Hi Everyone!!


Welcome to week 8 of the K-Pop Academy. Is it me, or is time flying?


This week we're doing traditional Korean music. Who else didn't see that one coming? I know I was surprised.


Last week's class

Learning how to play Samul-nori in class

Last Saturday our class got a special gayageum performance by Jung Ji-eun, which I really enjoyed. Though it has to be said that I instantly prefered the 25 strings Gayageum to the 12 string one. It sounds more harmonious if you ask me.


After the mini concert professor Keith Howard of the SOAS University of London gave us a brief lecture about traditional Korean music, followed by Ms. Nami Morris' 'Samul nori' workshop, teaching us some traditional Korean rhythms.




Samul-nori


Samul-nori is one of the traditional Korean music genres. The name basically says it all. 'Samul' means 'four objects', 'nori' means 'play'.  And that's exactly what it is: four instruments working together.


There are two drums and two gongs.


The first drum is the 'buk', which is very similar to a normal barrel drum and symbolises clouds.


The second drum 'janggu' is an hourglass-shaped drum, which symbolises rain and is the most difficult to play out of them all.


The first gong is 'kkwaenggwari' and it symbolises thunder. This is quite small instrument which makes a similar sound to someone hitting on an old pan with a spoon.


The second gong is called the 'jing' and symbolises wind. This is the instrument I played!
When I say "play" I mean "held up", as me and Alice had to share it and she was the on in charge of the actual hitting (she accidentally hit me at one point, haha). I didn't mind though. I was standing behind the instrument and it sounds a bit strange, but it was so much fun! The amount of airwaves the jing produces when hit is really amazing. It really is like one of those big gongs you see in movies or on television. My intestines are still shaking.

Alice and I while trying to "play" the jing.

Though it's clear to see in the picture I have no talent in playing Samul-nori what so ever, this was not down to the fact that it was all new to me. I had seen and heard some music of this genre before when I was in Korea during a show called Nanta.




Nanta


Nanta (internationally known as 'Cookin'', see here for more information) is a popular South Korean musical, which premiered in 1997. It's basically a play with Samul-nori performances, in which they replaced the instruments with cooking utensils, incorporated in it. It might sounds weird when you first hear about it, but it's actually really, really good! If you ever get the chance to go see it you definitely should.


For those unable to see it live I found some videos. The first video will help you get an overall impression of what 'Nanta' is like. The second video gives you contains more insight of the modern take on Samul-nori in this play.


(Click on the title to watch the it in way more superior quality on Youtube)

Nanta

Samul-nori in Nanta

Funnily enough, towards the end of the Nanta show the artist perform 'samgo-mu', which is a traditional Korean drum dance. Here is a video of it to give you an idea what I'm talking about.

Samgo-mu in Nanta

It might look familiar to you. If it does, you probably like 2NE1 and have the eyes of an eagle. It was my friend Amy who told me that Samgo-mu was used in 2NE1's 'I'm The Best' video and didn't believe her at first. But when I watched the video again it was definitely there. Go see for yourself! It starts at around 2:40.

2NE1 - I AM THE BEST [HD]

See? Totally random, right? It doesn't have anything to do with the song, but it is very traditionally Korean. Which brings me to this week's homework.




This Week's Assignment


This week I chose for option C: Find three examples where Korean traditional music has been integrated with contemporary music (K-Pop or Western). So, after quite a few hours of research (while Skyping with Amy) I chose the following songs:


1.

Korean inspired solo drumming by Simon Barker

I chose this video because it's a nice blend between Korean rhythm and western Jazz. Simon Barker drumming sounds almost exactly like the sound that the janggu makes in Samul-nori and, just like during a jjangu solo, it's easy to get the symbolic meaning of the rain. But the most amazing thing about this solo is: it is an improvisation. It's completely unscripted, wow!

2.

Byulmaru - Korean traditional fusion band

Byul Ma Ru, a fusion Korean classic music and performance team, who are known for mixing western musical instruments with Korean classic musical instruments.
What I like about this group is that they created exactly the right balance between western and traditional korean musical influences. You can recognise both very easily, but neither of them overpowers the other.


3.

Joe Satriani

I was so surprised when I found this video. Joe Satriani is an absolute rock guitarist legend (my parent love him). To play one of his songs on a traditional Korean instrument as the gayageum seemed to me like a strange mixture between two opposite worlds. But you know what? I actually like it.




Creative Content


Oh la la, this is where it gets really exciting! I'm a big fan of Jun Areia's K-Pop Remixes, so for this week homework thought it would be really nice if I could create my own little soundbite of a mixture between traditional Korean music and modern western music. That would be kinda cool, right?


Now, keeping in ming that I'm not musically gifted in any way, shape, or form, this does not sounds like the best idea I ever had... But let's be fair, how often does real life provide you a legit excuse for pretending to be a DJ/producer? Not too often, so I just had to take this opportunity with both hands.

GD & TOP - High High (Areia Dirty house remix)

Turns out, remixing music is even harder than I thought it would be. Luckily for me, after two hours of getting absolutely no where and realizing that I'm completely incompetent when it comes to make music on a computer, my study colleague Will English helped me out of my misery. He is absolutely brilliant at mixing and making music and he made me what I like to call a ringtone based upon 'Arirang'.


For those who don't know 'Arirang', the traditional version goes something like this:

Traditional 'Arirang'

My friend turned the traditional instrumental version this song into a modern, dance song. 

'That Korean Tune' - [Arirang]

I really love this song. So much so that it's currently my ringtone and alarm, haha!

I hope you enjoyed it just as much! ^^

Hope to see you next week!

Welcome back everybody!

How was you easter?

Now that everybody had some time to catch their breath, charge their battery, and get back in the groove of things it's time to make a comeback. If you though we partied hard last during our last assignment, you have seen nothing yet. It's Party Week 2.0!

Alice and I at the K-Pop Night

D-100 Olympics Event

All us K-Pop volunteers and supporters after our dance performance on Trafalgar square.

Last Tuesday KCC planned a big event called 'All eyes on Korea' to celebrate the fact that it was only a hundred more days till the Olympics. Of course, the next winter Olympics will be held in Seoul in 2014, so creating awareness of Korean culture is very important. KCC did this by preparing our very own 'All eyes on Korea' tour bus and a organise a dance routine (of eleven minutes, which we performed twice) together with dance team Loko, which was performed by the K-Pop volunteers and supporters.

You can find videos of this event at the following sites:
M.news
MBC
SBS

It was a truly amazing day. And to make it even better, all of this was followed by a K-Pop Night (held at KCC) which brings me to my homework.



This weeks' project

Out of the three given options I choose for option B: "the theme for the following week's K-Pop Night is Taegeuki (the Korean flag). Design a unique outfit that successfully portrays this theme.

I was very pleased when I saw this option, because I like designing clothes (wether I'm any good at it is a totally different matter though).

Some of you might remember that I made T-shirts with popular Korean word/phrases on them for week six. I still had all the stuff (cardboard, paint, etc) I used that time, so I thought this was going to be easy. "I already know how to do this. I totally got this". Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong...

My first idea was to turn this really elegant looking silver dress from Mango in the Korean flag, because Korea is a very fashionable country if you ask me. My smart is their casual.

It was a nice idea, but when I tried to buy the dress in my hometown in Holland last Friday they didn't have it in stock. "Ok fine", I thought. "Just a minor set back. I'll buy it in London this weekend after K-Pop Academy class." So I go to the Mango store in London on Sunday and they have one left in stock, a size S. I thought this was my lucky day, but no, turns out and S in Mango is waaayyyyy to big for me. How is that even possible...?

Things weren't looking good. I had to go back to the drawing board and design something from scratch with only two more days to the party, one of which I would spend being a supporter, so I would have absolutely no time at all  to work on my homework anymore.

But then I had an epiphany, while I was looking at the examples of outfits that were posted on the KCC Facebook page. Most of them were cheerleader based. So, with the Olympics coming up, I decided to base my outfit upon Korea's most popular cheerleaders SNSD and the national football shirt worn by Korea during the last Olympics.

I already had the red T-shirt and red sneakers. I just needed to buy:
- white shorts (H&M)
- blue/red/white hair extensions (Primark)
- White football socks


Logos

You can see on the Korean football T-shirt, it though it looks simple, it has quite a few logos on it. I'm going to be honest with you, I totally got mine from the internet and just copied them (accept for the 'K-Pop' and the 'Suzy' one).
I know, I know, that was wrong, and not to mention lazy. But in my defence I had a tied deadline. Also, the Korean flag quite a sensitive topic, because it is supposed to be sacred. You don't want to chance things too much, or you could get into trouble for it like Super Junior's Yesung did for his 'ripped flag t-shirt'.

Plus, it was supposed to look like the National football shirt anyway, so it should at least have a few similarities.

I choose for number 21 for three simple reasons. 1) That's the number on Yuri's t-shirt. She is one of my favorietes and happens to be the one in red. 2) My Korean age is 21. 3) It is one of the easiest numbers to cut out of cardboard and paint on a t-shirt.

 Please also notice the Nike logo. I thought it would be funny to put that on my t-shirt as it's so recognisable.

 The logo of a footballer I found on the internet has to represent some sort of football union.

Not too many people actually call me Suzy, but since I was having a bit of a slacker week I decided to use it because it's a) easier and b) shorter than Suzanne. It's also a little cuter, right?

Hand made Korean flag

Hand made K-Pop logo (sorry, it's a little smudgy)

And to finish this look of:

Hair extensions in the colours of the Korean flag

and...

red and blue nail polish to match the theme

K-Pop Night

Other than the sheer awesomeness of being able to dance with my friends to K-Pop this party had one more exciting thing in store. Samsung had sponsored the event and had provided KCC with a camera as a price for the best dressed person, and a tablet for one member of the KCC supporters team.

I won the 'Best Dressed' price! Can you believe it? And the best thing was, the camera was handed to me by Ambassador Choo. ^^

So that's it for this week. To be honest, though it has already been two days since the event, I'm still not completely recovered from all the dancing, screaming, singing, scouting, laughing, etc. I'm also covered with bruises all over the right side of my body. I have no idea where those came from, but I like to think of them as evidence of a really great day.


Until next time! ^^


Ps. I made the photos of my outfit with my new fancy camera and it's soooo good!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!


We all have made it through to the sixth week of the k-pop academy, which is the last week before the easter break and therefore it's time to celebrate.

We sure know how to party!

Meeting Ambassador Choo


Last saturday our group was very generously invited to his excellency ambassador Choo's house we were treated to an amazing lunch and had a chance to talk to him and his wife. They are both one of the friendliest people you could ever meet and I just can't say how thankful I am to KCCUK for giving us this opportunity. I will always remember it.

After the lunch and the press conference,  we got taught how to take a traditional bow which is called the 'Jeol' (절)*. This came in very handy for this weeks creative content (you can find out why further down).


*I'll tell more about this later on

This week's project


I chose for this week's assignment I chose for c: write a letter to his excellency ambassador Choo reviewing your thoughts and opinions about week six of k-pop academy at the ambassadorial residence.


My only problem with this assignment was that I already wrote a letter before, to Bi Rain. It may not have been a standard letter, but it still counted. I didn't want to repeat myself, because you can only be seen with a cardboard so many times before people will start to think you're homeless. On the other hand, writing a simple, plain letter to the Ambassador, when I sent something much more complicated to Rain, seemed to send out the wrong message. Almost like I couldn't be bothered. Luckily brainstorming with my friends Amy and Alice gave me an idea that changed everything.


The other people who were there last saturday might remember that the ambassador talked about him turning sixty soon. He then went on to mention that he was saddened by the fact that he probably won't be able to celebrate this big event called Hwangap (환갑) with his family as lives in the UK while his children are studying in America and the rest of his family lives in Korea.


Hwangap (환갑)
"The hwan-gap, or 60th birthday, has also been considered an especially important birthday celebration, for this is the day when one has completed the zodiacal cycle. It was even more important in the past, because back them very few people lived long enough to turn 60 years old. So if someone did turn 60 it was considered special and celebrated with a big party thrown by the children.
Source: Asianinfo.org


So, for this week Alice, Amy and I teamed up to throw a 60th birthday party in honour of his Excellency and also make him what I like to call a 'Birthday Basket' to hopefully cheer him up, or at least make him smile.


I looked up at information about the customs and traditions of a traditional Korean 60th birthday party and drew inspiration from there.


In the end we decided that our basket should include:
- Food: Two different birthday cakes (just because we can), Yakgwa (Korean kind fried cookie), Pepero (because everybody loves to receive those), rice cakes (the ones we had at the Ambassador's house), fresh fruit and dried fruit.
- Drinks: Soju & beer (a classic Korean mix), Rice cakes
- Relaxing gifts (his Excellency stressed the importance of a good night of rest many times)
- Flowers
- Individual letters
- Photos of us in Hanbok*
- DVD of our Videos in Hanbok*


* Hanboks were borrowed from the KCCUK. Explanation why we wore them you can find further down.

Food

More food

Dried and fresh fruit

Flowers (Daffodils for Amy, who is obsessed with them)

Gifts (I wanted to keep that bear so bad... )

Basket (Do you like my drawing? I really tried...)

During Hwangap (환갑) the parents seated at the main banquet table as the sons and daughters take a bow, which is called Jeol (절), in order of age and offer wine to their parents, which is called Hunsu according to Lifeinkorea.com. During this ritual traditional music is usually played and professional entertainers sing songs, urging people to drink.

"Family members and relatives indulge in various activities to make the parents feel young, often dressing like small children and dancing and singing songs. In the old days, guests would compete in composing poetry or songs in celebration of the occasion."

Source: Asianinfo.org

And so it became clear to us that we had no choice but to dress up as children and bow and sing.

First, Alice Unni~

Second, Amy Unni~

And lastly me, being the maknae of this group

My hairstyle is inspired on Sandara Park's 'palm tree' hairstyle (which she sports in for example the 'Lollipop' Music Video), because if anybody looks young for her age, it's her.  Yet friends latest nicknames for me are 'Dragon Lady' and 'General' thanks to look. ㅋㅋㅋ

Amy doing a jeol

And specially for your viewing pleasure, we got the ceremonial offering of the alcohol on video. Please also pay attention to the traditional Kayagum background music, even though it's hard to concentrate with us looking so dashing in our Hanbok. ㅋㅋㅋ

(Click on the title to watch the video on Youtube, where the quality is 1.726.385 times better)

Hunsu

And what is a birthday party without singing Happy Birthday? A very lousy party. We couldn't let that happen. And to make it even more challenging, here we are singing it in Korean.

(Click on the title to watch the video on Youtube, where the quality is 1.726.385 times better)

Happy Birthday

Party

Of course, we had cake and soju afterwards. Any excuse for cake is a good excuse if you ask me.

Letter

As for the actual assignment of this week, the writing a letter part. Of course we were all going to thank him for welcoming us to his home last Saturday. However, Amy found out that we also should wish him many more birthdays to come. It seems very obvious, but yet I hadn't thought of it myself, so it's good she told me.

Letters, cards, photo album filled with party pics & a DVD with the videos on it

My letter to the Ambassador reads the following:

"Your Excellency,

On behalf of all 30 members of the k-pop academy you met last week, please accept my warmest thanks for receiving in your lovely home. It was an absolute honour to meet you and Madam Ambassador. I truly appreciated the opportunity to have candid conversation with you. Thank you for making it such a successful event and reaching out to the hearts of us international the K-Pop fans.

As you told us that you would not be able to celebrate your 60th birthday party with your family, I felt saddened for you. Especially after learning that this is a very important birthday in the Korean Culture. That is why Alice, Amy and I decided to send you this 'Birthday Basket'. We tried hard to make it as authentic as possible (though we will probably never be able to rival Tony's cooking) and we hope it will bring you joy, or at least show how much we respect Your Excellency.

I hope your Excellency will have many more birthdays to come, enabling you to pass on your wisdom and life experiences to others, like myself.

Thank you again for an unforgettable day. I do not wish to trade the pleasant memories I have of it for anything else.

Yours sincerely,

Suzanne Broodbakker"

Alice, Amy & Me with chef Tony

You can find Amy's letter to the Ambassador <here> and Alice's <here>.

Final product

It took me a lot of planning, stress, lots of money, and several years of my life to get this thing done in time, but I have to say the result looks amazing. Or at least I think so. I almost wanted to keep the basket myself (the only thing stopping me was that Alice and Amy would probably have killed me if I did).

Full basket

Completed basket

Back of the completed basket (Please notice how it says 'Happy Birthday' on the back)

I hope you enjoyed this weeks work. ^^

We are having a week off, so there will be no new post on my blog next week.

(Aaaaww! Disappointing... I know, right? ㅋㅋㅋ)

Please look forward to my work the week after that instead.

Happy Easter, everybody! ^^