CHENNAI: When you enter the InKo Centre, subtle beats of the tabla and mridangam are the first thing you hear....followed by an ascending crescendo of another, unfamiliar percussive instrument. Listen more closely and you may even hear a slight metallic gong in the offing, making you wonder what was going on!
The InKo Centre for the past 10 days has been witness to a unique collaborative effort — of the musical kind. As part of a music residency programme, Noreum Machi, a professional Korean music ensemble, has been jamming with three acclaimed Indian artistes to understand and explore each others’ music, and we sat in on a session to soak in the mix of the Orient and the Carnatic.
Headed by artistic director Juhong Kim, who plays the janggu, a percussion instrument, Noreum Machi describes itself as ‘searching for harmony with modern musical trends without sacrificing the Korean tradition’. “Indian music is so full of life! It seems like you can find music a part of everything,” says Soona Park, who brandishes a 12-stringed instrument called the gayageum. “It has such a great spiritual component in it.
There are unique scales that differ so much from Korean music, yet they make it so special.” The other members include Young Jun Kim, taepyongso and piri player, Ho Won Lee and Hyun Ju Oh, traditional percussionists. The group takes its name from a term indicating an ‘expert combination of both skill and timing’, and won the 2016 Korea Wave Award.
“Our collaboration was brought forward by B C Manjunath, who met Noreum Machi in the US and mooted this effort,” says Praveen D Rao, tabla player and music composer who along with Manjunath and Vajishree Venugopal form the trio of Indian artistes in the residency. While the former is an acclaimed mridangam player, the latter is a singer and flautist.
“We’re classically trained musicians but we look at world music, so we were curious to interact with them,” says Praveen, adding that has tried to co-relate and enhance the music. “Indian music started off with commnuity and folk songs, and graduated to solo songs; Korean music is still in a group, . We understand that the energy of the community is coming through. The energy is high, and we’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg. This is the first 10 days we spent, and we will spend another 10 days in Korea, where we understand their music through their surroundings.”
This is especially important because of the connection music has with nature, says Vajishree. “Each kind of traditional music has a spiritual connection with the geographical area.”
The groups discussed the philosophy, and Indian and Korean concepts such as the Omkar. “In Korea, they have symbolism such as sky as a circle, and earth as a square, which we’ve tried to harness and understand. We’re still exploring each other,” says Praveen, adding that the trio haven named themselves Trayam. Dancer Astad Deboo is also part of the project as a guest artiste.
They stress that the effort is merely from an exploative standpoint. “What we learn in the journey is more important than staging a performance,” smiles Praveen.