Of late, the Grammy winning Latin pop diva Shakira, on such hit shows like Dancing With The Stars, has been presenting some of her more popular songs with the backup of traditional Korean female drummers. Shakira’s decision to use these particular musicians and their instruments in a modern situation and sound reflects the international music scene’s growing impressed awareness that traditional Korean instruments and their artists have created some new and dynamic ground breaking musical motifs.
These creative musicians who are taking these bold innovative steps are doing much more than merely playing popular tunes with traditional Korean instruments. They have evolved a unique sound by, in part, not just doing something traditionally Korean in style, but infusing the music and it’s making with what is quintessentially their living culture. This transformative use of the traditional instruments and sounds has made its influence felt throughout various popular music genres.
In the 80’s, surprisingly enough, heavy metal music dominated the pop charts in Korea. One of the venerable leaders of that cutting edge movement was the band Black Hole. This internationally respected group is credited with creating a truly Asian/Korean heavy metal sound. Black Hole’s founder/songwriter/vocalist Ju Sang Gyoon nicely articulated the origins of their sound, “Originally, we mainly mimicked the German heavy metal sound, then moved on to, sort of, copying the British/American style. We were always trying to develop our own distinct music. Somewhere along the way, our original drummer Eung (Kim Eung Yoon) thought of incorporating traditional drum patterns and rhythms into our songs. We didn’t try to play modern music to traditional beats. Instead, we took its essence and filtered it through our own senses.” Today, Black Hole’s distinctive style is considered a major influence on Asia’s heavy metal scene
Early hip hop artists like the legendary Seo Taiji and Yuk Kah Soo were known to bring into their work the influences from traditional music such as pansori or nongak (farmer’s music). But it was the b-boys themselves performing along with tradition instruments and music mingled with the hip hop beat that spread the new format. These fusion concerts are now found being held in almost every community center in Korea. Some of the more famous teams (most who have toured abroad) are People Crew, Gambler, Extreme Crew and Last For One. Some Last’s members performed for an apartment company’s commercial and its video when viral internationally on YouTube. It was all done to the well known music of Pachelbel’s Canon and was played mainly by a gayageum (a 12 string instrument) with some Western classical music riffs and a beat box. Together with the fine break dancing it became exquisite harmony and a global hit. This musical marriage has become so popular that it spawned a musical hit show entitled The Ballerina and the B-Boy.
The musical performance group most identified with this traditional rhythm and hip hop mixture is SOREA (though they also use R&B and Rock genres as well). The name is a combination of the words “sori” (“sound”) and “Korea,” together meaning “Sound Of Korea.” This 12 female member ensemble doesn’t consider its music simply “fusion”, but that it is “trendy traditional music. It’s traditional music that has evolved.” This multi-award winning group has performed worldwide. In 2011, SOREA won Best Cultural Award at the first European K-pop Awards presentations (Germany) in the “So-Loved Awards” section. The award is voted on by European fans. Essentially, SOREA launched the international traditional instrument powered K-pop music trend.
Among the currently 200 traditional groups existing, the one called Miji is making a considerable impact on the K-pop scene with music that has come to be labeled as “fusion gugak (traditional music).” Their name means “unexpected world” and this 8 girl collaboration have been called by many as the ‘Girls Generation of Gugak’. Rightly so, as they are also beautiful, talented, plus, produce outstanding synergistic music. Shin Hui Seon of the group stated, “Our group is a kind that didn’t exist before. I hope people will see how Korean classical sounds can be transformed and integrated with pop music.”
Miji had produced a hit song entitled (English title Don’t Cry, Korean meaning is “to desperately long for someone”) and they appeared on the prestigious KBS popular weekly music program which was quite uncommon for such a group as the show is usually dominated by idol bands or dance singers. Miji is a qualified crossover success, but Shin just wanted to add, “We would like do away with the Girls’ Generation nickname and rather be known as a beautiful and talented traditional music group.”
These creative musicians who are taking these bold innovative steps are doing much more than merely playing popular tunes with traditional Korean instruments. They have evolved a unique sound by, in part, not just doing something traditionally Korean in style, but infusing the music and it’s making with what is quintessentially their living culture. This transformative use of the traditional instruments and sounds has made its influence felt throughout various popular music genres.
In the 80’s, surprisingly enough, heavy metal music dominated the pop charts in Korea. One of the venerable leaders of that cutting edge movement was the band Black Hole. This internationally respected group is credited with creating a truly Asian/Korean heavy metal sound. Black Hole’s founder/songwriter/vocalist Ju Sang Gyoon nicely articulated the origins of their sound, “Originally, we mainly mimicked the German heavy metal sound, then moved on to, sort of, copying the British/American style. We were always trying to develop our own distinct music. Somewhere along the way, our original drummer Eung (Kim Eung Yoon) thought of incorporating traditional drum patterns and rhythms into our songs. We didn’t try to play modern music to traditional beats. Instead, we took its essence and filtered it through our own senses.” Today, Black Hole’s distinctive style is considered a major influence on Asia’s heavy metal scene
Early hip hop artists like the legendary Seo Taiji and Yuk Kah Soo were known to bring into their work the influences from traditional music such as pansori or nongak (farmer’s music). But it was the b-boys themselves performing along with tradition instruments and music mingled with the hip hop beat that spread the new format. These fusion concerts are now found being held in almost every community center in Korea. Some of the more famous teams (most who have toured abroad) are People Crew, Gambler, Extreme Crew and Last For One. Some Last’s members performed for an apartment company’s commercial and its video when viral internationally on YouTube. It was all done to the well known music of Pachelbel’s Canon and was played mainly by a gayageum (a 12 string instrument) with some Western classical music riffs and a beat box. Together with the fine break dancing it became exquisite harmony and a global hit. This musical marriage has become so popular that it spawned a musical hit show entitled The Ballerina and the B-Boy.
The musical performance group most identified with this traditional rhythm and hip hop mixture is SOREA (though they also use R&B and Rock genres as well). The name is a combination of the words “sori” (“sound”) and “Korea,” together meaning “Sound Of Korea.” This 12 female member ensemble doesn’t consider its music simply “fusion”, but that it is “trendy traditional music. It’s traditional music that has evolved.” This multi-award winning group has performed worldwide. In 2011, SOREA won Best Cultural Award at the first European K-pop Awards presentations (Germany) in the “So-Loved Awards” section. The award is voted on by European fans. Essentially, SOREA launched the international traditional instrument powered K-pop music trend.
Among the currently 200 traditional groups existing, the one called Miji is making a considerable impact on the K-pop scene with music that has come to be labeled as “fusion gugak (traditional music).” Their name means “unexpected world” and this 8 girl collaboration have been called by many as the ‘Girls Generation of Gugak’. Rightly so, as they are also beautiful, talented, plus, produce outstanding synergistic music. Shin Hui Seon of the group stated, “Our group is a kind that didn’t exist before. I hope people will see how Korean classical sounds can be transformed and integrated with pop music.”
Miji had produced a hit song entitled
