SamulNori 30th Anniversary Performance

SamulNori 30th Anniversary

First a quick update. I got sick a couple of days ago with a stomach things which was no fun. I thought it was because I ate something with eggs, which I did, but I think it was that plus something else. A bunch of other people in my CIEE group got sick as well... Classes started and I like them all. I am taking: Korean Grammar - my teacher is this old halmoni (grandma) who looks really strict and intimidating, but actually ,she seems really nice. She let us out of class on early on the first day because she was hungry and said she would buy lunch for anyone who wanted to eat with her, Far Eastern Cinema - again my prof. seems really cool. He said that he knew most of us were foreign students so he would understand if we might need to miss a class or two due to traveling and in fact encouraged it (the traveling part), Understanding Korean Pop Culture and the Korean Culture Wave - this class is about Korea pop culture (TV dramas, music, movies) which has taken the rest of Asia by storm, and Korean Beginning 1.5 - I originally tried to take the language placement test and walked out because it was way to hard. Thus, I was placed in beginning I, which was way to easy, so now I'm in 1.5. It still seems rather easy, but the pace is faster and I've heard 2 is really hard. I got a cellphone. I bought a used one for W70,000, which is about $70, more or less. I probably could have gotten cheaper, but it was the cheapest one at the store we were at. We went as a group. I like it though. It works well enough. I'm using prepay which rips you off though. It costs W10,000 (about $10) for 27 minutes... no long conversations for me. This evening my friend/roommate and I went to the SamulNori 30th anniversary performance at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts (and we didn't get lost!!!). It was sooooo AMAZING! SamulNori; a four person group, basically created a new genre of music derived from nongak, or traditional Korean farmers music back in 1978. I sat way up in the third floor, but we still had a really good view of the stage. (Thank you Sangho!) The performance started out with the performers marching down the aisle on the lower level to the stage. They continued to play while all the people with the front row seats came up to the stage and let incense and bowed. There was an alter set up with fruit and a candelabra. People stood in line and groups at a time would take off their shoes, receive incense and light them with the candelabra. They would then do three bows, and then put their shoes back on and walk off stage back to their seats. I'm not sure what this was for, but my friend and I were thinking it might have been to honor the original fourth member of the group, who passed away some time ago. It was really cool to watch! All the smoke wafted up towards the stage lights and it looked really pretty. Unfortunately, picture taking was not allowed. I did however, discretely use my sound recorder on my camera and recorded most of the performance that way. The performance was insanely good! They played Soljanggu and Samdo poongmul among other pieces and the whole audience was so into the show! The lady infront of me must play changu because she was subconsciously playing the beats in the air while she was watching. Here is a pic that I took at the end. I probably wasn't supposed to take it, but too bad. Its when the audience was allowed to get on stage and dance around with the performers. Well, I gotta go because my friends and I are off to Namdaemun for some cheap midnight shopping!