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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

Rhythms of Samulnori Spread Out All Over Berlin

The pulsating rhythm of Samulnori began to resonate throughout the courtyard area of a two-story building at Fabeckstrasse 7, Berlin, Germany, at 5:00 p.m. on June 9. People gathered and quickly filled up the courtyard. And so began “Academic Night 2007: Korea - Emotions of the Far East,” hosted by the Korean Studies Program of the Free University of Berlin.
‘Academic Night’ is a special series of public events organized by academic and research institutions of Berlin and Potsdam, as an effort to close the gap between the somewhat isolated academic world and the general public, through entertaining activities that everyone could enjoy. “Academic Night” is a once-a-year event that extends from the early evening to beyond midnight, which is known as “the most intelligent night of the year.” The Korean Studies Program of the Free University of Berlin, which first offered Korea-related courses to students in October 2005, was participating in “Academic Night” for the first time this year.
People started to gather around the building where the Korean Studies Program is housed from about 4:30 p.m. In taking a simple quiz about Korean culture, they indicated their interest in the program of the “Night of Korean Studies." Then, at 5:00, the activities got underway with a rousing performance of samulnori by Sinmoung, followed by a graceful fan dance presentation by Sonamu, a Korean dance troupe. During the performances, the courtyard area was packed with spectators, who showed a keen interest in the unusual musical instruments. Especially, young children asked the performers serious questions about their instruments.


About 7:00 P.M., there was a kind of mini festival of Korean food that included kimchi, japchae, muchae, ssam, and injeolmi, which had been prepared by the students. Although the Korean food was offered at a price of 3 euros per plate, there was a long line of customers, who waited patiently to sample this different cuisine.
Also attracting a large crowd was the calligraphy demonstration by Buddhist Monk Byeongo, under the shadow of a tree. He wrote out people’s names and popular sayings in Korean for those visitors interested in going home with an original work of Korean calligraphy. In fact, I could only provide basic responses to the many questions that people asked about the ink sticks; hanji, the traditional Korean paper; and the structure of hangeul, the Korean alphabet. Still, this was clearly my most satisfying experience of the evening. The curiosity that people had about hangeul was somewhat addressed by a lecture on Hangeul, which was held in conjunction with the calligraphy demonstration. The lecture was presented by Korean-language instructor Jeon Nam-hui in a classroom of the Korean Studies Program. An overflow crowd attended the lecture.
At 9:00 P.M., Jan Kreutenberg presented his commentary on photographs that he had taken during his visit to Korea last year. It seemed that these stories and images served to inspire some of the listeners, who expressed an interest in visiting Korea in the future.
With the screening of a ary on Korea, the “Night of Korean Studies” ended well past midnight. According to an official count by the organizing committee of “Academic Night,” the number of visitors to the events hosted by the Korean Studies Program amounted to 256. Korean Studies Chair Holmer Brochlos expressed his satisfaction with the outcome, saying that the number of people attending the events, including those without tickets, reached at least 300.
From teenage German girls who liked Dongbangshingi, the Korean pop music group, to a man who wore a T-shirt with the wording “I wish you a good day everyday” printed in Korean, and young boys who eagerly snatched up souvenir items related to Pyeongchang’s bid to host the Winter Olympic Games, the “Night of Korean Studies” attracted people of all generations and backgrounds. I look forward to the opportunity to introduce the richness of Korean culture to even more visitors at next year’s event, which is slated for June 14, 2008.

‘Academic Night’ in Berlin
For this year’s “Academic Night," a total of 61 institutions and 299 departments and institutes organized some 1,500 activities.
Admission fee for “Academic Night” was 11 euros for adults, 7 euros for children, and 22 euros for a family group.
The number of tickets sold amounted to 30,852, along with a total of
156,858 event participants. The organizing committee operated shuttle buses along 11 routes for the event.

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