SamulNori: Korean Percussion for a Contemporary World

SamulNori is a percussion quartet that has given rise to a genre, of the same name, which is arguably Korea’s most successful ’traditional’ music of recent times. Today, there are dozens of amateur and professional samulnori groups.There is a canon of samulnori pieces, closely associated with the first founding quartet but played by all, and many creative evolutions on the basic themes, made by the rapidly growing number of virtuosic percussionists. This volume explores this vibrant percussion genre, charting its origins and development, the formation of the canon of pieces, teaching and learning strategies, new evolutions, and current questions relating to maintaining, developing, and sustaining samulnori in the future.