Noreum Machi

NOREUM MACHI / THE K-WIND
Puissance des percussions, acrobaties vertigineuses, énergie sans limite... Mené par Ju-Hong Kim, les membres du groupe Noreum Machi sont maîtres en matière de tradition coréenne mais perméables aux changements de leur époque.
À moins d’avoir été initié en la matière, vous serez vite perdu dans la jungle de diversité des musiques de Corée. Comment séparer le sanjo du gagok ? Est-ce bien du sinawi ou une adaptation audacieuse du pansori ? Las... N’ayant hélas pas ici la place (ou la science !) nécessaire à un long exposé, nous nous bornerons à indiquer que si les musiques de cour ont disparu avec la fin des dynasties au début du XXe siècle, le samul nori, lui, a réussi, au fil des siècles, à se maintenir bien vivant – il a même rythmé les protestations étudiantes qui ont suivi le coup d’État militaire de 1961.
Très bien, direz-vous, mais qu’est-ce donc que ce samul nori, dont le groupe Noreum Machi porte aujourd’hui très haut les rythmes et les valeurs ? C’est une musique joyeuse et percussive issue des traditions chamaniques, et qui trouve ses origines dans les régions rurales du sud-ouest de la République de Corée. Au départ, les chants et les danses accompagnaient les fêtes rituelles célébrant les moissons, et les artistes-baladins voyageaient de villes en villages. C’est d’ailleurs dans le jargon de ces anciens musiciens itinérants que Noreum Machi a trouvé son nom, issu de la contraction des mots nold (jouer) et machida (terminer) : le noreumachi, c’est le gagnant de toutes les joutes, le plus doué, le plus vif, le plus virtuose, celui après qui personne n’ose plus passer. Ju-Hong Kim est de ceux-là. Né à Jindo, une île au large de la côte sud-ouest, petit-fils d’un chaman, il a su revisiter son héritage et l’a enrichi de l’étude des formes savantes de la musique coréenne (celles dont on vous parlait plus haut), se perfectionnant auprès des plus grands maîtres. Fort de ces expériences, il est revenu à ses racines en fondant Noreum Machi, un ensemble de dix musiciens où figurent bien sûr les quatre instruments qui composent la base traditionnelle du samul nori – tambours et gongs qui symbolisent respectivement les nuages, le tonnerre, la pluie et le vent.
Virtuoses et fins connaisseurs de la tradition, les Noreum Machi ont su l’adapter aux scènes du monde entier, lui restituant toute sa dimension spectaculaire, jouant dans des clubs ou dans de grands festivals internationaux, et partageant volontiers l’affiche avec des jazzmen, des rockers, des hip-hoppers. “Je ne dirais pas que nous sommes là pour apporter une nouvelle vie à une vieille musique, explique Ju-Hong Kim, mais je crois que nous avons notre rôle à jouer. Cela continue d’être du samul nori, mais nous développons notre propre répertoire à l’intérieur du genre.” - Que faire à Paris

It Is Not About a K-Pop, It’s Not Just About a Music, It Is Unique, It Is Noreum Machi
Written by Maria Margareta on October 21, 2013 in Arts, Special Report

“It is not about a K-Pop, it’s not just about a music, it is unique, it is Noreum Machi” (my quotes for Noreum Machi)

Founded in 1993, Noreum Machi as recoqnized as “New Wave Korean Music Group” is a Korean traditional musical and future-oriented ensemble that search for harmony with modern musical trends and adding Korean traditions on their performance. The name of Noreum Machi comes from the jargon of Korean minstrels, a combination of skill and timing attained only by the best players.

With five members, Noreum Machi has introduced Korean traditional musical performance with innovative concept either in their own country and overseas. Counting since previous years, they have many overseas touring around the world in some festivals such as Canada, Europe, Middle East and South East Asia including Indonesia.

“Harmonious concept is not just about a performance itself. It’s about a chemistry and communication between the audiences and performers has been connected each other” (my quotes for Noreum Machi)


Reported by Maria Margareta
Photos by Maria Margareta - Maria Margareta

DIPOLOG CITY, Feb 28 (PIA) - - The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), in collaboration with the city government of Dipolog hosted the very significant artistic extravaganza, the First International Gongs and Bamboo Music Festival held at Dipolog Sports Complex (DSC) on February 16-22.

The Tunog-tugan Festival was made possible through the creative institutional partnership of NCCA, Musicological Society of the Philippines, and the University of the Philippines Center for Ethnomusicology headed by Dr. Ramon P. Santos, who is also the festival director.

The colorful event in the tradition of gongs and bamboo music which originated thousands of years ago is one of the highlights of Dipolog City’s centennial celebration. Dipolog was founded as a municipality on July 1, 1913.

Dr. Ramon P. Santos lauded Mayor Evelyn T. Uy for taking the formidable challenge to host this first ever International Gongs and Bamboo Music Festival of NCCA to explore the richness of Asian culture.

“We are here to witness the first grandiose event. I am deeply grateful to Mayor Evelyn T. Uy for all the support to ensure the success of this festival. Music is the deepest expression of the soul and knowing each other’s feelings strengthens our bond. The people of today are distracted by too much entertainment. People now are more fond of their laptops, cellular phones and other modern gadgets,” NCCA Chair Felipe de Leon said.

The Dipolog City Marimba Ensemble, a smooth transition from rondalla to bamboo marimba music and a national winner in the prestigious National Music Competition for Young Artists, brought the house down with its performance in the opening night.

Vietnam’s Khac Chi Music captivated the audience as they brought traditional music to their audience, coming up with lively arrangements of Vietnamese traditional, folk tunes and creative stage antics to capture their listeners. The show was full of crowd-pleasing moments.

The performers were Chi Ho and his wife, Bic Hoang who once taught at the University of British Columbia in Vietnam, performing mostly on the instruments that are indigenous to Vietnam.

Chi Ho received the first prize in the 1982 Vietnam Competition of Professional instrumentalists on the Dan Bau. He invented the Sao bop and named it in English as “squeezing bamboo flutes” which he played during the opening.

Noreum Machi of South Korea specializes in the virtuosic percussion music known as Samul-nori. This exciting music is a modernized-stage adaptation of the ancient Pungmul-nori farmers ritual that had its origin in shamanism and animism. Samul-nori (Samul meaning “four objects” and Nori meaning “play”) is performed primarily on four traditional instruments; Jang-gu, Buk, Jing, and Kkwaenggwari.

Other instruments used were the Taepyongso and Piri. Each of the four main instruments represents different elements of nature: the Jang-gu represents rain; the Buk, clouds; the Jing, wind; and the Kkwaenggwari, thunder storm.

For the final concert, performers included Ensemble Moderu Palu of Indonesia, Maguindanao Kulintang Ensemble from Cotabato City, and Taiwan Bamboo Orchestra including all the 209 artists and musicians.

Other performers came from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Canada. Local tribes from Baguio City, Ifugao, Panay Islands, Cotabago City, Maguindanao, Davao City, Sulu, Basilan, Siayan ug Dipolog City also participated in the festival.

Mayor Uy expressed her profound thanks to all the working committees and for making the festival a resounding success. (FPG/ALT-PIA9, Zambo Sur) - PIA(Philippine Information Agency)

The music borne out of playing gongs and bamboo instruments cannot simply be dismissed as an obfuscated form of entertainment, for it has always been a mirror of “a life of spirituality, subsistence, and of communing with nature in this part of the world,” said National Artist-designate Ramon P. Santos during the first international gongs-and-bamboo music festival, held Feb. 19-22 in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte.
“There’s a need to trace the roots of these musical traditions in Southeast Asia to fully appreciate and explore their significance,” he added.
Santos was director of the festival, “Tunog-tugan,” which gathered over 200 artists and scholars of gong-and-bamboo music from at least 11 countries in Asia and elsewhere. Output from the interaction between artists and scholars will be used in formulating instructional materials about traditional music, according to organizers.
Tunog-tugan was part of the Philippine Arts Festival (PAF) in connection with the National Arts Month celebrations last February.
Tradition, academe
Organized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) through the Musicological Society of the Philippines, University of the Philippines Center for Ethnomusicology, and City Government of Dipolog, Tunog-tugan sought to promote awareness on gong-and-bamboo music in schools and other academic institutions.
Because of this, according to Santos, outreach performances in other municipalities in Zamboanga del Norte were held as part of the festival, on top of the two-day conference and workshops attended by scholars from even as far as France and Hawaii.
“We have asked our artists to perform in schools outside Dipolog, so that people, especially the youth in those communities, may experience our traditional gong-and-bamboo music,” Santos said. “This promotion is also part of an effort to preserve our culture.”
Outside Dipolog City, local and foreign gong-and-bamboo musicians alike performed in Sindangan, Siayan, Sapang Dalaga, Rizal, Dapitan City and Manukan.
Well-received performances
Four performing groups showcased their art during the first night after the opening ceremonies.
The Dipolog City Bamboo Marimba Ensemble, a national winner in the National Music Competitions for Young Artists, delivered masterful renditions of songs using bamboo marimbas, claves, and a triangle.

NCCA chair Felipe de Leon Jr. PHOTOS BY LORD NORVEN NAMOC
Among the pieces they performed were the dance music “Can-Can,” composed by J. Offenbach; the Pizziccato Polka, which had originally been composed for stringed instruments in 1892 for the concerts of Eduard Strauss in Hamburg; and “Nais Ko,” by master composer Ryan Cayabyab.
Exciting the crowd further were the comic acts of a Vietnamese duo known as Khac Chi Music: Ho Khac Chi, the world’s premier virtuoso on the dan bau, a one-string zither, who had taught at the Vietnam Conservatory of Music before traveling to perform traditional music in Europe, US and Asia; and Hoang Ngoc Bic, the first woman to win First Prize on the dan bau in the Vietnam Competition of Professional Instrumentalists and also the first woman ever to play the koni, a two-string stick fiddle.
Shamanistic rhythms
The duo played “Full Moon Dance,” a traditional Vietnamese highlander music, arranged by Khac Chi to suit it with the sound of a bamboo xylophone and the dinh pa, a bamboo pipe. The duo also presented “Love under the Moonlight,” a folk song of mountain people played with a long flute which can be blown at the same time by two performers.

Festival director Ramon Santos
Meanwhile, the Maguindanao Kulintang Ensemble performed pieces dedicated to familiar Filipino traditions: “Kaluntang,” a song played by farmers during harvest time; “Kaganding sa Kulndet,” a fast rhythmic song played with only three gongs during weddings in Maguindanao; and “Sagayan,” a shield-and-sword male dance performed during wedding processions.
The lively presentations of the Korean Noreum Machi, which specializes in playing percussion music known as Samul-nori, a modern adaptation of the ancient rituals of Pungmul-nori farmers, closed the first night.
The members played instruments and danced to the tune of “Binari,” a song-prayer to drive away misfortune and bring wealth, glory and long life; and “Noreummachi Sinawi,” the culminating act with the four percussions kkwaenggwari, jing, jang-gu and buk played alternately in even and odd meters to resemble a mixture of shamanistic rhythms.
Emblematic start
The festival kicked off with a very meaningful inter-faith prayer, led by Filipino youth from the indigenous peoples of the North, the Lumads of the South, and Muslims and Christians.
NCCA chair Felipe de Leon Jr., himself a musician and head of the NCCA National Committee on the Arts, formally opened the festival.
Before that, a colorful procession of international ensembles, troupes, and duo of musicians signaled the start of the festival inside the massive Dipolog - Philippine Daily Inquirer

I highly recommend this group, they were an absolute hit at our festival and perform a style of music called Samul Nori, which combines dance and percussion. Although this is a very traditional form of Korean music, this group has managed to contemporize it in such a manner to maintain the traditional framework and yet make it fresh. They are excellent musicians, they represent their country and music style extremely well, and they are very colorful and exciting!

Randy Raine-Reusch
Artistic Director/ Consultant
Email: aszacom@gmail.com - Randy Raine-Reusch (Rainforest World Music Festival) / 2009

I've now had occasion to hear Noreum Machi in the most diverse performance environments -- theaters in New York City and elsewhere, and now on an outdoor stage in a small, provincial town in the interior of the state of Bahia, Brazil. It would be hard to find a bigger contrast, from the plush seats cushioning 'sophisticated' city dwellers to plastic chairs strewn about a town square full of parents and children who had never before been exposed to much music outside their own culture, let alone music from far-away Korea. Different as these audiences were, one result was identical: the standing ovation.

Noreum Machi are that rarest of great artists. They have mastered their art form with a skill, musicality, athleticism, grace and profundity of tradition that justly earns them accolades at home and abroad. But they bring an additional, more unique skill as well. They are consummate professionals who know how to stage their show, how to pace it, when to unveil dynamic highlights and when to settle in for subtler moments of reflection. Watching them, one can only marvel at artists at the top of their form, artists who know their art, their audiences and how to get their desired effect. It is that artistry and these combined skills that opens Noreum Machi up to new audiences who may never even have known of these traditions. It is this that makes them ideal ambassadors for Korean music.

Heartfelt! - Gerald Seligman (International Music Industry Professional/Consultant/Producer)

I've now had occasion to hear Noreum Machi in the most diverse performance environments -- theaters in New York City and elsewhere, and now on an outdoor stage in a small, provincial town in the interior of the state of Bahia, Brazil. It would be hard to find a bigger contrast, from the plush seats cushioning 'sophisticated' city dwellers to plastic chairs strewn about a town square full of parents and children who had never before been exposed to much music outside their own culture, let alone music from far-away Korea. Different as these audiences were, one result was identical: the standing ovation.

Noreum Machi are that rarest of great artists. They have mastered their art form with a skill, musicality, athleticism, grace and profundity of tradition that justly earns them accolades at home and abroad. But they bring an additional, more unique skill as well. They are consummate professionals who know how to stage their show, how to pace it, when to unveil dynamic highlights and when to settle in for subtler moments of reflection. Watching them, one can only marvel at artists at the top of their form, artists who know their art, their audiences and how to get their desired effect. It is that artistry and these combined skills that opens Noreum Machi up to new audiences who may never even have known of these traditions. It is this that makes them ideal ambassadors for Korean music.

Heartfelt! - Gerald Seligman (International Music Industry Professional/Consultant/Producer)

Korean Traditional Percussion
Noreum Machi
WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE TOURS 2009/2010

Noreum Machi is a captivating new group from Korea that performs the virtuosic percussion music known as samulnori. First introduced to the West in the late 1970s by the legendary ensemble Samul-Nori, this exciting music had a huge
effect in galvanizing the student movement in Korea and reengaging Koreans with their traditions. Samulnori is a modernized staged adaptation of p�'ungmul nori, a ritualistic celebratory event with origins in shamanism and animism performed by rice farmers and professional musicians at harvest festivals. Noreum Machi�'s colorful program includes spectacular percussion dialogues, shamanic chants, and
acrobatic dances.

P�'ungmul nori represents the soul of Korea. Whereas court music died out for the most part with the end of dynastic rule in the early 20th century, p�'ungmul nori, a folk medium, was maintained in the villages and rural areas. After the 1961 military coup and throughout the latter half of the 20th century, students throughout Korea employed p�'ungmul nori as a medium to empower the masses and demonstrate against the authoritarian government. Until Samul-Nori�'s first U.S. tour in 1983, Korean music was performed only to diehard aficionados; it was considered far too esoteric for Western ears. Even in Korea, traditional music was fast fading in the wake of the onslaught of Western music �- both pop and classical. Samul-Nori, with its emphasis on percussion, dramatically changed the way that Korean music
had been perceived both in the West and by young Koreans; here was a music that was easily accessible and seemed to speak a far more universal language. Noreum Machi essentially continues and expands the journey that Samul Nori began. The group was founded in 1994 by Kim Juhong, a graduate of the Korean Traditional University who studied singing, shaman rhythms, and pansori (traditional storytelling/vocal music) with masters of these various genres, including Kim Duk Soo, one of the original members of Samul-Nori. While steeped in the tradition of p�'ungmul nori and its derivative samulnori, Noreum Machi has reached out to embrace outside elements and improvisation is a key element of their performance.

The instruments:
The core instruments used are the janggo, an hourglass-shaped double headed drum that could be considered the national instrument of Korea since it is
used in all forms of Korean music; the buk, a double-headed barrel drum; the
kkwaenggwari, a small gong originally used in the royal ancestral shrine music;
and the jing, a large gong. Other instruments used selectively are the piri, a
small eight holed high-pitched oboe; the taepyongso, a conical oboe; and the bara,
brass cymbals used in Buddhist and shaman ritual music.

WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE
49 WEST 27TH STREET, SUITE 930
NEW YORK, NY 10001
T: 212-545-7536 F: 212-889-2771
E: SOPHIE@ WORLDMUSICINSTITUTE.ORG
WWW.WORLDMUSICINSTITUTE.ORG
- Isabel Soper (World Music Institute)

A well-known traditional Korean percussions or 'samulnori' group made their debut at the recent Rainforest World Music Festival(RWMF). With a colourful programme of spectacular percussions performance, haunting shamanic chants and entrancing acrobatic dances, Noreum Machi really took the stage by strom.
Founded in 1993, Noreum Machi represents Kim's (artistic director) passion in samulnori. "Samulnori music had its humble origin in the rural areas, strongly based on harvest rituals and shamanism. Over the ages, it became a minstrel performance. To us, our music is like a message from Nature. It is spiritual and humanistic at the same time," said Kim. The group name itself is minstrel jargon, a compound of two words 'nolda'(to play) and 'machida'(to end). In competitions, Noreum Machi would refer to the player so skilled that no one would dare to play after.
- EASTERN TIMES. Wednesday July 29, 2009 BY ANTONIA CHIAM

WOMEX – The World Music Expo – is kind of like a traveling SXSW for global music. Mostly an industry affair, with about 2,000 attendees from 100 countries, the five days of nonstop showcases, panel discussion, meetings, film screenings and schmoozing (did I mention the concerts? Concerts too) end up setting the the pace for the year that follows. I came home from this year's festival – held this year in the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain – totally revved up and inspired by what I saw and heard.

This year's WOMEX proved to be an incredibly strong one for Latin and Caribbean music, thanks to acts like Honduras' Guayo Cedeño, Colombia's Tribu Baharú and Mexico's Troker. And a few artists and groups I already knew and loved were out in full force: the Congolese-Belgian singer Baloji's show was relentlessly tight; I couldn't tear myself away from the utterly charming El Gusto Orchestra, from Algeria, or the recently renamed Orkesta Mendoza, the only U.S. group to showcase at WOMEX 2014.

The most exciting artists I heard this year were new to me, and they tended to be either hard-driving modernists or performers who presented roots music in innovative ways. I know I missed plenty of wonderful stuff, trying to navigate overlapping showcases throughout Santiago's old quarter. Maybe by the time next year's event lands in Budapest I'll finally have figured out how to clone myself.

Latitudes: Top 10 Musical Discoveries From WOMEX 2014

Cover for Made in Tribu Baharú
Colombia: Tribu Baharú
Despite a WOMEX audience that leans towards promoters and agents generally far more interested in observing than participating in a show, certain sets got the whole audience dancing in a hot, sweaty mess. (Despite the late October date and a location not far from the Atlantic Ocean, Santiago enjoyed summer-like temperatures throughout this year's conference.) The foremost case in point was Colombia's Tribu Baharú, whose Afro-Caribbean beats and party vibe got the whole crowd moving.


Cover for Árnica Pura
Spain: Davide Salvado
One of my favorite discoveries this year was Galician singer Davide Salvado. With his slightly bedraggled, woke-up-this-way stage look, he could easily be mistaken as the front man of an up-and-coming indie band. Instead, Salvado uses his gorgeous, sweet tenor to sing the old music of his native land. I had the deep pleasure of hearing Salvado twice during this trip to Spain: once on the amplified WOMEX stage, but even more magically two weeks ago, in an intimate, once-in-a-lifetime performance organized by Wapapura in a remote, 9th-century monastery in Galicia's rural Ribeira Sacra region. With a traditional sound and a modern look, Salvado has found a way to bring ancient sounds of Galicia that stretch back to a pre-Christian, Celtic heritage feel very modern and relatable.


Cover for El Rey Del Camino
Mexico: Troker
If you plugged your ears and just looked at this band from Mexico, you might take them for metalheads. But that's not what Troker does — at least, not exactly. What they play is what you might call heavy jazz: lots of horns, deep bass, pummeling rhythms and a fierce, huge sound, with a very occasional reference to both mariachi and hip-hop. I can't wait to get both A Blog Supreme and Alt.Latino to hear them.


Russia: Otava Yo
From St. Petersburg, Otava Yo is equal parts punk and Russian folk. With a lineup of lyre-like gusli, bagpipes, fiddles, guitar, bass and drums, they brought huge energy and serious fun to an outdoor WOMEX stage.


Cover for Ma.Ri
Italy: Paolo Angeli
Speaking of punk and jazz, there's Paolo Angeli. Sardinia's madly imaginative master of the guitar — albeit a fabulously souped-up guitar of his own invention — veers, in dreamy and almost stream-of-consciousness kind of way, between the traditional music of his island homeland, improvisational jazz and punk with a palette of super-saturated colors and amazing textures.


Cover for Coco Bar
Honduras: Guayo Cedeño
Guitarist Guayo Cedeño has played in the bands of two of the most exciting artists to emerge from the Caribbean: the late Andy Palacio, from Belize, and Honduras' Aurelio Martinez. Stepping into the spotlight with his own band, Cedeño proved during his psychedelic-tinged solos that he's a real guitar hero with chops to burn.


Cover for Noreum Machi
South Korea: Noreum Machi
This was perhaps the most unexpected find at this year's WOMEX for me. Noreum Machi's pre-show materials seemed, to me at least (and completely unfairly), to presage a folkloric, "welcome to the sounds of our country" show. What we got instead was a shamanistic and utterly visceral performance full of pounding drums, crashing gongs and wild horns.


India/Australia: Maru Tarang
A premier slide guitarist from Australia teams up with three Rajasthani folk musicians? Doesn't sound promising, perhaps — but Jeff Lang and his collaborators in Maru Tarang (tabla player Bobby Singh, sarangi artist Asin Khan Langa and percussionist Bhungar Manganiyar) have found a gently beautiful wellspring in common ground. Pairing the slide guitar with the dusky sarangi (a bowed, fretless string instrument) was particularly inspired: On both instruments, the musicians glided between notes with both elegance and deep soulfulness.


Cover for Troubadour
Portugal: Lula Pena
Armed with nothing but her guitar and her smoky alto, Lula Pena was utterly transfixing. Salting a blend of Portuguese fado and Cape Verdean morna with some French cabaret, Brazilian bossa nova and other elements, this artist took her music to elemental roots: the perfect soundtrack for a dark, seaside club.


Cover for Alegria
Angola/Portugal: Batida
In a set that mixed old 1970s Angolan samples, modern EDM, projected visuals and hard beats, Batida proved a perfect late-night set for WOMEX. You know who would be a great stage partner for them? A Tribe Called Red. - NPR (National Public Radio)