There are many musical instruments from prehistoric eras made of animal bones. The Korean Central History Museum in Pyongyang has a Bronze Age bone flute made of an avian leg bone, one of the oldest musical relics found in the Korean Peninsula. We can’t help but wonder what kind of sound it would make. In Tibet it is believed that a human soul would rest in peace if that person’s bones were used to make a musical instrument. With all due respect, however, we can’t help feeling a bit uneasy about playing an instrument made of human bones. So, ancient Koreans used eight kinds of materials to make their musical instruments, creating eight different sounds. Those are iron, rock, string, bamboo, gourd, clay, leather, and wood. Iron and rocks were used to make bells and clear-sounding instruments like chimes. There was a clay-based instrument shaped like an urn named “bu,” which was usually played in special ceremonies. The most widely used material for wind instruments was bamboo. Since daegeum and flutes were made out of bamboo stalks, the titles of music pieces for wind instruments include “dae,” meaning bamboo. The piece you are about to hear is called “Daepungnyu,” which is roughly translated into “music made by wind instruments.”

Daepungnyu / Park Yong-ho, Kim Young-jae, etc.

That was “Daepungnyu” with Park Yong-ho박용호 at the daegeum, Kim Young-jae김영재 at the haegeum, Park Seung-ryul박승률 and Choi Kyung-man최경만 at the piri, Jang Duk-hwa장덕화 at the janggu, and Kim Dong-won김동원 at the drum. All the melodies in this piece are played by bamboo-based instruments. Bamboo is used to make the bodies of daegeum and piri and the sound box of haegeum. The double-sided drum, janggu, is played with bamboo sticks. Even Korea’s iconic string instrument geomungo is plucked with a bamboo stick called “suldae술대.” Bamboo stalks are hollow but strong, and easy to shape because they are quite malleable. Bamboo trees grow in abundance in southern regions of Korea. It’s one of the favorite trees of Korean scholars, because it represents integrity and steadfastness by staying green throughout the year and always growing up straight. Ancient musicians must have thought that instruments made of bamboo trees would also make a clean, pure sound. An ancient Korean history book recorded that during the Unified Silla period a bamboo instrument named “Manpasikjeok만파식적” had a magical power that relieved droughts and floods, and even fought off enemy armies and cured diseases.

Cheongseongjajinhanip / Daegeum by Cho Chang-hoon

Daegeum master Cho Chang-hoon presented a piece called “Cheongseongjajinhanip.” Saenghwang생황 is another bamboo instrument known to make a mystical sound. A small, round gourd is dried and several thin bamboo pipes of varying lengths are embedded in it to make a saenghwang. It is played much like a pan flute, by blowing into the pipes. Each bamboo pipe is lined with a thin steel plate, so when a person blows into the pipes, the steel plates resonate to create an enchanted sound. Ancient Koreans thought that was the sound of the mythical phoenix or the music played by sinseon신선 or godly beings. In Chinese mythology, saenghwang is an instrument made by the goddess Nuwa, the creator of human beings, to bring joy to the lives of her creations. This week’s Sounds of Korea will conclude with a saenghwang performance of “Oblivion” by Kim Hyo-young.

Oblivion/ Saenghwang by Kim Hyo-young