Circulations

Hye Ja Hwang, receiving a "Samulnorian Angel" diploma from the Swissamul Team

I've been asked by my friend Adarsh to upload some music clips to my blog. Of course, it seems only fitting that I'd have tons of music to share here, considering the number of performances that I attend and film on a regular basis. But part of the reason I haven't gone crazy uploading field video here is for ethical reasons, and the other is due to the fact that I'm still in the process of transferring over my video footage to my hard drive. (Um, yes, I need to get going on that before the year is up...)

Here, though, is a short video clip that I shot with my digital camera at the Buyeo SamulNori Festival and Competition in October. I recently shared this with Swissamul and the members of the Buyeo SamulNori Festival Facebook group. The setting for this video was the last morning in Buyeo (10/13/08), just before the 1st prize winning-Swissamul team was to head back to Switzerland, via Seoul. The group dedicated a little tune to their Korean assistant, Hye Ja Hwang, as a token of their appreciation for her hard work during the several days spent in Buyeo. The moment was spontaneous, heartfelt, and speaking for myself, completely memorable.

And, after poking around some Korean websites, I found an already uploaded mp3 file of the Uddari P'ungmul recording, from where this "tune" derives. This composition, which features the singing at the beginning of the track, was performed by the original SamulNori members (Kim Duk Soo, Kim Yong Bae, Lee Kwang Soo, and Choi Jong Sil) in November 1983, during their Asia Society-sponsored US tour.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!