Eolssu Korea

on our field trip the other day, our last stop was "Eolssu Korea" - a traditional folk music show. it was put on by the Cheongju City Korean Traditional Performing Arts Center just for the EPIK group. the first performance was Daechwita - Great Military Music. it originates from military exercises of the kings procession during the Joseon period. Chwita means to blow and strike, thus the music is performed with wind and percussion instruments. this was interesting but not my kind of music! lol... it was sort of like a high pitched whining with cymbals keeping the beat. the costumes were great though.

The second performance was Gayageum Sanjo in the style of Kim, Juk Pa. a gayageum is a 12-stringed zither and was accompanied by a kind of drum. Sanjo means (literally) scattered melodies - so the zither player was improvising as she went - it starts off slowly and gets faster and more chaotic, but the zither being what it is, chaotic is still quite calm and beautiful.

the third performance was Pansori, which is like Korean Opera, without the music. it is a "vocal genre" where the performer tells a long narrative story accompanied by a drum. the singers also act out the peice while they were singing. their voices were deep and resonating - it was very interesting and must have been funny because the Korean speakers in the audience were laughing throughout it.



the fourth performance was Gyeonggi Area folk Songs - this singer was incredible. her voice could do things that i could never even have imagined. Her name is Hwang Shi-Nae (in Korean the family name goes before the given name) i wish i had some video or audio of this because it was truly beautiful and one of my favourite parts. after her performance, she got the audience to sing along to a traditional korean folk song called Arirang:

(chorus) arirang, arirang, arariyo
arirang gogaero neomeoganda (i am crossing over arirang pass)
nareul beorigo gashineun nimeum (the man/woman who abandoned me)
shimnido mot gaseo balbyeong nanda (will not walk even ten miles before his/her feet hurt)

it was interesting (to say the least) to hear over 100 english westerners singing in Korean... but it was fun.



the last two performances (sorry no pictures - it was too dark and no flashes allowed) were done by a sort of oorchestra and were excellent. they all used traditional korean instrument, except for the synthesizer. they said it was a sort of fusion music using the traditional and the modern.

one of the best parts were the incredible costumes - as you can see. we all had a great time, and i can say that it was the highlight of the day.