INTERVIEW Progressive rock band Dongyang Gozupa blends East and West
Progressive rock band Dongyang Gozupa / Courtesy of Dongyang Gozupa
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Through a blend of the “yanggeum,” a Korean metal-stringed zither, and modern Western sounds, progressive rock band Dongyang Gozupa, which translates to “eastern high frequency,” has created a trailblazing sound.
Consisting of bass guitar, percussion and the yanggeum, the trio fuses “gugak,” or traditional Korean music, with progressive rock, experimental music and heavy metal. What sets them apart from other fusion bands that reinterpret gugak is that they don't have vocals. Instead, they try to create a percussion-driven sound with the yanggeum at its center.
“We wanted to focus more on the rhythms than the vocals. Vocalists are often the main focus of a band, but music without vocals can be beautiful. I think instrumental compositions are enough to communicate with our fans,” percussionist Jang Do-hyuk said during a recent interview with The Korea Times.
After their debut in 2018, the trio gained a lot of attention quickly through global tours.
They were the first Korean band to be invited to Worldwide Music Expo (WOMEX) for two consecutive years, in 2020 and 2021. Since then, the trio has built their global presence through a number of international festival appearances and headline shows including at the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), the largest music festival in Malaysia, and WOMAD Chile in 2022. The band's Southbank Centre debut in London is a part of their international tour this year followed by performances in Denmark.
The band recently wrapped up their North America tour ― performing at Winnipeg Folk Festival, Vancouver Island Musicfest, Mission Folk Festival in Canada and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the U.S.
“We received more attention than we expected. We were able to gear toward audiences of all ages because Winnipeg Folk Festival attracts young audiences whereas Vancouver Island Musicfest is family-friendly. A gig at Lincoln Center was an opportunity to level up our performance,” Jang said.
Jang, 37, a percussionist of now disbanded psychedelic rock band Danpyunsun and the Sailors, started Dongyang Gozupa with Yun Eun-hwa, 40, a yanggeum player, and Choi Woo-young, a bassist. In 2020, Choi left the band and Ham Min-hwi, 38, joined as a new bass player.
“I wanted to create a new band with yanggeum at its center and no vocalist. I initially reached out to Yun, asking her to introduce some of her students. But Yun said she is interested in joining the band,” he said.
“So I visited her studio and listened to her live performance, which caught me off guard. I imagined she would have a typical gugak stage presence with sad but beautiful melodies. But, she was so charismatic; it felt like she was going to destroy her instrument.”
Ham, who joined the band in 2020, said he was surprised by the band's high-energy shows that are physically daunting.
“Before I joined the band, I knew Dongyang Gozupa is an extreme band that practices dark yet plaintive music. But I didn't expect it to be this hard,” he said.
Progressive rock band Dongyang Gozupa / Courtesy of Dongyang Gozupa
Yun said she started learning the yanggeum at the age of seven in China. As the instrument's name suggests, the yanggeum was imported to South Korea, coming from Persia via China and North Korea.
“After coming to Seoul, I reinvented the yanggeum, bringing the strengths of South Korean, North Korean and Chinese instruments, to my craft. I have a patent for the musical instrument,” she said.
Jang said they are fearless when it comes to music-making ― mixing old and new or East and West.
“There is a similar folk instrument in the West called the dulcimer, so our music isn't completely new to listeners. However, Yun's gugak background and our different musical tastes bring together a very unique sound,” he said.
Yun added: “Because we have a gugak background, we were able to collaborate with orchestras, which is very rare for a rock band.”
Asked about the most memorable moment as Dongyang Gozupa, Yun and Jang picked the North America tour.
“I have always dreamed of performing at Lincoln Center. In Canada, we received positive feedback and I felt like a celebrity because everyone knew who we are at festivals,” she said.
Jang said, “I remember an old lady who gave me $20 at Vancouver Island Musicfest and told me, 'Great work, now go get some ice cream.' Because we are Asians, it's hard to guess our ages. But it was fun to engage with seniors at festivals.”
Ham, who finds moments of inspiration from everywhere, said he doesn't feel the burden of creating new sounds. “We only released two albums so far, so we want to branch out and try different genres. We could lean into our musical tastes and impulses,” he said.
Jang expressed his desire to collaborate with BTS and Lim Young-woong in the future. “We're open to all types of collaborations. We could team up with dance troupes, media facade and gugak artists. I think Dongyang Gozupa blends in anywhere,” he said.
This November, Dongyang Gozupa will embark on a tour of China, where many South Korean artists are prohibited from performing. “We collaborated with a Chinese label in 2019, so we are able to perform in China. We will be performing in Guangzhou and a few other cities,” Yun said.