Music duo hopes to 'breathe' with fans

Music band 숨[su:m] performs at CC Ter Vesten, Beveren, Belgium, on Oct. 13, 2015. / Courtesy of Vio Kim

By Baek Byung-yeul

Amid ongoing efforts to promote “gugak” or traditional Korean music to the world, 숨[su:m] is one of the bands most widely recognized for their sentimental and eloquent music performed with traditional Korean instruments.

Featuring Park Ji-ha and Seo Jung-min, the female duo has attracted local fans seeking new sounds produced by traditional instruments ever since the 2010 release of their first studio album “Rhythmic Space: A Pause for Breath.”

While being recognized in the local music scene, they also have made their name abroad, taking the stage in a slew of overseas events including last year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, and the U.K.’s World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival in 2014.

Explaining that their band name means “breathing” in Korean, the duo’s leader Park said their band name describes their desire to stay with their fans every moment they breathe.

“When we decided to organize a band we somehow wanted to use a Korean word, so we decided to go by su:m as the official name because correct breathing is the most important element when playing traditional Korean instruments,” Park told The Korea Times on Jan. 11.

“Every day, we hear all sort of sounds surrounding us, and we hope fans listening to our songs will feel relaxed and easy to breathe.”

Park said, “Another reason we formed a duo is because we would like to display our story with our own sound. As we have studied traditional Korean music for a long time, we have always felt that it is hard to dismiss a sense of difference when performing songs composed hundreds of years ago.

“It may be because I haven’t been practicing those traditional numbers a lot, but I also thought it is because we didn’t live in that era. With the songs of 숨[su:m], I think it would be possible to show our own thoughts and feelings.”

As Park explained, local music critics have praised 숨[su:m] for not only delivering hypnotizing sounds and but also for maximizing their sound with only a skeleton staff using various kinds of traditional instruments.

Seo plays gayageum (zither-like string instrument) to produce bass lines while Park plays alternately the piri (bamboo flute), saenghwang (wind instrument with bamboo pipes) and yanggeum (stringed instrument).

For listeners who want to sample their songs, Park introduced “Urban Ari” and “Neo Shin Bang Gok,” two numbers from their second studio album, self-titled.

“Adapting the main melody of traditional folk song Arirang, Urban Ari mingles the string sounds of gayageum and vocals. This is the only song using vocals in our repertoire.

On “Neo Shin Bang Gok,” the lead single of the 2014 album, she plays piri on the base of a gayageum sound.

The next overseas tour of the two Korea National University of Arts (K-ARTS) graduates will take them to Australia and New Zealand. They are invited to perform at WOMADelaide, a festival of world music and dance held March 11-14 in Adelaide, Australia, and WOMAD New Zealand held March 18-20. “Though we have performed in Europe and the United States, it will be the first time performing down under,” Park said.

Speaking of their next album, Park said their experiences performing on world music stages will naturally form into a production.

“We don’t know yet what kind of sounds we will bring for the next album, But I am sure that the experiences we’ve accumulated over the years would merge together into a sound,” she said. “While performing overseas, we had chances to meet many different kinds of people in different countries.”

Celebrating the New Year, the duo will entertain their fans this week at a traditional Korean music festival at Bukchon Changwoo Theater in central Seoul from Thursday to Friday.