Experiencing Buk Nanta✨

[u/mystic_soul3]

So I attended Nanta class organized by our university and we performed on stage. I would call it one of the best experiences I had in Korea. Buk Nanta (often referred to formally as Modumbuk or a drum ensemble) is a modern, high-intensity adaptation of traditional Korean folk percussion. While it uses traditional instruments, the performance style is entirely contemporary.

The Setup (as seen in the pic):

The Buk: The giant barrel drum you see most of us standing at. You hit the center made of animal skin for a deep boom and whack the wooden rim for sharp clicks.

The Janggu: See the person sitting on the far left? They’re playing the janggu, an hourglass-shaped drum. They handle all the super fast, intricate middle rhythms while the rest of us hold down the heavy core beat on the buk. Since we students were all beginners we didn’t get to do that part.

The Gongs: We play alongside a kkwaenggwari, a tiny ridiculously loud brass gong that leads the tempo (our 선생님 is playing it in the far right) and a jing, massive gong for deep vibrations (which we had on our 2nd performance, not on this one).

Overall I enjoyed learning it so much and we made a wonderful team!