Junghyun Choi’s ‘Cool Beat of Korea’

Date: Monday 3 June 2013, 7:30-8:30 pm.
Venue: Lucas Lecture Theatre [formerly G2], SOAS Main Building.
Tickets: Free admission. Guests are admitted from 7 pm to be seated for 7.30pm

Dulsori
Dulsori in action at the British Museum in 2007. Photo by Samuel Cho

This is an attractive and dynamic drumming concert offered by SOAS Korean Drumming Society this cool summer.

Our society performs samulnori, a contemporary genre of percussion music that developed from the music of traditional Korean percussion bands and which now forms a significant aspect of the musicscape of today’s Korea. Performers use the four core percussion instruments: two gongs – the small kkwaenggwari and the large ching, and two drums – the hourglass-shaped changgo and the barrel-shaped buk. Based at SOAS for more than ten years, we run a weekly practice session, organize regular instrumental workshops, and have performed at various cultural events.

For this concert, our society will play various styles ranging from taegum sanjo, (accompanied by changgo), to a samulnori-fusion improvisation for piano and changgo, to sŏnban (a form of changgo-playing from a standing position), to standards of the samulnori repertoire. These will be presented by Korean music specialist and the founder of our group, Prof. Keith Howard (drum accompaniment, changgo), and our instructor and the founder of international Korean traditional percussion group ‘Dulsori’, Jeung Hyun Choi (kkwaenggwari, changgo). Also performing are: Hyelim Kim (taegum), Dr. Shzr Ee Tan (piano, changgo, buk), Suji Kim (sŏnban, changgo), Ruard Absaroka (changgo, buk), Seyoung Jeong (changgo), Hyunseok Kwon (changgo), Inyoung Pak (changgo), and Kazumi Taguchi (changgo, ching).

Welcome to Cool Beat of Korea!

One thought on “Junghyun Choi’s ‘Cool Beat of Korea’”

  1. Hi there. My taekwondo club has organised an attempt to break the world record for the biggest taekwondo demonstration. It will take place on 13 October at 12pm in Coventry city centre in the west midlands and will be televised. We are having a number of demonstrations and would love to have some Korean music as part of the entertainment. Would this be something you might be interested in taking part in? The event is in aid of cancer research uk, which is one of the worldwide leaders into cancer research. We also have jade jones, Olympic gold medallist, leading the warm up and taking place in the demonstration and it promises to be a hugely exciting afternoon with lots of publicity for the various participants. We would be thrilled if any of your members could be part of it!

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