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hetalia2010-09-21 06:51 pm
muishiki.livejournal.com) wrote in hetalia2010-09-21 06:51 pm
Entry tags:
[fanart] Happy Chuseok!
Title: Rhythm Originated in Korea, yo.
Author/Artist:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
muishiki
Character(s) or Pairing(s): Korea, brief guest appearance from Austria
Rating: PG
Warnings: rambling, bad doodles done in a half-asleep state, and embarrassing geekery
Summary: To celebrate Chuseok, Korea's Autumn Harvest Festival, comes a ramble-y post about Korea's traditional folk music. Mainly samulnori/pungmul geeking.
Hello,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
hetalia! Happy Chuseok!
Chuseok is a major festival holiday in Korea, where people return to their hometowns to meet with family, pay respects to ancestors, eat delicious food, et cetera. Think of it like Thanksgiving, only Korean and with lots of food. Like songpyeon. Delicious, delicious songpyeon.
[I could eat this stuff all day. ALL DAY.]
With Chuseok comes all sorts of cool traditional things, be it art, dance, cuisine, music, etc.; whatever floats your theoretical Korean's turtle boat. And today we focus on music, or more specifically, pungmul and samulnori.
Both can fall under the broad umbrella of nongak, or literally, "farmers' music."
Pungmul is a folk tradition that combines drumming, dancing, and singing, although drumming is the main focus. It originates from farmers' culture, where people would gather and play together as a village/group, as well as shamanistic rituals. (Korea's got some very interesting shamanistic origins; for example, Queen Seondeok of Silla, one of the most famous rulers, has legends about her reign and her prophecies. But that's a whole 'nother tangent I really shouldn't go off on, since my knowledge there is limited. Anyways: ) An example of a major pungmul, er, event(?) is Jishin Balpki (lit. "stepping on/with the earth spirits"? sorry, my hanja's pretty awful), where groups of players would drum and march/step to chase out bad luck and bring in good luck, usually for the Lunar New Year.
Samulnori, or literally "four-item-play" (四物놀이), is played with four different names, as the name suggests. It is usually performed on stage with the players seated, while pungmul is more outdoors and involves lots of movement. Kind of like comparing an indoors musical ensemble to marching band, I guess. /headscratch
The instruments of samulnori are the janggu, buk, kkwaenggari, and jing, much like pungmul. Pungmul can, however, occasionally include other instruments, but today we're focusing on these four.
Let's start with the kkwaenggari.
The kkwaenggari is the ringleader of the bunch. It's also the hardest to play, despite being a metal bowl thing the size of your hand that you hit with a stick. It is also awesome.bias what bias
See, this thing is loud. Not like oh-man-that-was-pretty-loud-my-ear-kind-of-hurts-loud, but more like stand-six-yards-away-from-it-and-still-feel-like-your-ears-will-bleed-and-die-kind-of-loud. Obnoxious kind of loud. You will eventually go deaf from playing it-kind of loud.
…..bothering Hyung kind of loud.
Well, it kind of has to be loud. It's kind of like the conductor, except it has to be heard above all the other drums and stuff because it's the one that lays out the beat, gives the signals as to what rhythm set is being played, and all sorts of important conductor stuff.
But the kkwaenggari will get harsh to the ears just by itself among the drums. Which is why there's the jing to be its buddy!
The jing is pretty much a big gong. It makes a lovely ringing sound, that when played right can soften the blow of the kkwaenggari's eardrum-bashing and produce a nice overall effect.
The jing player also gets more chances to do cool acrobatic things when doing that cool playing-while-moving thing since its parts are rather limited. Like the sangmo, for example. Y'know, the cool twirly-ribbon-hat thing that moves all cool and stuff.
(here, the sangmo is being performed in a way that leans more to dance than music; that thing he's holding is a sogo, a decorative small drum used as a prop for the acrobatic pieces.)
Speaking of sangmo, the cool twirly motion does not come from violently twisting the head in circles. It comes more from the natural momentum from a gentle bob of the head from the naturally circular rhythms of the pieces played. See, Korea likes threes, as seen by a symbol frequently seen in pungmul, the taegeuk.
(here's an example, seen on the aforementioned sogo.)
The taegeuk is a symbol of the idea that things aren't necessarily split in good/evil or black/white. There's a gray area, or the "neutral". So not only are there protons and electrons, there are neutrons. And we're not talking quarks here, this neutron is very neutral.someone shoot me Everything comes together into balance, hence the circle. (Actually, I probably skipped a large portion of the explanation, sorry. When our teacher explained this I was kind of dying from hunger and was more focused on the muffin in front of me rather than the epic Balance of Good, Evil, and Neutrons.)
Well, anyways. The taegeuk's circularity can be heard in the rhythms played, and when done right, the player can find themselves naturally bobbing to the beat. And we're not talking 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, like Austria's waltzes.
Sorry, Austria. Triangles don't fly here.
Because this.
Is.
KOREAAAAAAAA
……………..I'm sorry, Austria. Korea loves you, really. Where else would all the Korean piano/violin-playin' overachievin' kids go?
But that's enough of that giant tangent. Now we move on to the actual drum drums, starting with the janggu, the double-sided hourglass drum.
The janggu is probably one of the most recognizable cultural icons of Korea. See, not only does it look and sound incredibly cool, it was also used in lots of other musical genres of Korean music. It's got roles in court music, religious ceremonies, etc. etc.
and yes, tying the janggu onto your body like that does hurt like a bitch. if it doesn't hurt, you're doing it wrong.
…The janggu is also considered a form of political protest. Why? Well, the whole folk music tradition is based on the idea of sharing and being a collective and boom de yada love the whole village/everyone in it. When some rather… oppressive leadership set itself in Korea in the past, protesters would stand outside with a janggu as a reminder of what kind of principles Korea was founded on and as a criticism of the methods used by the government. Such actions would lead to arrest, and even death in some cases.
(Drumming is very serious business, indeed.)
The janggu is one of the harder instruments to play, not only because it is double-sided, but because it requires quite a bit of finesse and technique to play well. You could just hit it and make noise on beat, but there are a wide range of sounds the janggu can produce that when played right sound amazing. The mallet, or goong-chae on one side can also cross over to hit the other side, with the occasional spinning and twirling and tossing in the air in the meanwhile. The thinner stick, or yul-chae is what makes the janggu's distinctive sound, however. That thin little stick can make more noises than the other mallet can, and really good players can make it sound like two hands are playing a really fast tempo with just that one little stick. It's mindblowing.
Well, before I start melting in a puddle of fangirl, let's move on to the buk! The buk is basically a big drum thing. It's pretty simple and straightforward, and like the jing supports the kkwaenggari, the buk helps support the janggu. Think of it like altos and sopranos, except minus the bitchy hate towards each other.
It does get its moment to shine, however. To make up for the relative simplicity of the buk's parts in ensemble pieces, it gets solo pieces. Sometimes they're in the middle of a piece (along with a janggu solo), and sometimes they come in the form of buknori, or "drum play". While in samul and pungmul the buk is played with one stick, or chae, buknori can be played with two chae. A buknori can last pretty long, e.g. 8-10min (and that's actually a shortened version of what I know). It may not seem that long, but the sticks are pretty heavy and making distinctive accents in the rhythms means lots of arm strength is needed. (seriously, you get crazy arm muscle. Unless you're me, then you just melt away a bit of that flab. /pokes)
Yes, Korea. You are cool. So is the buk.
And those are the four instruments of samulnori and pungmul! Oftentimes at Chuseok, samulnori groups will perform Yeongnam, which is usually a long piece of different rhythms put together. It all depends on what part of Korea you're from, because different regions will call it different things, rearrange rhythms, add/remove stuff, improvise, add solos, etc.
Here's a video of one example:
Well, that's it from me. Happy Chuseok, everyone!
*note: I've only been playing about a year, so I'm sure I've made some mistakes here and there. If anyone notices any mistakes or discrepancies, please feel free to correct me! Thank you! :D
I really should be studying.
Author/Artist:
muishikiCharacter(s) or Pairing(s): Korea, brief guest appearance from Austria
Rating: PG
Warnings: rambling, bad doodles done in a half-asleep state, and embarrassing geekery
Summary: To celebrate Chuseok, Korea's Autumn Harvest Festival, comes a ramble-y post about Korea's traditional folk music. Mainly samulnori/pungmul geeking.
Hello,
hetalia! Happy Chuseok!Chuseok is a major festival holiday in Korea, where people return to their hometowns to meet with family, pay respects to ancestors, eat delicious food, et cetera. Think of it like Thanksgiving, only Korean and with lots of food. Like songpyeon. Delicious, delicious songpyeon.
[I could eat this stuff all day. ALL DAY.]
With Chuseok comes all sorts of cool traditional things, be it art, dance, cuisine, music, etc.; whatever floats your theoretical Korean's turtle boat. And today we focus on music, or more specifically, pungmul and samulnori.
Both can fall under the broad umbrella of nongak, or literally, "farmers' music."
Pungmul is a folk tradition that combines drumming, dancing, and singing, although drumming is the main focus. It originates from farmers' culture, where people would gather and play together as a village/group, as well as shamanistic rituals. (Korea's got some very interesting shamanistic origins; for example, Queen Seondeok of Silla, one of the most famous rulers, has legends about her reign and her prophecies. But that's a whole 'nother tangent I really shouldn't go off on, since my knowledge there is limited. Anyways: ) An example of a major pungmul, er, event(?) is Jishin Balpki (lit. "stepping on/with the earth spirits"? sorry, my hanja's pretty awful), where groups of players would drum and march/step to chase out bad luck and bring in good luck, usually for the Lunar New Year.
Samulnori, or literally "four-item-play" (四物놀이), is played with four different names, as the name suggests. It is usually performed on stage with the players seated, while pungmul is more outdoors and involves lots of movement. Kind of like comparing an indoors musical ensemble to marching band, I guess. /headscratch
The instruments of samulnori are the janggu, buk, kkwaenggari, and jing, much like pungmul. Pungmul can, however, occasionally include other instruments, but today we're focusing on these four.
Let's start with the kkwaenggari.
The kkwaenggari is the ringleader of the bunch. It's also the hardest to play, despite being a metal bowl thing the size of your hand that you hit with a stick. It is also awesome.
See, this thing is loud. Not like oh-man-that-was-pretty-loud-my-ear-kind-of-hurts-loud, but more like stand-six-yards-away-from-it-and-still-feel-like-your-ears-will-bleed-and-die-kind-of-loud. Obnoxious kind of loud. You will eventually go deaf from playing it-kind of loud.
Well, it kind of has to be loud. It's kind of like the conductor, except it has to be heard above all the other drums and stuff because it's the one that lays out the beat, gives the signals as to what rhythm set is being played, and all sorts of important conductor stuff.
But the kkwaenggari will get harsh to the ears just by itself among the drums. Which is why there's the jing to be its buddy!
The jing is pretty much a big gong. It makes a lovely ringing sound, that when played right can soften the blow of the kkwaenggari's eardrum-bashing and produce a nice overall effect.
The jing player also gets more chances to do cool acrobatic things when doing that cool playing-while-moving thing since its parts are rather limited. Like the sangmo, for example. Y'know, the cool twirly-ribbon-hat thing that moves all cool and stuff.
(here, the sangmo is being performed in a way that leans more to dance than music; that thing he's holding is a sogo, a decorative small drum used as a prop for the acrobatic pieces.)
Speaking of sangmo, the cool twirly motion does not come from violently twisting the head in circles. It comes more from the natural momentum from a gentle bob of the head from the naturally circular rhythms of the pieces played. See, Korea likes threes, as seen by a symbol frequently seen in pungmul, the taegeuk.
(here's an example, seen on the aforementioned sogo.)
The taegeuk is a symbol of the idea that things aren't necessarily split in good/evil or black/white. There's a gray area, or the "neutral". So not only are there protons and electrons, there are neutrons. And we're not talking quarks here, this neutron is very neutral.
Well, anyways. The taegeuk's circularity can be heard in the rhythms played, and when done right, the player can find themselves naturally bobbing to the beat. And we're not talking 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, like Austria's waltzes.
Sorry, Austria. Triangles don't fly here.
Because this.
Is.
KOREAAAAAAAA
……………..I'm sorry, Austria. Korea loves you, really. Where else would all the Korean piano/violin-playin' overachievin' kids go?
But that's enough of that giant tangent. Now we move on to the actual drum drums, starting with the janggu, the double-sided hourglass drum.
The janggu is probably one of the most recognizable cultural icons of Korea. See, not only does it look and sound incredibly cool, it was also used in lots of other musical genres of Korean music. It's got roles in court music, religious ceremonies, etc. etc.
and yes, tying the janggu onto your body like that does hurt like a bitch. if it doesn't hurt, you're doing it wrong.
…The janggu is also considered a form of political protest. Why? Well, the whole folk music tradition is based on the idea of sharing and being a collective and boom de yada love the whole village/everyone in it. When some rather… oppressive leadership set itself in Korea in the past, protesters would stand outside with a janggu as a reminder of what kind of principles Korea was founded on and as a criticism of the methods used by the government. Such actions would lead to arrest, and even death in some cases.
(Drumming is very serious business, indeed.)
The janggu is one of the harder instruments to play, not only because it is double-sided, but because it requires quite a bit of finesse and technique to play well. You could just hit it and make noise on beat, but there are a wide range of sounds the janggu can produce that when played right sound amazing. The mallet, or goong-chae on one side can also cross over to hit the other side, with the occasional spinning and twirling and tossing in the air in the meanwhile. The thinner stick, or yul-chae is what makes the janggu's distinctive sound, however. That thin little stick can make more noises than the other mallet can, and really good players can make it sound like two hands are playing a really fast tempo with just that one little stick. It's mindblowing.
Well, before I start melting in a puddle of fangirl, let's move on to the buk! The buk is basically a big drum thing. It's pretty simple and straightforward, and like the jing supports the kkwaenggari, the buk helps support the janggu. Think of it like altos and sopranos, except minus the bitchy hate towards each other.
It does get its moment to shine, however. To make up for the relative simplicity of the buk's parts in ensemble pieces, it gets solo pieces. Sometimes they're in the middle of a piece (along with a janggu solo), and sometimes they come in the form of buknori, or "drum play". While in samul and pungmul the buk is played with one stick, or chae, buknori can be played with two chae. A buknori can last pretty long, e.g. 8-10min (and that's actually a shortened version of what I know). It may not seem that long, but the sticks are pretty heavy and making distinctive accents in the rhythms means lots of arm strength is needed. (seriously, you get crazy arm muscle. Unless you're me, then you just melt away a bit of that flab. /pokes)
Yes, Korea. You are cool. So is the buk.
And those are the four instruments of samulnori and pungmul! Oftentimes at Chuseok, samulnori groups will perform Yeongnam, which is usually a long piece of different rhythms put together. It all depends on what part of Korea you're from, because different regions will call it different things, rearrange rhythms, add/remove stuff, improvise, add solos, etc.
Here's a video of one example:
Well, that's it from me. Happy Chuseok, everyone!
*note: I've only been playing about a year, so I'm sure I've made some mistakes here and there. If anyone notices any mistakes or discrepancies, please feel free to correct me! Thank you! :D
I really should be studying.
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IS
AWESOME
Korea Sparta-kicking Austria literally made me LOL. I'm sure my roommate was weirded out by my sudden burst of laughter. XD
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(I wish I could read the Korean SFX (?) though.)
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I agree that was really informative! A great combination of photos, drawings, videos, and a certain photomanip. XD
Thanks for the great info, and that last picture is somehow so epic. x3
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I've seen a few pungmul performances, and they're HOLY CRAP AWESOME. Thank you so much for the info on the instruments and such, that just makes it all the more amazing to me. Wish I could go see one to celebrate Chuseok myself, but I suppose having the day off for it is good enough. Also, Sparta!Korea pretty much made my day. XD
Happy Chuseok! :D
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It's so much fun to see culture on another country especially when you come from that country
송편 is totally delicious though *q*
Awwhh, thank you for sharing with us!
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NICE <3
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obligatory "Awesome originated in Korea!" joke hee-hoI'm glad you enjoyed it! I have to say, I had a little too much fun making that picture. xD
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The sfx are just the sounds the instruments make; the kkwaenggari says "kkwaeng kkwaeng", the jing says "ji~ng~", the janggu says "deong", "goong", and "tta", and the buk says "ku"/"kung".
...I hope that makes sense. It probably doesn't, though, ahahah OTL.
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Thank you, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! (and Korea's ahoge is ttly a pro sangmo performer, trufax. xD)
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Seriously, seeing the performances are what made me want to jump in and join them. It's really amazing to experience it first-hand. 8Db
Happy (late) Chuseok to you, too!
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it was my favorite part of writing this post, I'll admit. 8DKorean is a pretty hard language to read/write. I'm from Korea, and I still make spelling mistakes.
it could also be that I am dumb at spelling, which is entirely possible.8Dmmm, delicious traditional food. soooo gooooood.
Thank you, and I'm glad you enjoyed!
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mmmmmmmm, 송편. /craves
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Ooh, another drumming/dancing post! *0* I look forward to seeing it \o/
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