[Review] 'Like Jazz...' Traditional Korean Music Improvisation, Gyeonggi Sinawi 'Sound of Yeok (易)'

Score and Conductor Authority Dismantled... Emphasis on Performer Creativity and Improvisation
Wonil Artistic Director's Notable Efforts Toward the Essence of Korean Traditional Music

After Wonil established himself as the artistic director, the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra continued unprecedented challenges and experiments. These challenges were efforts to keep pace with the times and attempts to find the essence of Korean traditional music. It was a search that should have already been undertaken and a process that needed to happen in many more places. Naturally, it was a change that risked failure. Those who undertake what others do not willingly accept failure. In fact, they start to fail better. Without shaking the existing framework, one cannot move toward novelty or reclaim the lost essence. That is why watching the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra’s performances is exciting and full of anticipation. Audiences invited to sounds that would not have been created without the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra, and to paths that would not have been visible without their opening, cannot help but feel their hearts race.

The performance titled "Orchestral Sinawi, the Sound of Yi (易)" held at the National Theater’s Haeoreum Theater at 4 p.m. on the 13th was no exception. It was impossible not to be curious about not only the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra but also the names Lee Ye-jin, Song Ji-yoon, Ji Bak, and Kim Do-yeon. Moreover, as Artistic Director Wonil said, the pamphlet containing text like a mini-thesis sufficiently conveyed his philosophy and concerns about the realm that can be called the form, genre, or spirit of Sinawi. Sinawi, which he named Shin-a-wi (神我爲), was a transformation aimed at dismantling the power of the score and conductor to allow performers to autonomously express their creativity and improvisation, as well as an integration attempting to fuse past and present.

Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra 'Sound of Change' Performance [Photo provided by Gyeonggi Arts Center]

The Sound of Yi performance transparently showed what the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra had achieved in this process and how it was evolving. Building the pieces through proposals and participation from the members and then improvisationally changing them on site was a creative method difficult to find precedents for. Although this approach is commonplace in jazz and improvisational music circles, it was unprecedented in Korean traditional music, especially on a large orchestral scale. The concert, which proceeded with "27 Blues," "Sinawi Bricolage," "Hohohot," and "Hapsaeng (合生)," was realized through the leadership of the musical director and the freely gathered collaboration of the performers. Each piece built stories and was received and transformed through the individual senses and languages of the performers, causing the music to be frequently segmented and connected.

In "27 Blues," the narrative created by different sounds scattering, coexisting, and loosely combining fully demonstrated that the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra was embracing and creating Sinawi in its own way. There was no unified sound from the orchestra. The sounds emitted by the 27 performers were a chaotic battle that spoke of how they saw and heard by paralleling the dynamic sensation created by actual waves as much as possible. The "Sinawi Bricolage," which unfolded like a farce, was equally chaotic. The second performance approached the ever-changing world at the center of the stage’s orbit through the freedom and chaos displayed by the performers. Compared to that, "Hohohot" was a much friendlier, more intuitive, and dramatically easier-to-understand performance. Thanks to the performers sitting in a circle on stage, gathering and dispersing while playing and even presenting theatrical elements, it could be enjoyed like a game. "Hapsaeng," where all members gathered in one place to reorganize and shake up the previously presented pieces, broke expectations again and suggested a new flow to conclude the performance.

Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra 'Sound of Change' Performance [Photo courtesy of Gyeonggi Arts Center]

More impressive than the achievements or limitations of individual pieces was the members’ unreserved presentation of their improvisations and their attentive listening to others’ performances. It was an attitude of accepting discord and disorder. It was a belief affirming their own potential. Discovering moments when it would not be an exaggeration to say they were moving on their own, I began to expect that the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra might now be ready to perform any kind of Sinawi. It is fascinating precisely because it is ongoing, not because it is complete, and because it will continue to change in the future. I am already looking forward to the next performance.

Seo Jeong-min-gap, Popular Music Critic