Nathan Hesselink, Assistant Professor, School of Music, University of British Columbia
| DATE: | Tuesday, February 20, 2007 |
|---|---|
| TIME: | 4:00 PM |
| PLACE: | IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor |
| FORMAT: | IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia |
| SPONSORS: | Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Korean Studies |
Composed of a core set of two drums and two gongs, p’ungmul is a South Korean tradition of rural folk percussion. Steeped in music, dance, theater, and pageantry, but centrally focused on rhythm, such ensembles have been an integral part of village life in South Korea for centuries, serving as a musical accompaniment in the often overlapping and shifting contexts of labor, ritual, and entertainment.
Professor Hesselink's talk will be preceded by a demonstration of p'ungmul by EGO. EGO is the UC Berkeley student group that practices and promotes traditional Korean Drumming, p'ungmul, on campus.
The first book to introduce Korean drumming and dance to the English-speaking world, Nathan Hesselink’s P’ungmul offers detailed descriptions of its instrumentation, dance formations, costuming, actors, teaching lineages, and the complexities of training. Hesselink also evaluates how this tradition has taken on new roles and meanings in the twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries, investigating the interrelated yet contested spheres of history, memory, government policy, grassroots politics, opportunities for musical transmission, and performance practices and aesthetics. P’ungmul offers those interested in ethnomusicology, world music, anthropology, sociology, and Asian studies a special glimpse into the inner workings of a historically rich, artistically complex, and aesthetically and aurally beautiful Korean musical and dance tradition.
Nathan Hesselink is a researcher-performer of South Korean percussion traditions. He received his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of London, SOAS, and was a postdoctoral research fellow in Korean studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His publications include Contemporary Directions: Korean Folk Music Engaging the Twentieth Century and Beyond (ed., University of California, 2001) and P'ungmul: South Korean Drumming and Dance (University of Chicago, 2006), as well as articles in Ethnomusicology, Asian Music, British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Tongyang Umak, Journal of Musicological Research, and others. Former President of the Association for Korean Music Research, he has received grants from Fulbright, FLAS, The Korea Foundation, and The Ouseley Memorial Trust.
Program followed by reception and book-signing.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
