Members of the Happynist SamulNori team pose with the SamulGwangDae teachers. Jang Hyun-jin (pictured top row, second from the left) has been commuting monthly to Geoje Island to teach the group. Shin Mikyung (standing to the right of Jang) is a social worker who started the samulnori group as a form of music therapy.
Here's a follow-up to my last post...During last week's samulnori camp, I had the pleasure of spending time with the Happynist Team (yes, that is a bit of Engrish there) from the Aekwang Institute for persons with physical and developmental disabilities. I've visited the Institute on Geoje Island, and have heard the group perform before. But this time at the camp, I was able to get to know the members of the group by eating meals and snacks together, and just by generally hanging out. They managed to charm me utterly with their humor, generosity, and spirit.
Since the group's founding seven years ago, the Happynist Team has won prizes at competitions, performed throughout Korea and in some overseas countries. They prefer to be recognized on the basis of their musical abilities rather than being associated with any kind of disabilities. I think the following short clip that I took on the final night of the camp testifies convincingly to the former.
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