Do You Know Samulnori, Korean Farmer’s Band?

A lot of foreigners are interested in Korean culture, such as Korean dishes, Korean clothes, and k-pop. However, they don’t know samulnori, Korean Farmer’s band. So I interviewed a leader of ‘놀이패 한마당(Noripae Hanmadang)’, the only samulnori club in Kangwon National University, and I will introduce what samulnori is.

Introduce samulnori club, Noripae Hanmadang.

Noripae Hanmadang is the only samulnori club in Kangwon University. Anyone doesn’t know the reason the name is ‘Noripae Hanmadang’. It is established in 1980 and will be the 40th anniversary in 2020. It started from ‘영그리(Yeonggeuri)’, the dramatic art club in Kangwon National University in 1980. Five years later, it became an independent club. The members play ‘Yeonggwang Udo Nongak’, which is nongak in the western plains of Jeollanam-do. They also dance Palmokjungchum of Bongsan Talchum.

▲Members of Noripae Hanmadang 

What is Samulnori?

Samulnori is one of the pungmul. Deoksu Kim created it in 1978. It is played with four people and four instruments, so the name is samulnori. ‘Sa’ means four, ‘mul’ means object, and ‘nori’ means amusement in Korean. Kkwaenggwari, buk, jing, and janggu are the four instruments. They are Korean traditional instruments. Kkwaenggwari is made of brass and is played with a stick. We call it because kkwaenggwari sounds ‘kkwaeng kkwaeng’ when it is played. Buk is a Korean drum. Jing is made of brass, is played with a stick, and is bigger than kkwaenggwari. Janggu is percussion and seems like sandglass. A player is called ‘chibae’ in samulnori. 상쇠(Sangsoe), a leader of kkwaenggwari chibae, sends a signal and leads the band with 부쇠(busoe) who assists sangsoe. Sangjanggu, a leader of janggu, plays the same role as sangsoe. Subuk is a leader of the buk, but it is not used, usually.

▲The instrument you can see is jangu

What is the most memorable festival?

Noripae Hanmadang took part in many festivals. ‘Hongcheon Hanwoo Festival’ was the most memorable. It was on october fifth to sixth., 2019. The members played nongak like background music in the festival at first. Heads of village gave them makgeolli, Korean rice wine, so they got drunk and danced ganggangsulae, Korean traditional circle dance. They enjoyed the festival for the best.

▲Picture taken on Hongcheon Hanwoo Festival

Invite you to the regular performance of Noripae Hanmadang.

There will be regular performance of Noripae Hanmadang at Grand Playground on Thursday, November 21st, 2019, at 6 pm. You can see a fantastic performance there. Imagine that the members play the kkwaenggwari, jing, buk, and janggu excitedly. 

Jeong Ji Eun

<jje00227@kangwon.ac.kr>