A gayageum strung with steel speaks in a different voice.
Unlike the warm, rounded resonance of the traditional silk-string sanjo gayageum, the cheol gayageum projects a sharper outline. Its metallic strings resist the hand, deepening the expressive bends and vibrato that define Korean traditional performance practice.
Gayageum performer Seo Eun-young will present her solo recital Gongryeok (功力) V, subtitled Cheolgarak: The Complete Lee Taebaek-style Cheol Gayageum Sanjo. The performance offers a full traversal of a sanjo tradition refined over decades by master musician Lee Taebaek, interpreted through Seo’s evolving artistic voice.
The Korean term gongryeok refers not to achievement but to the accumulated power of sustained practice. It signifies years spent refining technique and sound without retreat. Rather than pursuing visibility, Seo has devoted herself to long-term study, documenting her exploration of major sanjo traditions through both performances and recordings.
Previous installments in the Gongryeok series focused on the gayageum sanjo lineages of Shin Gwan-yong, Han Suk-gu and Kim Juk-pa. The fifth chapter moves beyond the familiar territory of silk-string instruments and into the demanding world of the cheol gayageum.
The instrument replaces traditional silk strings with metal ones, fundamentally altering the relationship between performer and sound. Notes emerge with greater brightness and tension. Every bend, pull and vibrato requires recalibration. Familiar melodic passages demand new physical responses, as the strings yield less readily beneath the fingers.
The result is a distinctive encounter between the cool precision of metal strings and the emotionally charged melodic language of Korea’s southern musical traditions. Excessive pressure can roughen the tone; too little can thin the sound. The instrument demands exact control of vibrato, ornamentation and microtonal inflection.
Sanjo itself emerged from a convergence of regional shamanic music, sinawi improvisation and pansori aesthetics, distilled into an instrumental solo form.
The recital follows the traditional sanjo progression from slow to fast rhythmic cycles, though the journey is about more than increasing tempo. A full sanjo performance unfolds as an extended narrative in which phrases accumulate, release and transform across successive rhythmic frameworks.
The program at Umyeondang will proceed through Daseureum, Jinyangjo, Jungmori, Gutgeori, Eotmori, Jajinmori, Hwimori and Semachi.
Daseureum establishes the performer’s dialogue with the instrument, while Jinyangjo lays the foundation through expansive, unhurried phrasing. Jungmori develops a more speech-like melodic flow, and Gutgeori reveals the rhythmic vitality associated with southern Korean traditions. Eotmori introduces asymmetrical tension, before Jajinmori and Hwimori intensify both speed and technical density. The journey concludes with Semachi, bringing the long arc to resolution.
A complete sanjo performance differs significantly from excerpt-based presentations commonly heard in concerts. Rather than highlighting individual sections, a full-length rendition tests an artist’s endurance, concentration, command of rhythm and control of tone over an extended span. It also allows audiences to experience the structural and emotional architecture of an entire lineage.
The Lee Taebaek-style cheol gayageum sanjo is inseparable from its creator’s deep roots in southern Korean music. Born in Jindo, Lee grew up immersed in the vocal traditions of the region as the son of renowned singer Lee Im-rye. Over the course of his career, he mastered fields ranging from pansori drumming to Jindo shamanic ritual music and ajaeng sanjo, eventually establishing both the Lee Taebaek-style ajaeng sanjo and cheol gayageum sanjo traditions.
Adding further significance to the performance, Lee Taebaek himself will accompany the recital on janggu. In sanjo performance, the drum functions as more than accompaniment, shaping tension, supporting phrasing and guiding the flow of rhythm. The collaboration transforms the event into something approaching a musical conversation between master and disciple.
Seo reportedly began intensive study of the Lee Taebaek repertoire and cheol gayageum performance in the winter of 2024. Even for a musician already versed in multiple sanjo traditions, the instrument demands a separate discipline. The elasticity of metal strings, the weight of southern-style ornamentation and the shifting pressure required by the left hand compel a reassessment of long-established technique.
Seo graduated from the National Gugak High School and the School of Korean Traditional Arts at the Korea National University of Arts before earning a doctorate in music performance from Hanyang University. She currently serves as a senior gayageum performer with the National Gugak Center Creative Traditional Orchestra, is a certified practitioner of Gayageum Sanjo and Byeongchang under Korea’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage system, and teaches as an adjunct professor at Hanyang University.
Her honors include the Gold Prize in the gayageum division of the 16th Dong-A Traditional Music Competition, the Presidential Award at the 23rd Gimhae National Gayageum Competition, and a Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Commendation awarded earlier this year.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
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