Journal Article

Samul nori as Traditional: Preservation and Innovation in a South Korean Contemporary Percussion Genre

Hesselink, Nathan

2004

Overview

Hesselink discusses aspects of the musical relationship between p'ungmul and samul nori, while seeking to explore, in a broader sense, what it means to be \"traditional,\" particularly in a modernized and largely urbanized society such as that of South Korea. As many ethnomusicologists have pointed out, this slippery and highly problematic concept is often posited in terms of a dichotomy; tradition as old and preservationist versus innovation and modernity. Hesselink attempts to produce a single and standard definition from a cross cultural or cross-genre vantage point and argues that an inclusive view of tradition, as comprising both preservation and innovation, is the appropriate model for an analysis of samul nori's place in the Korean traditional music soundscape.

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Subject: Cognitive problems, arts and sciences, folk traditions, folklore / Cultural change / Cultural policy / Drums / Ethnology / Ethnomusicology / Folk culture / Folk music / Genre / Gongs / Innovations / Instrumental music / Korean culture / Korean language / Korean music / Modernity / Music / Music practice / Musical culture / Musical performance / Musical performances / Musical phrases / Musical rhythm / Musicology / Performing artists / Popular music / Preservation / South Korea / Traditional music / Traditions