Among Korean musical terms, there is an expression that goes “one gosu and two myeongchangs.” While gosu refers to the player of a traditional drum called the buk, myeongchang is a master singer. The phrase means that well-played drum enables the singer to feel relaxed and perform to their full ability.

The term rhythm in Western music corresponds to jangdan in Korean traditional music. Jangdan refers to the length or shortness of a beat. All kinds of music are produced by adding various melodies to the basic jangdan, or rhythm. If one comprehends the rhythm of a tune, it’s safe to say that one already has a good grasp of the musical piece.

The traditional musical instruments that control the jangdan are drums such as the buk and the janggu. For lengthy pansori, or narrative singing, the barrel-shaped traditional drum, buk, is played as an accompaniment for the performance. Meanwhile, other folk songs or musical instrument performances are played to the accompaniment of the rhythm of janggu, the hourglass-shaped drum. In today’s edition of Sounds of Korea, we’ll listen to musical pieces related to the traditional drums, buk and janggu, the essential musical instruments behind traditional tunes.



Love Song of Pansori Chunhyangga / Sori by Choi Seung-hui, Buk by Kim Myeong-hwan

Pansori Chunhyangga is based on the love story of a young couple like the story of Romeo and Juliet. However, unlike the Western love story that ends in tragedy, Chunhyang and Yi Mong-ryong overcome obstacles, including differences in social status, and live happily ever after. The music piece you just listened to is the Love Song, featuring narrative singing that depicts the moment the two lovers confirm their feelings for each other.

The pansori of Chunhyangga was performed to the accompaniment of the traditional drum, buk. While the large buk that is one meter in diameter is played for ceremonial rites at Buddhist temples or the palaces, the buk used for pansori are about 40 centimeters in diameter. While the left palm strikes the drum head, the right hand, holding a trimmed wooden stick called the bukchae, produces various reverberations by striking both the animal skin head and the barrel-shaped wooden body.

Meanwhile, the janggu is in charge of the rhythm in all other forms of traditional music. The janggu, with its tapered waist, resembles an hourglass. While one’s palm strikes the head called the gungpyeon, the hand holding a thin bamboo stick called the chae strikes the area called the chaepyeon. Since the two heads of the janggu are covered with different kinds of leather, the drum can render a wider variety of sounds than the buk. Plus, the janggu beats have a lively and lilting feeling. This time, let’s listen to the janggu rhythm that is played to the solo performance of gayageum-sanjo.

Kim Juk-pa Ryu Gayageum-sanjo / Gayageum by Min Mi-ran, Janggu by Kim Cheong-man

Besides the janggu and the buk, other commonly played percussion instruments are the gongs called the jing and the kkwenggwari which are both made from brass. While the jing is about 40 centimeters in diameter, kkwenggwari is half the size of the jing. The sound of jing is low and deep, varying depending on the size, while the smaller kkwenggwari produces a high and lively ringing.

The four percussion instruments – the buk, the janggu, the jing, and the kkwenggwari – are used to play samulnori, the traditional percussion quartet. The folk music originated in the pungmul exorcism that was played during holidays for fun or to boost excitement among workers in farming villages.

Therefore, each percussion instrument symbolizes different weather patterns that are important for farming. The kkwenggwari with its loud and lively sound symbolizes thunder; the jing which embraces other sounds with warmth represents wind; the energetic sound of buk that resonates to the sky indicates the clouds; and the janggu symbolizes rain. As the four percussion instruments produce music in harmony, people played them as they prayed for the right farming weather to last.



Samulnori / Performance by the National Gugak Center’s Samulnori Troupe

Although this thrilling samulnori is well-known worldwide as one of the representative music genres of Korea, as a matter of fact, it made its debut only about 30 years ago. The descendents of touring troupe Yeonhuipae gathered to revive the neglected tradition. They collected ancient melodies and rearranged them for modern stage performance. Since then, more and more young people began to show interest in traditional tunes. So, these days, samulnori pieces can be easily heard wherever a festival is held nationwide.