The art of crafting Korean melody

Doha: It would take a person roughly six months to learn how to properly blow and sustain a note out of the Daegeum, a traditional Korean woodwind ins...

Doha: It would take a person roughly six months to learn how to properly blow and sustain a note out of the Daegeum, a traditional Korean woodwind instrument.

To produce a melody that evokes images and feelings that can only be described as “Korean,” that takes a lot more.

Art Director and Conductor of the Gugak Orchestra Lee Yong Tak revealed to The Peninsula that in order to master melody, “Performers have to absorb the feelings, understand the soul of the music.”

The performers must to be able to ride the highs of life, maneuver the anxious lows, and articulate the journey through sounds that can be elegant, abrasive, joyous, desperate; sounds that imitate life’s own rich tapestry. To Lee, performers must “absorb feelings and understand the soul of the music.”

The Gugak Orchestra had recently wrapped up a performance at the National Museum of Qatar titled “Eolssu! Korean Traditional Melody to the World,” in honour of the 50th anniversary celebration of Qatar-Korea relations.