Post from Korean Drumming Workshop

 

Dear Friend!

Let's have fun this Saturday (27 Nov.) again with Korean drums and good friends who love rhythms.

It is time to learn the rhythms and music of Korea, filled with passion and energy.

We will all experience a sense of togetherness!!

 

Date & Time: from 5:30 to 7:00pm on 27th Nov. (Saturday) 
Place: Goldmine Studios, 269 Poyser Street, London E2 9RF (020 3489 4827)
Tuition fee: 7 pounds
Advance booking is required.
Please contact via e-mail or call 07981 298 638 (Jeung Hyun Choi).

I am looking forward to seeing you there.

Best wishes,

Jeunghyun choi
 

What am I doing here?

One of the reasons many of us fall in love with South Korea is that it is relatively undiscovered, unspoilt, un-touristy. In spite of being an industrialised, developed, high-tech country, it's still very proudly Korean and hasn't sold out to become a tourist commodity. People are still grateful that you want to learn about their country, they're not jaded by tourism. It's the Korean difference that makes it interesting, and it's the least touristy places that appeal - the natural, the genuine, the traditional.

I don't like to go on guided tours myself or queue up at famous sightseeing hotspots. I like to discover lesser-known places, find quiet mountain paths or relax by the sea. On my first three months travelling around the country, Koreans were always telling me off for not organising my trip to take in the most famous and important sights, the must-sees. But that feels like work to me, and I'm more inspired by wandering and stumbling across things that appeal to me personally. Because I was looking for inspiring experiences, I got into all sorts of situations that might not be everyone's idea of a holiday.

They were exhilarating times, finding a land of ancient tradition, spirituality, good humour, natural beauty. Finding things that were mysterious and surprising to me as a westerner. That's why I'm still researching and writing about South Korea ten years later. Experiences like serendipitously meeting one of the oldest diving women on Jeju Island last year, which inspired me to write a story for Blue Wings magazine, out this month. If this CoolstuffKorea blogging can encourage just a few more people to visit, then I'll be happy. I don't think South Korea is going to be overrun with tourists anytime soon. It's got far too many other things going on to sell out to tourism.

Space Food and Other Strange Gifts

I was clearing out my kitchen cupboard this morning (an ongoing process to prevent clutter from overwhelming my tiny flat) when I came across a packet of freeze-fried kimchi. As you do.

The packet calls it 'Korean Space Food', and along with the cartoon this leads me to believe this is the dried kimchi that's been developed for Korean astronauts to take safely into space with them. Otherwise all space travel would probably have been severely limited, as we all know how Koreans can't go very long without kimchi. Ground Control to Major Kim: commencing countdown and... check you've got your pickled cabbage somewhere very secure.


This Korean Space Food was a particular cool inclusion in a party bag I was given at the end of some Korean event or other. So, as I added hot water to see how the stuff reconstitutes, it got me thinking about the other gifts I've had -- because whenever you have a meeting with Koreans they tend to give you a small present.

Another one that sat in my flat for quite a long time was a jigsaw. This was a 200-piece or so jigsaw of an old map of a Korean island, marked in Korean and Chinese, neither of which I can read to any useful degree. This old map, as old maps tend to be, was a maze of tiny grey lines with occasional brown markings. Whoever at head office thought these would be great gifts for the Korean Tourism Organization to give out to Brits to get them excited about Korea? In the end, one winter afternoon I sat down and actually completed it. But I did deserve a medal.


Once, I was given (all prettily wrapped, as Korean gifts always are) a little metal strip to attach to the back of your mobile phone, which apparently reduces the waves emitted from the phone into your ear. It was actually sponsored by Manchester United. I have no idea if it does anything at all but I figured it couldn't do any harm:

That's until I was having problems with my phone, and took it into the T-Mobile shop to get it serviced. I have to admit, I keep phones longer than most people. I don't like throwing things away. So it was a couple of years old - 2 billion years old in mobile phone years. The chap in T-Mobile wasn't condescending at all about this and was just about to send it back for servicing when he turned it over to take out the SIM and stopped. 'Oh,' he said. 'Actually, there's a problem.' He was looking at the metal strip. 'Well, you see, we can't accept phones from Manchester United fans.' Nice one.


Well, five minutes later I went back to my boil-in-the-bag kimchi. It was very watery -- I'd overwatered -- but although totally lacking in smell, it did taste like kimchi. Actually, maybe they're on to something: odourless kimchi....

Super Samulnori Saturday

Well, I never thought I'd be allowed near a janggu (hourglass drum), let alone be encouraged to bash it noisily for an hour and a half. I must say, I now have an even deeper respect for Korean drummers.

On Saturday evening in lovely St Marks Church in Islington, my fiance Dave and I along with close to a dozen others attended an introductory workshop to learn about the drums and gongs that make up a samulnori group, and a few basics about some simple rhythms.

Jeunghyun (pronounced more like 'ching-hyun') Choi has worked with the internationally famous troupe of Korean drummers Dulsori for years, and is a strict but encouraging teacher. We warmed up shouting 'Oo-rim Han-ma-um' and drumming on one another's backs, before being allowed to choose our weapons. Not surprisingly, lots of us chose the unique janggu that looks so amazing when played well, but Dave got a taste for the kkwaengwari, a humble-looking gong with a surprisingly big sound. We were encouraged to move, to shout, to try different instruments...

Thankfully there were several helpers to show us the ropes, and no-one had a problem with the fact that I am hopelessly unco-ordinated and entirely unmusical. There were plenty of other people who knew a bit about how to play an instrument. I was impressed that some people had just seen a poster in the library, knew nothing about Korea but decided to give it a go. Well, why not? For £5, it was brilliant value to get expert tuition, a chance to use the instruments and to meet new people too in a very, very noisy way.



Bravo! More!  Oh, and it was a great excuse to keep up our strength by eating jjambong and kimbap and ramyun and modeum namul at Woo Jung, too...

'Everyone was so friendly and helpful and very approachable...'

I've received this lovely email from the people who won the recent competition for a trip to the kimchi festival in Korea in October!

Hi Jennifer,

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Korea. It is such a friendly country and everywhere we went everyone could not do enough for us. We had not heard of Kimchi before our trip but found the festival fascinating. We had the chance to taste quite a few different types of Kimchi and I especially found it very tasty, my husband is more a plain food type so was not quite as adventurous as me. Elvis Han our tour guide also took us on a visit to see the autumn colours at the Mount Naejangsan National Park which was very beautiful.

We found Korea to be such a clean country compared to the UK with very little litter. The people also exceeded our expectations. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and very approachable. The majority of people we spoke to knew a little English and even if they didn't we seemed to manage fine. Although at times we were the only British people we always felt extremely safe even when wandering through the underground late at night.

Korea was never a destination I would have thought of visiting but we both will now recommend it to both family and friends.

We feel very privileged to have won this trip.

Yours
Lorraine