| Biography | SamulNori is credited with bringing traditional Korean music from a rural folk genre to the contemporary stage. The group was established in February 1978 by janggu player and former Namsadang star performer Kim Duk Soo with the remaining original performers being Kim Young Bae, Choi Tae Hyun (jing), and Lee Jong Dae (buk). Following Kim Young Bae's death in 1985, he was replaced by Choi Jong Sil, and Lee Kwang Soo replaced Lee Jong Dae on the buk. The group has collaborated and recorded with a number of non-Korean ensembles, most notably in 1987 with the Red Sun jazz band, with one SamulNori/Red Sun CD selling 70,000 copies. They have also performed (in August 2000 at the Earth Celebration International Arts Festival on Sado Island in Japan) with the Japanese taiko group Kodo.
About his choice to move from the more traditional outdoor performances to indoor venues, Kim Duk Soo states that at the time he established SamulNori, during the last years of the administration of former South Korean president Park Chung Hee, Korean traditional music was associated with the student movement, and anyone playing such instruments outdoors could be arrested. Thus, he developed the current version of the genre, which is generally presented indoors, on concert hall stages.
In 1993, SamulNori expanded to include twenty performers, and changed its name to SamulNori Hanullim, Inc. ("Hanullim" meaning "big bang"). |