SamulNori Is Here

The Stockton Performing Arts Center is pleased to present SamulNori: Drummers and Dancers of Korea on Saturday, February 14th at 8pm. SamulNori is a group of four dynamic musicians dedicated to performing and preserving traditional Korean music and dance. Since these superb percussionists joined together in 1978, SamulNori has sparked a renaissance in Korea's music scene and garnered worldwide acclaim. The Korean words Sa and mul mean "four things" and nori means "to play." In the case of SamulNori, it refers to the four musicians playing and dancing with four percussion instruments.

Founded by Kim Duk Soo, the group's leader and master of the changgo (hour glass drum), SamulNori has become the leading institution of traditional Korean performance that maintains up to thirty students selected and trained by Mr. Kim. The group performs in many configurations but usually tours as a quartet with Mr. Kim at the helm. The origins of their music can be traced to what is usually referred to as "farmers" band music ("nong-ak") and ceremonial music. It also incorporates the influences of folk and religious music ("pinari") and their intricate rhythms have become quite uniquely their own.

Over the years, SamulNori's U.S. tours have brought them to New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Hawaii, and the Asia Society's sponsored tour across the country. In 1985 the Asia Society was awarded an "Obie" for Outstanding Achievement in the Off-Broadway Theatre for introducing SamulNori to New York's stages. SamulNori has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and at the Smithsonian Institution as part of an effort to establish scholarly exchanges between the Smithsonian and Korea.

In December 1998, SamulNori headlined a benefit for North Koreans at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, presented by Korean Americans for Global Action. Internationally, SamulNori has toured Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, China, Australia and Greece where they accompanied the Korean Olympic representatives for the lighting of the Olympic torch in 1988.

SamulNori has collaborated with many highly acclaimed musicians from around the world from a variety of styles of music ranging from jazz to pop and have also performed concerti with orchestras written expressly for them. They have taken part in many festivals including "Live Under the Sky" in Japan and Hong Kong, the Kool Jazz Festival, Peter Gabriel's "WOMAD" Festival, Moers Jazz Festival, and the Han River International Jazz Festival.

"The four musicians in the Korean ensemble known as SamulNori are all virtuoso percussionists...their drumming--modulated into sounds of any nuance--could lead to total astonishment...SamulNori is a complete theatrical experience as well." - Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times

Tickets to see SamulNori Drummers and Dancers of Korea on Saturday, February 14, at 8pm are $35 for orchestra and $25 for mezzanine seating. To order tickets, call the Stockton Performing Arts Center Box Office at (609) 652-9000. The Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 9am–7pm and an hour and a half before every performance. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card orders are welcome. Tickets can also be ordered online 24/7 at www.stockton.edu/pac. For patrons with special needs, the Stockton Performing Arts Center offers wheelchair accessible seating, large type programs, and listening assistive devices. Please identify any needs you may have when making a reservation.

The Stockton Performing Arts Center is located on the campus of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, on Jim Leeds Road in Pomona (Galloway Township)--easily accessible from the Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway.

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Author: Press Release