Korean Night -Samulnori Performance- by BoRyung Geum

Holcombe International Living Learning Community had their annual event, Korean Night on Friday, March 2, 2012. Our visiting students contributed so much to make this program happen; from cooking to making origami crafts, from decorating the room to the playing music. BoRyung Geum participated in the traditional musical instrument permanence. This is her story of the program and the study abroad journey itself. Enjoy.

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Korean Night 2012

When I heard about the Korean Night Program in Holcombe International Living Learning Community for the first time, I was thinking of helping the program as a volunteer for the cooking team. I thought cooking Korean food was the only way I could contribute to this cultural program. However, as the preparation process went on, I learned that there was going to be a Samulnori performance as one of components for Korean Night and the team was supposed to have five people who could play Korean traditional instruments. The Program Assistant in the International Students & Scholars office, who worked with our leader, Minjun Park (a visiting student from South Korea), asked me if I would be interested in participating in Samulnori as a performer. After a moment of hesitation, I said yes.

Samulnori is a distinctive Korean traditional music. There are four different percussion instruments in Samulnori ;  Kkwaenggwari, Janggu, Buk and Ching. My instrument turned to be Kkwaenggwari which is a small brass gong. I was concerned about the instrument because Kkwaenggwari player is considered as a leader of the quartet to keep the rhythm and lead the music. Nevertheless, many friends of mine encouraged and inspired me to try the instrument and further my efforts and I gained confidence about playing Samulnori along with other members.

I believed in myself. I knew I could challenge this new thing because I had already done a dance performance at the Friday Night Live (FNL). This FNL experience made me prepared in a way and I started to think that I could do anything if I practice a lot. This is the reason why I decided to participate in Samulnori to make the Korean Night program more fun, entertaining and educational even though I had not had any experience with the instrument.

BoRyung and her friend, Ratiba

BoRyung and her friend, Ratiba

To tell you the truth, we had some difficulties in practicing. First of all, there was no appropriate place where we could practice. As you can imagine, those Korean traditional instruments that we played are all kinds of percussion instruments so that they made a lot of noises. When we practiced in Holcombe Hall, we always felt sorry for other students who lived in Holcombe but we had no choice to practice for our program. Let me take this opportunity to say sorry to students in Holcombe!! Secondly, we had no idea how to play Korean traditional instruments. Three members out of five, including myself, had had no experience with Samulnori while only two girls learned some when they were middle school students. We needed a simple score since we had little time till the program day. Therefore, two of our members composed a score by themselves. If they had not been studying at the University of Arkansas this semester, I am pretty sure the Samulnori performance at Korean Night 2012 would have not been the same!

Smulnori Performance

After our performance, the audience gave us a big, big, big round of applause. I felt really great about having accomplished this component of the program successfully! Also, I was happy about the fact that a lot of guests (I heard it was around 270 people who came to Holcombe that night!) could know more about Korea through our performance and different cultural activities.

One thing I loved about the whole process was that my parents said “BoRyung, we are so proud of you and so happy that you are our daughter. We believe you have been a great ambassador for Korea at the UofA” after they watched the video of Korean Night on Facebook.

BoRyung

Even though I had never performed anything like this when I was in Korea, I have done some performances since I came to the University of Arkansas as a Visiting Student. I really appreciate friends and staff around me who gave me these opportunities and encouraged me to do many things like Samulnori at Korean Night and the dance performance at FNL. I want to participate in many events as much as I can until I go home. Lastly, here’s the message to current and new visiting students: I would like say “Enjoy your life in Arkansas!”

To enjoy the Smulnori part of the program, here’s link to the Samulnori Performance.

To enjoy the whole program on the video, here’s the link to the Korean Night 2012.

3 thoughts on “Korean Night -Samulnori Performance- by BoRyung Geum

  1. Mohamed Boudhoum says:

    Indeed! I believe also just like you parents that “you have been a great ambassador for Korea at the UofA”! We are very proud of you Bo Bo and we enjoy having you around :)!

  2. Marcel Fernandes Dallaqua says:

    BoRyung,

    I still do not believe you had never played Kkwaenggwari before the Korean Night,

    Even though that was my first time watching a Samulnori presentation, you and the girls looked like professionals!

    Congratulations! :D

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