SamulNori: Rhythm ‘N’ Seoul

In October 1994, I watched a performance of ‘Yŏnggo /Sacred Drum’ at the magnificent new Opera House in the Seoul Arts Center (Yesul ŭi Chŏndang). ‘Sacred Drum’ was billed in the local press as a post-modernist expression of Korea’s coming of age, as an extravaganza of dance, theatre and music. 1 The musical director was Kim Duk Soo [Kim Tŏksu], a founder member of the SamulNori percussion quartet. Press releases talked of a ‘total crossover’ that mixed ‘American jazz, Jamaican reggae, and Korean music and stories’. My suspicions were roused, since in Korea this sort of hype is primarily designed to attract and satisfy a domestic urban audience. I watched the performance with a group of foreign friends; the discovery that the event was anchored in the retelling of a stereotypical fairy tale led to their bemusement and disappointment. In a global age, how could ‘Sacred Drum’ compete? After all, in Europe and America, the 1990s were to see multi-genre collages such as Steve Reich’s (b.1936) ‘The Cave’ (1993), Tan Dun’s (b.1957) ‘Red Forecast’ (1996) and ‘The Gate’ (1999), and myriad expansions and explosions of symphonic and operatic forms. I asked my question in a review I had been commissioned to write for the Korea Times , but the review was never published.