dano Festival programme Universal ...

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Kayageum player #4 in Miss Universe

03-Jun-07

Honey Lee, crowned Miss Korea in August 2006, studies traditional music at Seoul National University, specialising in the kayageum. Her mother is a professor at Ehwa, and was designated a "living cultural asset" in kayageum music earlier this year. Lee was a strong contender in this year's Miss Universe contest, recently held in Mexico. In fact, in the unofficial polling at Global Beauties, a site affiliated to the contest, Lee came top in many categories: Face of the Universe, Best National Costume, Best in interviews, Best in a gown, and overall unofficial winner. It is of course the real competition which counts, and Lee came fourth. A rumour over at Popseoul suggests that a poor translation service cost Lee her victory: Alert POPSEOUL! ...

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LKL award-winners at Asia House

26-Feb-07

Keith Howard, author of the LKL Book of the Year 2006, will signing copies of his book at Asia House on 6 March. He will be joined by Rowan Pease, who was controversially dethroned as LKL Woman of the Year 2006 by the Korea Times, having beaten Hyolee to the prestigious award fair and square. Both will be talking on the subject of Korean Music, Old and New, and they will be joined by percussionist Simon Mills, also from SOAS. It's a shame that these evening talks only tend to be for an hour plus Q&A. I've never heard Howard give a full-length talk, but I know that Pease can keep the punters amused almost indefinitely. Should be a fun ...

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Traditional Music masterclass at the Roundhouse

20-Feb-07

For those not up to an afternoon's breakdancing, there's a more sedate masterclass in the morning on March 18. Or do both.

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New Year in New Malden

17-Feb-07

The lunar new year came to a girls school in New Malden yesterday with more than a few bangs. Samulnori percussion group Dulsori visited Coombe Girls School in Clarence Avenue for a spectacular one hour concert in front of an enthusiastic audience of pupils and visitors -- including the mayor of Kingston. The audience didn't need much persuasion to cheer, clap and generally provide encouragement to the performers: as ever, the energy of Dulsori was catching, and the atmosphere was probably helped along by half-term high spirits. The applause reached its climax when the group's leader took off his top to reveal a well-honed torso to rival Rain's. The afternoon started with Dulsori members parading into the school hall in their full ...

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Monster Madrid K-fest in February!!!

09-Jan-07

Just received from the organisers of ARCO 2007 in Madrid. Film, music, dance, literature and of course contemporary art. To call it a feast undersells it. And that's not all: this is just the stuff they know about already. There's some other stuff they haven't finalised. I haven't taken all this in yet, but I thought I'd post it straight away to make sure you got your tickets sorted out. Time to escape to Spain, everyone. Or ask them to ship everything to London once they've finished with it. I'll let you know when I hear more, and if anything more coherent strikes me once I've had a proper chance to read the information below. I've also got a list of the ...

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Chuseok celebrations at Asia House

14-Oct-06

The Chuseok celebrations at Asia House on 12 October, though a couple of days late for the festival itself, were warmly received by a capacity audience. Dr Keith Howard from SOAS gave a useful introduction to the meaning of Chuseok, and also explained the genesis of one of the instruments being played that evening -- the 25- stringed kayageum. We started with a sanjo on the 12-stringed kayageum played by Jang Yeo-nok, then a more modern toraji on the 25-stringed version of the instrument, played by Jong Ji-eung. Keith Howard on changgo then joined Jang Yeo-nok for a performance of Hwang Byunkg-ki's popular Ch'imhangmu. A rather pretty piece for violin (Yi So-ra) and 25-string kayageum followed, called Calvary Hill; then a flower ...

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Dulsori evening class # 5: the performance

22-Jul-06

If anything was going to go wrong, it was going to be the Hwimori. The others were easy: at most four lines, each one the same length, and played once before moving on to the next; and the cycle was repeated several times so that there was no way you were going to forget it. The Hwimori had 31 lines, of different lengths, played any number of times between one and 8 before moving on to the next one. That's a lot more to remember. We were wobbling by line 4 and completely lost by line 9. With some vigorous conducting and shouting by the professionals we somehow came back together by line 13, and from then on we ...

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Dulsori evening class # 4

21-Jul-06

I can touch my toes for the first time in ages. Such is the effect of sitting on the floor crouching over a drum for three hours solid, four days on the trot. Things were going swimmingly yesterday. We had all done our homework. We were remembering everything, doing the breathing, and actually laughing and enjoying ourselves rather than concentrating furiously on getting it right. So the instructors decided to make things more interesting. Let's cut the samulnori hwimori, they said, and go straight from the obangjin to the third line of the drum-only hwimori, make a quick change to that line, and, hey, didn't we tell you, there's a whole new page we haven't taught you yet. We set to it, ...

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Dulsori evening class # 3

20-Jul-06

Mainly consolidation yesterday. Lots of breathing (back-rolling) and reminders of the previous couple of evenings. We were struggling with the heat, and recognising this after a couple of recaps of the ground already covered we played some Korean games. This involved running around, making lots of noise, holding hands and making moves straight out of a ceilidh. I'm sure it would make for a good psychotherapy session, and it was a nice in theory to have a break and do a bit of bonding. But in the soaring temperatures - the warmest July day since records began - hands were slippery with moisture. Fortunately we were all equally perspiring, so no-one felt guilty, but lots of close bodily contact was ...

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Review: Korean Breeze - Bloomsbury Theatre 24 May

01-Jun-06

An evening which displayed the rich variety of Korean traditional music. This was a big enterprise, with twelve distinguished musicians involved in the tour, organised by Justina Jang of the Korean Cultural Promotion Agency as part of Think Korea 2006. The musicians played earlier the same week in the Hollywell Music Room in Oxford and Clare Hall in Cambridge, forming part of a mini Korean festival there. The concerts were timed to coincide reasonably closely with an auspicious time in the Korean calendar, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, which this year falls on 31 May. Part of the pleasure of the Bloomsbury Theatre concert was the spectacle of seeing the traditional costumes, displayed perfectly against the black of the ...

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Exploring Korean Music Old and New - Tradition and creativity

28-Feb-06

SOAS, 24 February 2006 Many thanks to Dr Keith Howard of SOAS for putting together a fascinating half-day colloquium on Korean music. Presentations were as follows: Simon Mills's (SOAS) subject was the rhythmic drum patterns (Changdan) used in shamanistic ritual on the East coast of Korea. He focused on the startling digressions (Tokkaekki changdan) which are sometimes inserted into the regular rhythmic cycle, and the way these are linked to the Tokkabbi (goblins) in folklore. Helpfully, the regular cycles and digressions were illustrated by colourful matrices which accompanied the musical excerpts: to me, keeping track of even the regular cycle was like patting one's head at four beats to the bar while rubbing one's stomach at five beats to the same bar. ...

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