Hi Jiwon,
I've just finished the Samulnori program with one of the best players in Korea Mr. Hong Yoon Ki. Within the four-day intensive learning, I focused on playing Janggo for the competition on the fifth day. It truely was a mission impossible because none of my team-mates are musicians or have good knowledge in Music. However, we still stood on the stage and tried to do our best. The result was not too bad but we still couldn't involve in the second run of the competition. Anyway, I was so glad to break my limitation on one new thing. The feeling of achivement was really attractive, and I thought I may fall in love with Janggo instrument. Have you had such emotion before?
Janggo needs to be played by both hands. Sometimes one rythem would speed up to the most and hardly can see players' hands and heads. To me, they all look like psychedelic. There was a several times that I could reach this kind of "mind state". I think one should memorize the score very well and then he can have the freedom to play around of it.
"One Asia" is the name of our team. We actually came from different countries and cities for the ASSITEJ theatre program. By invitation, we made the Samulnori competition as our first collaboration. It did link us more than before and I believe we could make the theatre production as good as what we did in Samulnori.
Let me introduce my team-mates for you. Now they are my family in Korea!
If you or your children want to learn Samulnori, you can get more info of the teachers, schools, competitions,performances, festival from the website below:
www.samulfestival.co.kr
www.samulnorischool.com
Hi Hope
ReplyDeleteI remember the first day when I joined my intensive Samulnori workshop in 1997. The whole day we did nothing but breathing, or learn to breathe to play Janggo in traditional Korean way. Breathing is essential to learn the rhythm. Breathing IS rhythm. Rhythm, which is internal to us, actually defines our movement, style, colour of the culture etc. Basically what I had to was to imagine a circle movement connecting inhaling and exhaling without any cease in between. At the very end of an exhaled breath I had to somehow connect to inhaling.We did that while we actually moves and draw a circle with both arms while standing. I held up my arms slowly along with inhalement and put them down again slowly. When the arms located at lowest, I start the cycle again. (It is easier if I show you than describe) But I could not connect my two different breath that well -in a sense, the traditional aesthetic of precarious balance that it looks like ending, but it is actually the beginning of another breath. My body was too westernised; an urban child brought up with Mozart than Samulnori. My circle did not complete without certain cease or boundary.
Next morning, I realised my thighs became literally purple. It happened because I had tried so hard and concentrated on learning so that I had not noticed that I was hitting my thighs very hard at the end of each movements!
While looking here, that you gathered as 'One Asia', I think of the moment of my Samulnori day as an urban girl, who wanted to be connected to the tradition so badly. What are we? What makes Asians? Can we say of Asia as one? In what way? I question this not to fall off to the pitfall of 'intercultural performance' by which Western theatre patternised, in a way, over the orientalism. I don't know the answer. Or I don't inted to get an answer with words.
I just want to experience the difference or the similarity through creative works assisted by intuition and warmth...
The question is casted and now I will shut up.
Jiwon