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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

From Harare to Gyeonghuigung Palace

An immigration officer at Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe looked as if he had never heard of a country named Korea before. A festival organizing committee staff member, who came to the airport to greet us, lent a timely helping hand: 'World Cup.' Only then did the officer realize where we were from and even told us to have a good time during our stay in Zimbabwe. Korea's role as host of the FIFA World Cup Korea-Japan in 2002 still wields great power in the southern end of the African continent.

We reached our hotel in Harare after a twenty-five hour journey from Incheon International Airport, changing planes twice. Once we arrived at the Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA), Zimbabwe's biggest cultural and artistic event, the organizing committee took care of every other detail.

Arts troupes from ten countries, including Korea, Asia's only participant, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Spain, staged performances at the 2004 HIFA. It was the second time since the 2002 festival that a Korean performance group had participated, with the Foundation's support, at the HIFA.

For this year's HIFA, the Foundation decided to present Korean music tradition. The first part of the performance featured the music of samulnori, haegeum and pansori, uniquely Korean but also appealing to universal tastes, while the second part was composed of free jazz played on the piano and percussion instruments. The presentation as a whole showed how traditional Korean rhythms can be harmonized within modern ones. Having named the performance group 'Korean Folk and Modern Sounds,' the Foundation invited both folk and modern performers with excellent skills in each field to perform on behalf of their country.

The Korean troupe appeared at the Global Stage, specially built at a park in downtown Harare. The dynamic performance of samulnori followed by the feeble but highly variable sound of haegeum was fascinating enough to capture the attention of the African audience. Everyone in the audience became immersed in pansori, which was performed in Korean and was therefore hard for foreigners to understand. The highlight of the one and a half-hour performance was the sinawi finale. Based on sinawi, traditional Korean ensemble music, every performer improvised and the audience started to move to the beat. The performers and the audience became one as traditional Korean music descended upon the people of Zimbabwe.

After the performance in Zimbabwe, the Korean troupe headed for Turkey. The performance in Turkey was staged at the Ataturk Cultural Center in Istanbul and the State Opera and Ballet Theater in Ankara. Unlike Zimbabwe, many people in the Turkish audience expressed intimate feelings toward the Korean troupe. It was probably because Korea was relatively well known to Turkey through their participation in the Korean War. Turkey also hosts many Korean tourists and many people still remember the sportsmanship that was shown in the third-place match between Korea and Turkey at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In fact, Turkey's Korean War veterans, decorated with medals, showed up early to performances in both cities. As a token of appreciation for the warm hospitality and interest shown by the Turkish people, the Korean musicians played the internationally well-known Turkish folk song, Uszkudara, which was not on the original repertoire. As soon as Uszkudara was played with traditional Korean musical instruments, there was a sudden atmosphere of elation and then the audience shouted joyfully and sang the song together.

After 'Korean Folk and Modern Sounds' returned from Zimbabwe and Turkey, the Foundation made a new proposal to the performers to hold another concert in Korea. Considering the excellent content of their sets and the superb skill of their performers, it seemed a big loss for the troupe to simply dissolve having performed so extensively overseas. The performers, who had felt sorry about the dissatisfactory performance environment abroad, heartily accepted the Foundation's proposal.

The Foundation decided to hold the concert as part of the Korea Culture Program for foreign residents in Korea and immediately began searching for a concert venue. We were excited when the Seoul Museum of History favorably responded to our proposal suggesting Gyeonghuigung Palace. Gyeonghuigung, a detached palace of Joseon with a quiet atmosphere and an elegant structure, was the perfect place. As darkness fell, the palace radiated a fantastic atmosphere under various colors of light. Foreign residents in Korea, who were invited to the concert, seemed fascinated by the beauty of the Korean palace and beautiful sound of music. The joy and excitement that this music had first aroused in Harare passed through Istanbul and then Gyeonghuigung Palace in Seoul.

Many organizations and people helped us to successfully stage the performances of 'Korean Folk and Modern Sounds.' My heartfelt gratitude goes out to the Korean Embassies in Zimbabwe and Turkey, the HIFA Organizing Committee, the Turkey-Korea Cultural Society, the Seoul Museum of History, and Professor Hahn Myung-hee of the Music Department at the University of Seoul. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the samulnori performers of Molgae, haegeum p Kang Eun-il, pansori singer Seo Jung-kum, and free jazz musicians Park Je-chun & Miyeon Duo, for their wonderful performances.

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