Abby

One of the many good times we’ve had while practising Yeongnam Samulnori. We’ve had about 7 months of practice before we got to this point, and there’s just so much of joy and energy playing together as a group, along with some jittery times (when we have to play alone 😆!), though there are many, many more of laughter, pretty much like the start of this video.

Samulnori is performed with four traditional Korean musical instruments: a small gong Kkwaenggwari, the larger gong Jing, an hourglass-shaped drum Janggu; and a barrel drum called Buk. The Jing isn’t in this video though.

It’s my first time learning how to play the drums. I’ve never had any experience with it prior to this - an instrument where we beat rhythm without melody, that somehow feels and even sounds melodic eventually. For me, picking up technique was much more challenging than learning new rhythms, so it feels like my effort is discounted when people say “aiya, why need to learn? It’s so easy”. Then again, it actually felt more like an insult to the art of Samulnori 😅

True that I might’ve started off and am still at a very basic level, but it’s somewhere to me. The Saturday nights that we have dedicated to picking up the Janggu and Buk are priceless - we feel happy, and tired yet energised all at the same time. I can’t even believe we made a choice to go every Saturday and felt glad about it every time 😂, considering that’s usually a time for dinner with family and friends.

Well! Onward to Samdo Samulnori we go. We’ve been warned that there will be greater challenges with it, but we know our dear 선생님s will be right there with us 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻!!! (Has anyone seen their arm muscles? 😂 My jaw dropped when they were revealed)

#사물놀이 #영남사물놀이 #samulnori