Bongsan Talchum Performance

December 17th, 2010
In the morning I went to Severance Hospital –again- and yet by the evening my ear was almost as painful as it’s been at any time during this whole long annoying infection. And the new pills he’s trying on me cost way too much- 70 bucks or so- if Karjam hadn’t insisted I wouldn’t have picked them up.

In the evening I went to 무형문화재선수회관의 풍류극장 the Pungryu Geukjang (theatre) at the Training Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage to see a performance of 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum with 양은석 Yang Eunseok and two of his co-workers. Eunseok is a friend from summer 2009 at 임실필봉농악전수관 Imshil Pilbong Nongak Training Center. He’s amazingly talented, both as a drummer and notably as a singer of 민요 minyo. If only he would stop smoking! As usual the advertising materials existed for the performance but they’d done a horrible job of getting the word out. I didn’t even know about the performance until Monday, even though I’m in the building week after week. On the evening of the performance there were posters (even free ones for the guests) and bookmark-like cards to advertise the show around the building, but considering that the foot traffic is not the highest, such advertising materials need to go out in advance, as far in advance as possible (in my opinion). More directed advertising can focus on a few days before but passive advertising such as distributing cards needs to be out there so attendees at other shows can pick them up weeks in advance.

The performance began with an introduction by 박상운 Bak Sang-un and two musical performances- 대금산조 Daegeum Sanjo followed by a 해금 독주 Solo Haegeum piece. Both were performed by younger members of the group. The performance was 사상좌춤 Sa-sangjwa dance, 발목중춤 the scene of the 8 dark-faced monks (with solos by the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 8th monk), 노장춤 the Old Monk’s dance and 사자춤 the lion dance. I video-taped the two middle pieces, since I don’t think I have the Old Monk’s dance and I’ve ruined previous performance videotapes of the dark-faced monks by being too excited about the performance and speaking the 대사 daesa monologues with the monks loud enough for the camera to pick up the sound. Either Bak Sang-un or in one case the National Human Treasure 김애선 Kim Aeseon spoke between acts, and their announcing was very rich—I will have to transcribe it (or get it transcribed) for future analysis- very rich indeed.

Friday morning dawned snowy. This is the view down our break-neck (esp. when icy) hill from our stairs. Karjam shows off his facial hair. I show off the clean hair on my head (if only I didn't get more water in my ear...)

Learning Arts from Clubs

December 16th, 2010
On Thursday Karjam went with me to 봉천놀이마당 Bongcheon Noli Madang. We had a good turnout for practice, though 장미이 Jang Mi’i was a bit late and 선우 Seonu reviewed with us for the first twenty minutes of class. After class, as usual, we exchanged our views on how class was going—although some people feel it’s hard and one seems about to give up (he even sat out the second half of class whether because it was physically exhausting or because it was frustrating, I’m not sure), most people express that it’s fun, interesting or enjoyable (the three most common vocabulary words they use). We spent more than half the class dancing in a circle, which is how the beginning exercises are done at 고성오광대 Goseong Ogwangdae’s training as well. Dancing in a circle is much harder, especially since we change directions and even if the teacher is in front of you while going one direction, she’ll be behind for part of it as well. I am actually really enjoying the class and feel very comfortable with the Goseong motions, also, if I just practiced a little more I know I’d be able to do the entire thing from memory. This is fortunate as we have a sort of graduation presentation where we show what we’ve learned on the 28th. I am not sure if I will participate or not, since it’s usually a day for 상모 sangmo.

With my dissertation support group I’ve started to write daily to start fleshing out parts of my dissertation-to-be. I wrote this paragraph which is somewhat related to Bongcheon Noli Madang. There is a lot more after this paragraph, but I’ll share this for now as it’s more related and because part of what’s next is notes on who to interview and what to ask
–Comments welcome-

Perhaps the most promising method of arts teaching/learning for widespread dissemination of traditional performing arts knowledge is the club setting. Clubs bring a group of people together to socialize in this case through the learning and performing of traditional performing arts. The clubs generally welcome any interested party and group activities extend beyond practice and performance to, in particular, group drinking parties. Clubs for school and university students are generally called dongari, and at best they will have their own room for storage and meetings with the ability to request rehearsal space at the school. If the club is for adults, outside of a school, then the club generally has a rented room or rooms. In the club setting the members of the club generally contribute funds which are managed by a club financial officer. If the club has a rented room, such as Bongcheon Noli Madang or the group Beodulrim I drummed with from 1999 to 2003, these fees are rather assigned to rent, electricity, an honorarium for the teacher and other expenses. Many such adult clubs have two types of fees, one for the members of the club who join together for business meetings and make decisions related to the activities of the club, and one for short-term students, who pay a higher monthly fee. Members may pay fees even if they have quit active participation for a number of years, but may drop in on any class or meeting anytime they want.

Sangmo Class at 2pm

December 14th, 2010
Ran around all day. I went to Severance Hospital –again- because my ear infection has flared into pain again. I got a new ear doctor because my regular guy wasn’t in and this guy thinks I need to stop with the ear drops and let the inside of my ear dry out. Got a cable at the electronics market.

Starting at 2 I had an early 상모 sangmo class. These days it’s only 현석 Hyeonseok and I in the class, and we were both able to come at 2, but 이종휘 Yi Jonghui was not going to be able to teach us at the normal time so we rescheduled. Since Hyeonseok is having his final exams now, school ends around noon (after exams in the morning). Karjam came to class and videotaped the entire thing. For some reason I felt camera shy. Weird! I continued to work on movement and 소고 sogo movement/drumming while spinning the sangmo, but I felt a little uncoordinated.

Mom, brother Zack, sister-in-law Irene and niece Juniper’s holiday package arrived. We got awesome hand-made cards from Juniper and a new drawing for our refrigerator. Some great clothes from Ibex, Karjam got a book for a computer program and I got this amazing handmade quilted vest from my mom! There are even some stuffed socks left over for next week!

Since I had the evening free we went to the movies and saw the new Narnia film in 4D (3D plus moving chairs which even poke your butt and back! Mist and wind that spray on you and even scented air, Karjam commented that we’d better go home and wash our faces). It was heavy-handed with the Christianity compared to what I remember from the books. Not a very good movie, actually, if it wasn’t for the 4D aspect I would have been bored. Karjam fell asleep.

In other news it seems I have scheduled three weeks of January (2nd, 3rd and 4th) to be out of town practicing first 임실필봉농악 Imshil Pilbong Nongak for a week and then 고성오광대 Goseong Ogwangdae for two weeks.

December 15th, 2010
I met up with Jenny and Shannon in the morning as I’m trying to organize a dissertation writing support group. We had coffee and talked for a LONG time. Shannon drove me home.

We Hatch Plans to Perform Bongsan Talchum

December 13th, 2010
봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum was mostly ordinary, there were two exceptional points. 1) We got two new total novices who need to learn from the beginning, it’s been a long time since we’ve had people so fresh. 2) We (the advanced students) decided that we were going to mount a performance before 선영 Seonyeong leaves (January 23rd). This means we may even be meeting to rehearse on the weekends.

I uploaded some videos to Youtube; two entire scenes from 양주별산대Yangju Byeolsandae, three videos since one of the scenes is so long. I did it to help 원중 Wonjung but you might find it interesting, too. [First, Second, Third video]

Performance at KOUS

December 12th, 2010
Karjam and I went to a performance at KOUS with eight big name Korean Traditional genre dancers performing. I wasn’t sure we’d go until the last minute, then everything worked against us getting there on time (like there was a huge fire on a construction site next to the road so there was a huge traffic jam) and we missed part of the first piece. But I think it was worth the 20,000 won tickets. If Karjam knew they were 20,000 each I don’t think he’d agree, his feeling is that the dancers are too old, that it would be better to watch young beautiful men or women dancing. I was amazed throughout the entire performance at how young each dancer moved (most were in their 70s, the youngest were in their 60s or perhaps late 50s). I sometimes feel that some of the older performers need to retire from active performance and let their protégé take the spotlight, but I would only say that was true for two out of the eight soloists and my feeling may be tinged by my (lesser) interest in the specific dances those two were doing.

There was an MC, the same excellent MC as did Saturday at the mask dance festival in late October, 진옥섭 Jin Okseop. He’s really great, but part of his introductions to the pieces were joking and playful, not necessarily usefully contextualizing. In fact I felt he needed to include more basic information, although for an audience willing to spend between 10 and 30 dollars to see that performance, well, the audience was already pretty familiar with Korean performing arts, they had a certain level of knowledge, I’m assuming, so perhaps he was just trying to avoid talking down to anyone.

The best performance was of 도살풀이 Do-salpuri. The dance is one that I am pretty tired of seeing, as I’ve mentioned before, and there were three salpuri performances (호남살풀이, 살풀이, 도살풀이) during the evening, but the one danced by 양길순 Yang Gilsun, the Do-salpuri was really amazingly beautiful. Do-salpuri uses a very long scarf, instead of a shorter one or even two scarves. Yang's dance was full of feeling, much more and I think the audience would have been crying. I was also really surprised by the lively, fast, flirtatious performance of 태평무 Taepyeongmu by 이명자 Yi Myeongja, despite her stage make-up Yi looked positively ancient, but her dancing was that of a twenty-year-old. She was just spell-binding. I had gone expecting to be most impressed by a couple of the other performances, it was nice to have my expectations exceeded in the case of the two performers mentioned above.

After the show Karjam and I bought a pair of shoes for him to exercise in, and I bought a couple presents.

Photo: Yang Gilsun's Do-salpurichum:

Photo: Karjam with the wasteful but pretty lights on the trees outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel

Back to Seoul and Songpa Sandae Noli

December 11th, 2010
We woke up and packed and left for the bus station without either Jinhong or Georgy waking up. The ride back to Seoul was uneventful. However as soon as we got off the bus it was apparent that the temps in Seoul were well below freezing. When we got to our apartment and turned on the boiler, it said it was 7 degrees Celsius inside! Dang!

I quickly changed and rushed to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli for our last rehearsal of 2010. The KTV guy, contrary to my expectations (but true to his word) came back. We had a full turn out of all the folks at rehearsal, but first 이병옥교수님 Professor Yi Byeong’ok gave us a short lecture on Songpa Sandae Noli. Increasingly as he talked you could see that 함완식 Ham Wanshik (the National Human Treasure and dominant personality, while Yi is the rank below) wanted to butt in, he had things that he thought needed to be explained. Fortunately since he’d set up the agenda after awhile he was able to take center stage, first he began by filling in what he perceived to be needed gaps in Yi’s explanation (principally he talked about how the area changed with the flood in the 1920s and so on). Then he went off, like last week, about how 삼현육각 Samhyeon yuk’gak music includes 가야금 gayageum and what not. After a long explanation he asked the music experts in the room if he was right, at which point one of them was brave enough to try to say he was not, but Ham only partially listened to his opinion. I think this situation was complicated by having the KTV guy filming everything. Bad enough to object to something privately, worse in front of the group, even worse to be caught on camera objecting to what someone has said.

We then had basic exercises with an almost full musical accompaniment, followed by a rehearsal of scene 4, 북놀이 Buk Noli. The scene was rehearsed twice, first with sort of the standard group acting out the parts, then 양흥기 Yang Heunggi and 함승훈 Ham Seunghun played the main roles for a second run through of the main parts of the act. Ham Seunghun needed to hold the 대사집 script book in his hand as he rehearsed. Next they rehearsed 말뚝이놀이 Malddugi’s Scene, but didn’t really switch things up so we could get done and leave (Ham Wanshik had told people we’d be done at 4 but we weren’t and people were starting to get restive).

We all went to a restaurant for dinner, it was just a short walk away and I walked with 서병무 Seo Byeongmu. I really like him when he’s not drunk and trying to speak English to me, when he’s sober his English is not that bad (but he doesn’t speak it to me when he’s sober, only to Karjam). Koreans are often very reticent about their English ability until they get drunk, thinking that their English is better just because they’re not so embarrassed to try to speak. Sad, really, because no one speaks better after they’re drunk than when they’re sober.

I arrived before “my” crowd which was a bit awkward, but after 김영숙 Kim Yeongsuk arrived she moved around where everyone was sitting until I ended up with 탄종원 Tahn Jongwon, the videographer (안석재 An Seokjae), and the 해금 haegeum player (윤지희 Yun Jihee), with Kim Yeongsuk, 이연순 Yi Yeonsun, 전경희 Jeon Gyeonghee and 장규식 Jang Gyushik next to us. We toasted the end of the year and to Songpa Sandae Noli’s success in the next year.

Yang Heunggi drove me to 용산 Yongsan since he had the night shift at the hospital.


Photos of rehearsal 1st Tahn Jongwon rehearses Buk Noli, 2nd Ham Seunghun with the script book, 3rd Malddugi (김명하 Kim Myeongha) drives out the yangban (Jang Gyushik is the last in the line of yangban)




At the restaurant:

Two More Days of Hapkido

December 9th, 2010
We visited 유미 Yoomi’s dad at his camera shop and he cleaned my sensor for free while I was there (I also picked up some filters and a new strap). It was sad talking to him about what a hit his business has taken from online shopping. Especially considering how much of the online stuff is somewhat or all fake and how often these people later need service on their camera gear and have to pay through the teeth since they don’t get any A/S on online sales…


Then Karjam bought me two new pairs of glasses for my birthday and we went to 합기도 Hapkido.

I met the kid who’ll be my partner for the test, or rather I re-met him. I’ve known him since he was four. Okay, that’s just weird, right? Then some other girls I’ve taught before (who are now 2nd dan) came in and were all excited to see me. I didn’t really remember them, either. Seriously, when you see them and they are tiny and then you see them and they probably have boyfriends, it’s really hard to skip through all the intervening years.

I was there and exercising for five hours, which was about four hours more than my body wanted. I did a lot of falls, including running, leaping and rolling (length and height), kicking practice (I can see what I need to go back and polish, but the cool thing is I only need to do things on my good side, it’s not like I have to do kicks equally well with both legs. Not that there is a large difference, but still, it’s a source of comfort not to have to train hard on both sides. I also was able to work up to full speed on some of the cane and belt techniques, then the 관장님 Gwanjangnim taught me to use the staff some. Why do I have to use these three? The staff will need the most practice of all.

Near the end of the evening I was just sort of sitting and having a rest while I watched the Gwanjangnim teach and I started thinking about how he was teaching and how martial arts are taught in Korea (very successfully, obviously, with large numbers of students) and I started contemplating how and why the traditional arts are taught differently—something I hope to pursue more later on as I write my dissertation.

December 10th, 2010
I went to 합기도 Hapkido again, but my partner had too many final exams to show up, so I mostly worked on the staff by myself (something I could do in Seoul, too, so I felt it was a waste of time). Karjam doesn’t want to go back to Seoul until tomorrow, so that’s what’s happening.

Foreigner Only Taxis

Why do “Foreigner Only” taxis make me angry? [For the Korean translation by my friend, please follow this link.]

Okay, maybe angry is not the correct word choice here, but honestly every time I see one of the new taxi cabs running around Seoul that say boldly on their doors “Foreigners Only” with the word “English” prominently displayed I grit my teeth. Seriously, we already had the system by which the taxi driver could use his cell phone (yes, all taxi drivers have cell phones) to call for free translation in several different languages, day or night. So why do we need to now assert that certain taxis are off limits to regular Korean passengers?

What country are we in, anyway?

Right, the Republic of Korea. This place where people speak Korean. Which is not (by numbers of native speakers) a minor language. Not that that makes a difference, I’m just saying it’s not like learning the language recently discovered in India that all of about 800 people speak. It’s Korean. (Just in case you were curious, according to a widely disputed Wikipedia list of languages by number of native speakers worldwide, Korean is # 18). So, Korean. One of the most spoken languages in the world, in a vibrant country that by almost all measures is a first-world developed nation (despite the number of people who still seem to be hung up on calling it “developing”), yet because a few Western people come here on tours (a very very few) and a few Westerners live here in business, English teaching or military positions for the most part, Koreans suddenly think they need to bend over backwards to accommodate the English speakers (despite more Chinese and Japanese tourists and business people than all Westerners, English speaking or not, plus the increasingly large number of long-term residents from elsewhere in Asia including Vietnamese modern-day picture-brides).

Korea is really excited about becoming a “multicultural society” (it’s been a big buzz word/phrase the past couple years) yet they never seem to consider that many of their efforts towards multi-culturalism are efforts that defeat multi-culturalism. I have never seen in America anything like a “Foreigners Only” sign on a taxi. You can have a French language kindergarten, or Chinese immersion program in grade school (my friend has her daughter in one of these, they try to teach several subjects in Chinese) but you can’t deny children from any background enroll in them (my friend’s daughter is blue-eyed and blond-haired). The American government and employers don’t try to coerce their foreign employees into using those special set-ups (though of course companies probably tell their employees about all local schooling options). Yet in Korea they’re now trying to set up special schools to take half-Korean kids (the sons and daughters of the rural men who tend to marry women from less economically powerful parts of Asia when the Korean women all say “heck no” to living on a farm with rice and chili peppers and aging in-laws) and special pre-school and kindergarten classes for the children of the foreign professors at Seoul National University. Uh, hello. Do you really think you’ll defeat the prejudices and preconceptions of the “ethnically homogenous” Korean people by keeping Korean kids separated from the foreign and half-Korean kids? Multi-cultural means you allow people to interact and hopefully to learn that they're not so different from each other after all, not that you set them apart.

A million years ago I worked at a pre-school and kindergarten in Seattle that took half its kids from the at-risk and differently abled population (it was called Northwest Center for the Retarded, now it has dropped the end of the name), we had kids who lived in cars with their parents and kids with autism, cerebral palsy, etc. Each classroom had at least one aide who was high-functioning but disabled. I worked with the coolest guy, Randy. He was autistic and really into ferries, and since my hometown is an island… well, I was in with him from day one as we chatted about the car capacity, current run (ex. Vashon to Seattle or San Juans to Anacortes) and the year of commission and shipyard in which various ferries were built. But the point was that half the kids were totally “normal” and the center even had a waiting list and it had to use a lottery system to let kids in! And all those kids learned that people come in different stripes and they learned how to help and be compassionate and interact normally with each other. It was really inspiring. Dietary restrictions aside, they all shared the same snacks and nap times and games and went out on the playground at the same time.

If Korea really wanted to become a multicultural society, they’d learn to how to interact with different people without making a big production out of it (including their own disabled people most of whom are invisible as they’re too shameful to the families to go out, or kept in group homes because no one in their family wants to take care of them). They wouldn’t try to compartmentalize anyone who was sort of different into separate taxis or residences or schools.

Yesterday I was walking through downtown Daegu and I saw four middle-school girls in their awkward school uniforms. They were laughing and joking around excitedly in outdoor voices, one of them was a towering blond girl. They were all speaking Korean. Korea, that’s the future you should want. Even back in the day (50+ years ago) foreigners who were in Korea would enroll their kids in Korean schools. It's up to the parents to decide if they want to spend mass-bucks on the private schools the government seems so in favor of. The foreign schools in Korea are an option that seems most attractive to new arrivals (with kids a little too old to learn Korean by immersion) and rich Koreans (determined their children will have a leg up if they learn in a western atmosphere), but these schools do very little to promote multiculturalism.

And if you want to achieve it, stop bending over backwards to “help” foreigners feel comfortable in your country. Realize that most of the foreigners and somewhat foreign (like the half Koreans) in this country just want to go through their day with the least acknowledgement of their foreign-ness possible. Even if they can’t speak Korean well, they just want to go where they are going and do what they need to do without anyone acting uncomfortable to see a foreigner in front of them, without any children pointing or screaming “hi, hi, hi” until they get a response and they prefer the store clerk to use normal Korean manners instead of silently shoving a calculator with the price in their face. And try (I know it’s hard) to understand that you may see someone who looks foreign but doesn’t feel that they are a foreigner. There are many half-Korean people who in fact were raised in Korea or raised culturally Korean, and they definitely don’t want to be singled out in each interaction as a foreigner. Err on the side of assuming the person in front of you wants you to act the same way you acted to the previous guest in your restaurant, the last customer at your counter and how you act towards almost every other person you see on the street.

There are Pakistanis who have lived here 20 years, Germans who speak better Korean than most Korean college kids and academics who have devoted their life to studying Korea. Statistically speaking, unless you live near a military base most of the foreigners you see will be in the process of learning Korean (and if you're a foreigner in Korea and you're reading this and you think this isn't true, remember, not everyone is getting paid to teach English, there are many other foreigners). When in doubt, just pretend you already live in multicultural society, the multicultural society of Korea, where the language is Korean. Embrace multiculturalism and interact in no special way what-so-ever.




Want to Read More?
A few relevant writings on this theme, probably all better thought out that mine:
Jason Lim “When Our Children Don’t Look Korean”
So-Mang Yang “The Korean Way to Multiculturalism”
Peter Underwood (yes, that Underwood family): “Multiculturalism in Korea”
Korea.net’s “Policies Directions to Help Multicultural Families” [sic]
Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives website’s “Emergence of New Citizens and Discourse of Multiculturalism in Korea”
Roboseyo’s articles “Korean Multiculturalism: Putting them Furriners in their Place” and “Random Notes: Multiculturalism in Korea and Crowdsourced Translation”
Kosian’s blog “Korea Greets New Era of Multiculturalism”

Hapkido in Daegu

December 8th, 2010

Karjam and I woke up this morning and braving fat heavy swirling snowflakes headed to the Express Bus Terminal and then to Daegu. Cell photo as the snow started to fall:

I’m in Daegu preparing for a 합기도 hapkido 단 dan test that I’ll take next March. I actually was supposed to do this test in 2005 or 2006 but it didn’t happen because of all the time I was putting into my MA, so I’ll be doing it in 2011 instead. The 관장님 gwanjangnim/my instructor and I went over a little over half of what I’d be tested on. Since it’s a high level exam it’s pretty rigorous, at least five master instructors will be required to grade my exam, which will (only me, no one else moving around) take 15-20 minutes. I have to test on –everything- basically, because this test means I’m a fully licensed instructor of a rank to open my own 체육관 martial arts training center, not as an assistant, but as the main instructor. Today I reviewed kicks and falls (do you have any idea how long it’s been since I did 회전축방 (flip in the air feet over head and land on your side)? And I started to learn the 지팡이 cane and belt techniques I’ll have to do for the exam as well. Neither cane nor belt has been my favorite weapon/defensive tool in the past—I really have always focused more on 쌍절곤 (laugh if you want to, nunchuks. I never meant to get into that as my weapon, it's just that I’m good at them. Two hands, two sets, very fast).

We had a lovely dinner that 박진홍 Bak Jinhong made us, then Georgy and I went to E-mart because in Daegu they still have the olive oil margarine that Seoul stopped carrying. Check out the E-mart Christmas spirit from this photo from Georgy’s cell phone.

Sangmo Class with Wonjung and Hyeonseok

December 6th, 2010
Tradition is the past reborn in a shifting context. (Park, Chan E. 2003)
봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum class had to be cancelled because 김은주 Kim Eunju couldn’t make it and no one else was available. I worked on writing and editing at Starbucks, in the evening we went shopping.

December 7th, 2010
We have almost finished mailing all our Solstice/New Year cards! Yay! I feel so on top of things! The only remaining cards are for those people who really don’t know how to respond to emails asking for an address (okay, I should have remembered to bring my address book with me…).

상모 Sangmo class was a blast today, not quite sure why. I seriously was in a great mood and it was just me, 현석 Hyeonseok (the tall and sort of ungainly 10th grader) and 원중 Wonjung (his first day to do sangmo instead of just practicing drumming while we did sangmo). I really have gotten –so- much better. I must insist that Karjam come to my next class.

Observations from today:
I’m definitely getting treated differently, perhaps being female, older, or a foreigner, but 이종휘 Yi Jonghui puts so much more pressure or Hyeonseok. Or does he just expect him to need to be pushed? I suppose it could be because of differences in personality.

Generally he will talk to us about how we need to correct our motions, but then with only three students present, he’ll be back in just a minute or two to see if we’ve taken his advice. Both Wonjung and I do this thing where the circle of the sangmo needs to be strongest on the downstroke (if you’re going counter-clockwise as we usually are this means starting at 11 o’clock) but we both are stronger on the up (with a little extra push upward from about 2 o’clock in my case). This is a habit I’ve been fighting to break since I first was able to reliably spin the sangmo. But most of what Jonghui corrects is much more significant and immediately-actionable.

Today I was working on a quick side to side without spinning, but because you’re making a figure 8 (sideways) with your chin, it actually appears as though the sangmo is spinning. I need to do this without moving my upper body, because if I do I lose track of where the spinning rod is (my movement hides the sensations of its movement and if I lose it, I lose the motion and it will stop). I worked from transitioning from the 양사위 yangsaui with 1 ¾ spins on each side to this figure 8 and back again. The figure 8 is incorporated into two major motions, one is just to do the 8 so fast it’s hard to believe I’ll ever be able to, but it looks really impressive. The other is 나비사 nabisa, the butterfly motion where you make the 8, then draw forward and back at the center to make the body of the butterfly.

Wonjung, who practiced around three years ago but not much since, was working on the same things as me all class. Hyeonseok was working on a routine where you kneel and do the 8 super fast coordinated with the 소고 sogo motions.

I walked with Hyeonseok and Wonjung to the subway and on the way we began a conversation about a version of the script of 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum that was not referenced (probably because it was unknown or unfindable) by 이두현 Professor Yi Duhyeon when he wrote up the original report on Bongsan Talchum leading to the arts certification and inclusion in the Cultural Property Protection Law as Intangible Cultural Asset #17 in 1967. This means that the 원형 wonhyeong, the archetypal original form that legally the Bongsan Talchum preservation association must adhere to may not be based on the oldest/most “authentic” records. According to what Wonjung has learned (he seems to have read parts or all of a modern translation of it) it is better. Now I personally do not have any stake in this matter, and tend to fatalistically hold to the opinion that since the Cultural Heritage Administration has proven their inability to adjust the wonhyeong there is just no use fighting about it, but it was interesting to hear Wonjung excitedly telling Hyeonseok all about it, and his attitudes in general (very excited about the new information he’d learned, not too knowledgeable about the way the law works, dismissive of the wonhyeong).

K-Pop Reviews from Early December

I found some time to toil through some of the new releases searching for important trends or new ideas—I do a little research on K-pop, too, so I need to keep track of what’s going on—but K-pop research often feels like a chore. The online forums for K-pop fans reveal rare gems and a lot of gossip that matters not one whit. The whole social scene surrounding K-pop can be pretty ridiculous, but it's a very real cultural phenomenon and this is where the audience is, so I do turn my eyes on it and try to search for something fun in all the consumerism. And honestly I do find songs I like (perhaps at a rate of 1 out of every 25 highly promoted songs).

B2ST has a new track out, “Beautiful.” The track doesn’t stand out, it’s a softer track, with sweet singing instead of the harder edge of B2ST releases like Soom and Shock, both of which I’ve preferred a lot more. I also find the whole b-boy battle theme of the video a bit contrived. If you’re not b-boys why are you showing off that you’re not? Just do what you’re good at and leave the b-boying to someone else.

F.cuz has released “Midnight Sun.” Somehow to me this video reads like a JYPE video, even though F.cuz is with a different management company. Does anyone else see that? They’ve certainly grown up a bit since Jiggy, one of the most irritating releases ever.

SM the Ballad has released their first song, 너무 그리워 (Really Miss You). That makes it sound like they are brand new rookies, but they group is actually made up of several different SME group singers, and since one is SHINee’s Jonghyun, I actually watched the video despite the stupid name for the group. The song is, well, a ballad. So I definitely don’t like it. And the whole woman who’s got wings and fallen from the heavens thing is just so cliché.

Orange Carmel (a subdivision of the group After School) released a song called “Aing~” which is pretty irritating, especially their outfits. There is a dance version of the video as well as a regular version. Perhaps the regular one is slightly less irritating, as it uses the should-not-be-caught-dead wearing in public red plastic-y fabric outfits less.

Verbal Jint, another Korean rapper, released a new song with G.NA, I think he should have left her part (a syrupy sweet ballad style contribution) out of the song, but then of course if he had, it wouldn’t be Korean hip-hop. Korean hip-hop needs parts that are easy to sing-along with, and it needs syrupy love themes. Still, I like Verbal Jint’s rapping, it’s pretty good. If only he'd washed his hair on one of the filming days...

T-ara has a new song, “Yayaya.” The song is typical K-Pop fare, better done than many, but the video is where things get alarming. Koreans, for years, have gotten in trouble through various appropriations of what they consider to be good/amusing images (there have been more than just a couple Nazi-themed bars, for example, and there was a K-pop group that actually debuted in black-face with afros!). This time T-ara has taken a sort of international-native (a mix of characteristics from various Indian and even African cultures seem apparent). In a way BoA did something similar about five years back, but that song referenced more the sort of Indian-chic of the 70s Bohemians (a lot of beads and leather). This video, however, gets much more offensive. They tie a guy to a pole in the center of their village (surrounded by mini-teepees) and gyrate around him. Of course there is a lot of dancing in this village, with feathers, paint on cheeks, headbands and bows.


Just to add insult to injury (can’t anyone good have had a release?) comes Sistar’s “How Dare You.” The screen capture below should give you an idea why the costumes and the dance (and even broadcast of the MV) have been banned from various forums. Seriously, a dance motion where you polish your own butt cheek? Really classy, ladies! It’s poppy and annoying. Why make a video about a guy who isn’t behaving well towards you and how you’re going to get back at him? Couldn’t you use your 15 minutes in the spotlight to sing about something a tad bit more original?

At least you could be a little less transparent, trying to be artsy and symbolic like Brown Eyed Soul’s latest, 똑같다면. This song illustrates how the Madonna/whore dichotomy plays out in Korean music—this is the Madonna. The Madonna is SAD. She’s always sad in Korean music. This is why most “dance” genre pieces feature women (singers) who are messing around with versions of the whore (or at least Lolita imagery) (Another reason to love BoA, she seems to avoid the trap of making every video and every outfit about her sexuality, yet still churns out dance tracks).

The best I can offer you is that 2NE1 has released a new CF (commercial film) MV (music video) for Fiore. Even though it’s a CF, it’s still 2NE1 good, with great strong visuals, danceable beats, etc. The CF “Don’t Stop the Music.”
Makes me wonder what it’d be like if other stores, like E-Mart, spent the money to have a decent song for their company. Jeez, I almost want to avoid E-Mart just because of this annoying jingle they play over and over. The video doesn’t appear to be super high budget, the dancing is very standard and doesn’t seem freshly choreographed, there are only a few sets and outfits changes, but still it’s 2NE1 with their fearless sense of style (seriously, look at those outfits!). Got to love the girls, for their serious guts if for no other reason.

KTV at Songpa Sandae Noli

December 4th, 2010
Saturday was the day for KTV to come to 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli but that didn’t work out as planned. 김영숙 Kim Yeongsuk had not told others they were coming and 함완식 Ham Wanshik and 안병인 Ahn Byeong’in did not find it appropriate for the TV camera to be suddenly there without going through channels. Principally they wanted Songpa to look better than we do when it’s only the 전수자 jeonsuja practice. They wanted to see more musicians and more people in the room. Before long Ham was planning for the TV station to come back the next Saturday and he’d call out to all the members of the preservation association to show up and we’d even wear the masks… which is exactly the sort of thing I’m trying to avoid. Kim Yeongsuk understood that, which is why just a regular jeonsuja practice was fine. Sure, Songpa Sandae Noli wanting to look great is understandable, but we’ve never worn masks in rehearsal –ever-. Who knows if the TV folks will come back or not. At any rate, Ham sat the jeonsuja down in front of the white board and gave us a mini-lecture on Songpa Sandae Noli, which was also fake. Any real lecture will go into depth that he didn’t touch, leaving aside the fact that he’s never used the white board for teaching before. Then we had to do the motions but with no teacher in front of us, with Ham just calling out the motion names (I’m used to getting the visual clue to be able to fall along, the motion names are usually hard to hear because they’re said by someone over the sound of several instruments on the far side of the room from me). It was kind of frustrating. After the TV guy and Ham left Kim Yeongsuk and I talked for awhile about what to do to improve Songpa Sandae Noli’s future direction.

December 5th, 2010
On Sunday I spent about 4 hours at Starbucks busting into article editing and working on the Chushyeoyo review. In the evening Karjam and I went shopping for envelopes and had dinner in a very authentic Japanese restaurant 지수 Jisu introduced me to.

Chushyeoyo Performance (again)

December 3rd, 2010
On Friday evening I headed to the Korean National University of the Arts (KNUA) again because 허창열 Heo Changyeol had invited me to come see 추셔요 Chushyeoyo. Yes, you know I’ve already seen it (and so did he) but I went again, with Karjam this time, and I’m really glad that I did. The performance is pretty raw and fresh, the performers are obviously having fun, and seeing it the second time I found more details and depth in the performance than I did the first time. Honestly the first time I saw it I was freezing to death sitting outside with a wind kicking up, seeing it inside in a hall heated to a reasonable temperature was much better. One odd thing, though, was that I noticed the music much less than I had the first time. I don’t know if they changed something, or not.

I am planning to (and have begun) write a real review of this performance, potentially to submit for publication. Perhaps I’ll post any early draft here for some comments.

Bongcheon Noli Madang and the TV Camera

December 2nd, 2010
In the morning I went to Professor Hilary Finchum-Sung’s class, which was awesome. She finished up her lecture on contemporary Korean (traditional-esque) music (which is where a lot of her current research is focused and then went on to review the second half of the course for the exam. No, I won’t be taking the exam. We had lunch. Guess what, this is amazing, Seoul National University has put in a vegetarian buffet (for all intents and purposes VEGAN buffet) in the student cafeteria in the building next to the school of music. It’s on the second floor. If you’re in Seoul go there. It’s open 11 to 2:30. Only 5,000 and TOTALLY amazing. Finished everything on my plate and didn’t take any more but would have gladly loaded up on almost any of it again (if I’d had room). Since next week is the exam I can’t be sure I’ll see Hilary until next year in March, which is a bummer. I love talking with her, but don’t want to impose myself (more than auditing, that is).

I had class at 봉천놀이마당 Bongcheon Noli Madang in the evening. The KTV cameraman came again, the show will be broadcast on January 7th and will have 7 foreigners all learning some Korean traditional thing on it. So I got there early, but since the cameraman was earlier I couldn’t do much of anything except stretch. Class went really really well, I’m really feeling the flavor of 고성오광대 Goseong Ogwangdae, and what’s more, I really think the movements are somehow more natural and “right” to me than the other mask dance dramas. Not sure why. Just suit my body type and the way I enjoy moving, I guess.

We basically just practiced the same thing (the basic motion set we’re learning) for the whole class, then near the end we learned a little more. I didn’t make an ass out of myself on camera, and I did manage to get through interviewing no problem. During break and after class we had fruit, snacks and tea. Then after we locked up we went out for 뒤풀이 duipuli after-party which I don’t normally do, but I decided that I had to make up for the cameras (several people didn’t come to avoid the camera) and I paid for the food and drinks we had. I really like the Bongcheon group, especially 장미이 Jang Mi’i. She and 선우 Seonu are the same age, both one year younger than me. The rest of the group for the day was 선미 Seonmi (who uses Japanese in her work), 재숙 Jaesuk (who’s husband used to be really active with Bongcheon but maybe not doing mask dance) and 지원 Jiwon (drummer). When I got home I caught heck for having drunk some 막걸리 makgeolli.

Seonsori Santaryeong Performance

December 1st, 2010

I was supposed to meet 연순 Yeonsun today but that plan had to be cancelled, freeing my schedule up to go to a performance by 선소리 산타령 Seonsori Santaryeong. I consider them one of the best traditional groups in Korea in terms of making a really enjoyable performance (they perform again Dec. 9th!). They’ve been certified for protection for 42 years and considering that for some songs there were 40 people on stage today, they seem to be doing great. I just love them. Their singing is raw and real. It feels so legitimately authentic, especially as the audience was loud, boisterous, singing along, clapping, shouting 추임새 words of encouragement and even standing up to dance. It was great. They rotated out smaller and larger groups, the part I like the best came earlier in the program where everyone is beating on 소고 sogo and singing. Wow. I promise I’ll put a video online soon to give you a hint of what it was like (but you’d really have had to be in the room to get the real energy of the performance).

Sangmo in a Turtleneck

November 30th, 2010
I ran errands and worked on the computer at Starbucks, coincidentally running into a fellow Yonsei GSIS Korean Studies graduate while I was there.

I had 상모 sangmo class in the evening. They’d had the chance to have KTV come there, too, but there had been some hold up or other, something about the facility not being ready for guests, an excuse I didn’t understand on the phone but when I arrived half the practice room was full of flower hats in the process of being assembled. We had a particularly small class, just two others until near the end 림한 Rimhan showed up, too. 이종회 Yi Jonghui was there to teach us, and we continued to work on different steps and sogo beats while spinning, he says I’m getting more natural in my motions, and I certainly worked hard! I’d forgotten a t-shirt and was wearing a turtleneck and fairly thick pants (my new black 한복 hanbok pants) and I was soaked with sweat from the practice—it was an extreme work out. Jonghui has taken to telling me (since I’ve always got something wrong with my freaking health) “I don’t know how you feel, but you can take a break if you need it.” That’s sweet (he says it at least 3-4 times a class at times other students would be scolded for resting) but… well… I’m stubborn. But I overdid it. Or didn’t cool down properly.

Cell photo:

A Visit to Goseong Ogwangdae Class at KNUA and KTV Films me at Bongsan Talchum

November 29th, 2010
Wow. It was a really long day. In the morning I went to the Korean National University of the Arts, the school that 원중 Wonjung (frequently mentioned on this blog) will attend, starting with the new school year (that’s March in Korea). I went today because I heard from연순 Yeonsun that 황종욱 Hwang Jong-uk was teaching a class there in 고성오광대 Goseong Ogwangdae and I really wanted to see what sort of teaching methodologies he was using and how the students were receiving the class. When I called him to ask if I could come along, he told me that 허창열 Heo Changyeol would be teaching the classes (there are two) on Monday instead of him. He told me though it would still be fine for me to attend and had Changyeol call me a few minutes later to set everything up. Which is why as the snow melted off the trees I was waiting outside 신이문 Shinimun Station to see if Changyeol was someone I knew, or not. It turns out he was someone I’ve seen (for example in the performance “Chushyeoyo” which I wrote about seeing before, and at the big meeting of all the mask dancers and before and after the Goseong Ogwangdae performance on 10/31), but I had never talked to him before. He’s 32, and went to Korean National University of the Arts (KNUA) for his BA (his major was mask dance drama, specifically Goseong Ogwangdae, graduated in 2007) and now he is writing his thesis for his MA (also at KNUA). He’s an 이수자 isuja for Goseong Ogwangdae and also a member of “The Gwangdae” an arts group made up of three of Goseong Ogwangdae’s younger members and four others (all current or former KNUA students). I hope to see one of their performances, but I guess they aren’t performing again until next year (the heavy performance season has ended now that outdoor performances are pretty unpleasant and luring people out of their homes for an indoor performance is harder).

The first class was for four fourth year students, but only two showed up. The two, a man and a woman, were both majors in 풍물 pungmul, but the man had actually learned and performed with 양주별산대 Yangju Byeolsandae and intended to become a regular member of their preservation association after graduation. He was also heavily involved with 평택농악 Pyeongtaek Nongak and registered as a 전수자 jeonsuja (the step below isuja, the same rank I have for 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli) with that group. Personally I find 임실필봉농악 Imshil Pilbong Nongak more interesting, but both have their interesting points. The woman is part of a ten member all female pungmul performing team, five of the members are from KNUA. Both students told me they hadn’t thought much about future careers or anything, they’d chosen KNUA because they were into the arts and thought the opportunity to learn so many different art forms from such excellent professors was really too special to pass up.

The class started and went directly into motion; there was no period of lecture or discussion of ideas and concepts. I will have to also observe Hwang Jong-uk teaching to know if that’s normal, but I assume that discussions would happen slightly more with him, but be more concentrated early in the term. The students learn the basic motions (the set of motions I’m learning at 봉천놀이마당 Bongcheon Noli Madang) in the first term, this is the second term of the Korean school year. They are now learning (in the Goseong Ogwangdae class) both 원양반 Won Yangban and 말뚝이 Malddugi as an established set of motions that could be danced as an independent perhaps five minute dance solo. I believe they learned the former for the midterm exam and are learning the latter for their final. I believe that the motion set was developed by the preservation association and is used at Bongcheon Noli Madang, too, but what I’ve seen there is only the basic motions and a little rehearsal of Won Yangban, so I won’t know with certainty until later. While I was observing they were practicing Malddugi. Changyeol led them through the motions multiple times, counting, but often substituting a description or a sound for a number, there would be more numbers when he thought they had it right and certain more difficult parts would get more description. So he’d say “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 힘있게” or “크게 하늘 1, 뒤로 헛”. He often inserted accent sounds to sort of draw attention to where the motion should be more particular. After he’d they’d rehearsed without a break for twenty minutes they took their first break, breathing hard and opening the door to the just above freezing air. “If you know the steps you really need to start paying attention to where your head turns and your eyes go, you need to turn your head to follow the motion, not just see your hands in your peripheral vision.” He instructs them. “The motions have to reflect the character, malddugi is energetic, his motions are big.” After ten more minutes of practice they rest again, and then Changyeol plays 장구 janggu while the other two dance first together and then one by one to check their motions. When they rest Changyeol goes to each and shows what parts they need to really think about, emphasizing areas they weren’t quite getting. Mostly he just corrects the male student, whether it’s because he has a more sincere mask dance interest, or because his mistakes are easier to correct, I’m not sure. Both look good, although the woman’s motions are not masculine enough for the character.

They take another break and we talk more. Changyeol is from Goseong, and he started in his first year of high school, so he’s in his fifteenth year of practicing the art. He went to another school for a year or two before he came to KNUA, doing his mandatory military service in between the two schools. The female student wants to teach drumming privately, not in a school setting. The conversation turns to who can make a lot of money in traditional arts, they agree that if you work for the 국악원 National Gugak Center (formerly called the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts), you can make a lot, partially because of what they give you, and partially because of what you can charge for lessons. (Side note: I have seen a lot of crappy practically lifeless performances by those National Gugak Center folks). The conversation then turned to the 원형 wonhyeong, the original form (a type of archetype) that all traditional performances of government registered arts must conform to (if the preservation association members are performing—if you’re just a club, presumably you can do what you want). Changyeol finds it troublesome and supports the creation of new work (using traditional performance vocabulary) and to some extent, fusion. He specified that the wonhyeong is a particularly large problem for the performances with 대사 daesa (scripts) because the Korean used in the daesa is no longer easily comprehensible. The three agreed that even if you make a really good performance, becoming well known or making money off it is a bit like winning the lottery. You keep buying tickets (making new shows, performing) in hopes someday your numbers will come up.

After class Changyeol and I went to an excellent little restaurant for lunch then we returned for the second year students’ class. I was actually surprised by how big the difference was between the 4th and 2nd year students. I learned that all the students in the 연희과 Department of Korean Traditional Dramatic Performing Arts (KNUA’s translation) take 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum as first year students, then Goseong Ogwangdae, then third year is Yangju Byeolsandae and then fourth year they have to study all three (or just two?) again and prepare for some sort of performance-based graduation exam. Changyeol says that many students who are not majoring in mask dance feel like it’s a waste of time, that they’d rather just be working on their major (Namsadang, Shamanic Ritual, Pungmul and Mask Dance are the four majors so far as I know). The majority of students are majoring in pungmul. In the class of the second years, on the day that I came to class there were 12 students (two were too sick to participate but this being Korea they still came to class to look miserable and not be marked absent) two were shamanic ritual students, the rest were pungmul, but about three students were absent (each year has 15 students or so in the department). Amongst those at least one was a mask dancer.

The students will have their exam in the malddugi motions next week, as they were repeatedly reminded. They needed to be reminded though, many (the majority) had to look at other students or at Changyeol in order to move through the motion set, they hadn’t memorized it. At least one of those students was still hardly able to follow along. Changyeol teaches them motion by motion, slowing way down, in series of motions, then does it at normal speed, followed by a slow motion by motion review of the next section, all the way through the piece. Most of the students are stiff without a hint of the proper flavor, in fact I think some of the other new learners at Bongcheon Noli Madang look more natural. There is one man and one woman that look right, the woman’s motions are even properly masculine in flavor. The students practice repeatedly, in a circle, then facing forward again. The room is large; it could easily fit another 35 students without making it too crowded to do the motions, although at that point it might get harder to see the instructor. They take a rest after 15 minutes (the heaters were turned off after 5), a girl asks a question and another follows her, and Changyeol demonstrates some movements again.

Changyeol and I chatted while he took a quick rest, and he explained that the key here is 열정 passion, and said that clubs (like Bongcheon Noli Madang) have it while these students don’t, but he also emphasized how useful it would be for them to internalize the motions from Goseong Ogwangdae, as these are the types of motions that good pungmul players are making at the same time as they are playing (he demonstrates how the arm motions with drum sticks in the hands and a janggu strapped to the body look if they move as in Goseong Ogwangdae, or how much better 소고춤 sogo dance is if the dancer can move with the accents of Goseong Ogwangdae. He’s completely right. I know good players use these motions. But, Changyeol says, most students come to the university fired up about their own major and it takes a few years to realize the benefit they get from complimentary studies of other folk arts. Ironically he noted that most of the students from mask dance dramas, like him, are very excited to get to study pungmul, too. One more thing about student attitudes- apparently some students who are there for mask dance don’t like studying all the other mask dance dramas, they just want to study and practice their own drama. It cracked me up that later in the day seeing Wonjung at Bongsan Talchum class I told him what I’d learned about how he’d study Goseong Ogwangdae and Yangju Byeolsande and his immediate response was that he didn’t want to.

Later in the class he divided them into two groups, but never tried to make them do the motions in groups smaller than five students while he accompanied them on janggu.

Overall the visit and conversation was extremely useful, I had tons of new ideas and thoughts about transmission and I understand the role of KNUA much better than I did before.

I hurried home, ate and changed into exercise clothes and went to Bongsan Talchum. Today was the day that the KTV people were going to start filming. I hoped to arrive before them and practice a little bit so that it would be fresh in my mind when I did it with the cameras rolling, but the crew, two women and a man (with the camera) beat me there. They interviewed 박상운 Bak Sangun and then followed us to class. The class was fairly small, 9 people including the mom and her two kids. Unfortunately despite all the time I spent saying that I wouldn’t do anything fake, Bak Sangun came to teach us, which was sort of a disaster, because he’s never taught us before and we’re trying to adjust in front of the TV cameras. So I got pissed, and he left and we had class like normal. 김은주 Kim Eunju is awesome. I still made mistakes in front of the camera, but they weren’t because of someone else, they were all on me, and that’s fine. 영신 Yeongshin, who I haven’t seen for ages, showed up for class. It was great to dance with him, but most of the others who I can depend on weren’t there, so I really had to be on my toes, because if you start to follow along with someone else who’s making a mistake… anyway, I tried to answer interview questions but the problem was with all the Korean I’d done in the morning, it was as if my Korean was all used up for the day. I felt supremely inarticulate. Finally I told the cameraman that we should give up, because he could interview me on Thursday, too. Of course when I walked them out at the end of the day I was super articulate, but the cameras weren’t rolling and I wasn’t trying to be all academic and proper, but just speaking from the heart.

Foreigners on Korean TV

I have been one of these foreigners, and I will be again. But I have a few things to say about the Korean practice of sticking foreigners on TV doing/enjoying Korean traditional things.

In the past Korea bought the whole idea of the West as superior (partially because of a belief that acceptance of Western culture, ideas and technology was a major reason why Japan was able to overpower Korea at the beginning of the 1900s). Koreans considered Western things advanced and superior (and the West agreed) and in an attempt to succeed (particularly after achieving independence) they swallowed the baby and the bathwater (to screw up a traditional saying) hook, line and sinker. In an effort to become economically advanced they also accepted Christianity, fell in love with Monet and decided to start sleeping in a bed. Not everyone, of course, but I guarantee you that use of beds (instead of sleeping on the floor) will be higher in Christian households. Seriously.

This also meant that Korean music was discounted in favor of “art music” (whoever came up with that term should be shot—shouldn’t all music be considered art?), the misconception that Korean 판소리 pansori would be better if staged like an opera or musical (창극), the assumption that Korean instruments should be adapted to use of a 7 note Western scale, etc. Parents discouraged their children from learning Korean traditional music, dance or drama and this only got worse as the years went on. (This is partially because making a living from Korean performance traditions has been difficult and actual economic success amongst those practicing traditional arts has been exceedingly rare, and partially because of the status (low) associated with performers in the traditional mindset). During the pro-Democracy movement the protestors utilized Korean performance traditions for two reasons 1) they could cloak themselves in Korean tradition, casting themselves as the true patriots 2) they could use performance to attract people with the cops helpless to stop them, then once they had a critical mass they could engage in political speech-making and so on until enough cops gathered to break up the gathering. However this brought a backlash, where some people thought of traditions (like 풍물 pungmul drumming) as something that was just for loud, aggressive protestors to use, not for enjoyment.

In the years since the pro-democracy movement associated surge, interest in Korean traditions has dropped off. Some performance forms have been more popular, some forms have even regenerated interest to some degree, but most have lapsed back into relative invisibility. Of course some people are really concerned about this and doing whatever they can to try to reverse this trend.

One tool that has been utilized to try to get people to look at Korean traditions again and perhaps become re-interested in them is to show (frequently) on TV or in other media how much foreigners love Korean traditions. Since I speak Korean and attend a lot of festivals and performances I have been interviewed countless times and been spotlighted on a lot of TV shows, too. In 2003 I’d had the same cell number for 6 years living in the same town. I got phone calls up the wazoo just from news reporters who wanted to make sure they could interview a foreigner at such-and-such event. Who knows how my contact info got around, but it was really out there. I was even asked to come to the inaugural “Talks with Beauties”(미녀들의 수다) (which I’m not, but neither are all the women on the show). I’m so glad I said no, that show is one of the most annoying and embarrassing things I’ve ever seen. This is a sort of mellow taste. I have seen clips from this show that make your hair stand up on end.

To get to the point, I’ve been used a lot by the Korean media to make traditions seem more attractive to Koreans. But since I actually believe Koreans should take another look at traditional arts and think about having their children learn 해금 haegeum instead of violin, or 공중무용 court dances instead of ballet, I figure they can use me, and I hope it works. They have their agenda, I have mine, but they are complimentary. However, as I’ve gotten older and wiser I’ve noticed how often they try to make foreigners on shows with a focus on traditions look like idiots. Or, to put it another way, I think they’re not comfortable with foreigners actually knowing too much about something Koreans might feel embarrassed to see a foreigner knowing more about than they know themselves. Temper the introduction of an aspect of Korean culture through the eyes of the enthusiastic foreigner with a little superiority (well, even I could do that! The viewer says as he watches the foreigner fumble his or her way through some task or another). But what the viewer might not know, and I certainly do, is how often these shows will spring something on you “You need to do this, it’ll be so interesting!”

Back in 2005 my friend Georgy and I were spotlighted on the same 10 minute slot in a TV program a couple of weeks apart from each other. She always made 김밥 kimbap and I always made 김치찌게 kimchi stew, but when she did her show they asked her to invite a Korean friend for lunch and make stew (she got the recipe from me) and when they came to my house (to film me making 김치 kimchi) they brought a bunch of kimbap makings from the market (like already cooked carrot strips) and insisted that I assemble the kimbap and take it to school to share with my friend. Even if I was going to make kimbap (which I almost never do), I would make it very differently, and with their ingredients I was making the most basic kimbap of all. It was SO FAKE. I didn’t even have a good kimbap rolling bamboo slat thing. But I hadn’t learned to be really assertive and direct with these TV people yet.

I have now learned my lesson, and I’m super direct. I will not be a performing monkey. I will not be made a fool of. I will not accept them filming something that’s not real, nor will I allow them to screw up my regular activities. I have to constantly re-assert these points, but it’s possible. I really believe it is.

There is just one thing that is holding me up this evening (and in recording the segment I started working on today): do I stay all academic and speak softly in my interview Q&A sections (which today meant I ended up getting all tangled up in the words I was using and really frustrated--I'd already had a day with over 5 hours of very careful use of Korean), or do I speak the way I normally speak Korean when I talk about protection of Korean traditional arts (directly, passionately and in a way that is kind of challenging in that it doesn’t mince words about how serious this situation is)?

Oh, and a last point in case you think being in the newspapers/magazines will make things easier—you get misquoted. Happens so often, I should seriously learn to keep my mouth shut. One time in 2005 or 2006 I found myself quoted as saying things that were back-ass wrong and offensive to a mask dance group I love. Jeez, that was hard to smooth over. I found this article by googling the search terms “mask dance” and “American” in Korean. It was the fifth result and you have to know that’s a pretty general search. My first time to see the article, and yes indeed, I am misquoted. It really pisses me off. I had a very sincere and important point, but they've basically taken my photo and put the words they want to make their point next to an image of me. I'm even quoted using a word I don't think I've ever spoken in my life.

Drumming with Songpa Sandae Noli

November 27th, 2010
송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli rehearsal starts at 3, I arrived a couple minutes early with a DVD of three recent performances to give them (not excerpts but the entire performances). The rehearsal was small, people are busy and Saturday is a hard time to meet, but also the rehearsal on Friday (I have to remember to ask for regular permission to attend that) was both well attended and resulted in various tension/arguments that may have made some people say “to heck with it” and skip rehearsal today. We practiced the basic motions then 함완식 Ham Wanshik had us all grab 장구 janggu and practice drumming for about twenty-five minutes. I found the style of teaching really hard, but mostly because I am the weakest drummer by far. Also I’ve never tried drumming with my hand hitting the drum head on the left instead of the stick (which is how it’s played for accompanying Songpa Sandae Noli). We practiced two different 장단 jangdan (rhythmic patterns) but when Ham told me to play on my own (and demonstrate that I’d learned it/knew what I was doing/how well I could do) I completely froze up. I was still trying to figure out how to coordinate two different types of hand motion I had never tried before (hitting and damping) with the stroke of the drum stick in my right hand on the other side of the drum. It really frustrated me, not that I was annoyed at Ham, I wasn’t, but just that I still can’t even do such a simple thing. No wonder the group is very picky about who drums and super sensitive about how people drum. I was obviously upset, but I really just needed to spend the whole 25 minutes practicing one jangdan while the others drummed louder drowning out any of my potential mistakes. Since Ham literally went around the circle of drummers after every two-three minutes of practice, most of the time was watching/listening to others drum by themselves and comparatively little was actually drumming ourselves.

After class ended 원석 Wonseok and 승현 Seunghyeon both came to me and told me some various tips, Seunghyeon assured me he could only drum well because when he was young he’d been ordered to practice, screwing up he’d been hit and cried and practiced and been wrong and been hit and cried.

After drumming Wonseok and Seunghyeon rehearsed Act 2 (옴중, 먹중 놀이) for probably the first time they’d ever done it (I also think it was unexpected that they’d be asked to do it) but before class had started Ham was talking to 김명하 Kim Myeongha about how he’d practiced and done the comparatively easy parts (like the 8먹중 who don’t have speak except for group lines) for only a few years and then the old gentlemen that he’d learned from had made him start trying the other roles, because it was hard (Ham emphasized that it already felt hard to him) to dance at the same level as one got older (Ham also listed off how old various now-deceased Songpa players had been when he first began to learn). We practiced the basic motions one more time for the day and then quit.

I wanted to talk to 김영숙 Kim Yeongsuk (the office manager) and 탄종원 Tahn Jongwon so I went to the office to wait for them to come back. Ham Wanshik and Kim Myeongha also went there and we discussed the North Korean hostilities (not a vocabulary set I know well in Korean) for a bit until Kim Yeongsuk and Tahn came back to the office. Then Kim Yeongsuk told me to leave but I said no, and stayed for a very frank discussion of group issues that I shall keep off this public record. Suffice to say I have to take down some (all? still not sure about that) of the video scenes I uploaded from Namwon. Some of the performances were not good enough (according to them) and the group is evaluating how to improve.

When the discussion ended and Ham and Kim Myeongha left, I kept talking with my friends (actually in Korean culture they’re older than me so we’re not really friends, but I like them just as much as I like my other friends who –are- the same age as me). After a bit we decided to go watch Social Network. It was better than I’d expected, even sort of suspenseful in parts.

Cell photo: leaves on the street as I walked to the bus stop


November 28th, 2010
Got up early and went hiking on 아차산 Achasan with 이경호 Yi Gyeongho and Aniko. I’ll post photos when I get around to it.

Presentation in Korean

November 24th, 2010
On Wednesday I worked so hard on my presentation for Friday that I forgot to meet 이연순 Yi Yeonsun and hope she’ll forgive me. In the evening I had dinner with Kimberley which was nice.

November 25th, 2010
Class with Professor Hilary Finchum-Sung. Today was a day when I didn’t know much of what she was introducing, since she was talking more about contemporary Korean music (What makes something Korean music? How has thinking about music evolved as Korea has modernized?) She introduced important innovators and composers. It was pretty darn cool. Afterwards I had lunch with her, we talked about preparing for publication, since she’s also working on editing some of her pieces for submission right now. Awesome to have someone more advanced in this academia-thing than me to talk with.

I went to Yonsei then the Ahyeon Market for 반찬 side-dishes. On the bus I got a phone call from a TV program that wants to make a segment about me learning 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum. I would rather not have to deal with that sort of thing, but I feel a responsibility, too, towards all the arts I am involved with. So I explained I’m working on learning at four locations. They will call and ask for permission to film at each.

Back at home I worked on my presentation until it was time to go to 봉천놀이마당 Bongcheon Noli Madang. The class was even smaller, and we moved a little farther through our basic movement set, I’m starting to feel comfortable, I have chunks memorized. Unfortunately, I don’t remember all of it, certainly not as much as I’d want to remember in front of a TV camera. After class we had tea and bananas. All of the members, even 장미이 Jang Mi’i are quite adamant that they are not professionals, they all have other jobs and the Noli Madang is just their hobby.

November 26th, 2010
For some reason I had to give a presentation in a class I’m auditing. I chose (to keep it useful to me) to just present an analysis of the grandmother scene in the mask dance dramas, a paper I wrote for Professor Don Cosentino in the best class i ever had at UCLA, Myth Analysis. I stayed up until nearly 3 working on a video to accompany my presentation, so this morning wasn’t easy. I actually got to class 15 minutes late, my first time to be late since the first day. I gave the second presentation, talking for nearly an hour and twenty minutes. Fortunately 경진 Gyeongjin had edited the Korean on my slides, so I had confidence in what was on my PowerPoint and supplemented it as best I could, but the question and answer period was the hardest in terms of using academic Korean. The third (and last) presentation for the day was also very interesting, on changing attitudes towards sex, all delivered in a very dry manner, but with a twinkle in the presenter’s eye. Unfortunately class didn’t end until 12:40 (scheduled to end at 11:50).

After class I went to Severance Hospital and saw the ear specialist again who said I still have an infection, not much improved over two weeks earlier, and he insisted I take oral anti-biotics (as well as the ear drops), just a five-day course. I have an appointment to come back next Friday.

Cell photo: maybe your hospital will be better if you decorate it for the holidays


Karjam and I went out to dinner as a late Thanksgiving celebration, but the restaurant was so disappointing. (I found it by googling “best restaurant in Seoul,” someone who writes a foodie guide to Seoul claimed it’s by far the best Thai food… not).