[News Culture] The right hand draws the bow through the haegeum’s silk strings while the left presses beyond the bridge, bending each note into motion. Between those two gestures, the human voice enters with its own text and breath.
Bow, fingertips and voice must remain distinct, yet meet precisely within the same rhythmic frame. Haegeum player Cho Youn Kyoung will test that balance in “Sanjo-gil, Two: Han Beom-su-ryu Haegeum Sanjo,” a continuous 60-minute recital with no intermission.
The performance will take place at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 16 at Goun Hall in the Haeundae Cultural Center.
Southern folk song as a gateway to sanjo
The program opens with “Yukjabaegi” and “Heungtaryeong,” two representative folk songs from Korea’s southwestern region. Their musical language is shaped by broad vibrato, sharply bent pitches, restrained vocal color and long, rising breaths.
Set against the slow pulse of jinyangjo, “Yukjabaegi” moves between sorrow and release. The distinctive ornamentation of the yukjabaegi mode gives the music its weight: low notes tremble deeply, while higher pitches are pulled downward with a cutting edge.
The haegeum mirrors the contours of the human voice through friction, pressure and nonghyeon, the expressive bending and vibrating of sustained tones. The gayageum gives the melody a firmer outline, while the janggu holds the spacious rhythmic structure together without interrupting its breath.
“Heungtaryeong,” despite its title suggesting merriment, is governed by longing and melancholy. Performed over a jungmori cycle, its recurring melodic phrases steadily deepen the sense of grief.
By stripping away much of the original text and leaving the song’s tone, rhythm and emotional contour intact, the arrangement recasts folk expression as instrumental language. It also prepares the ear for the dominant gyemyeonjo mode of Han Beom-su-ryu sanjo.
The opening songs therefore serve as more than a prelude. Their broad vibrato and bent notes foreshadow the way the same musical vocabulary will be transformed across the jinyangjo, jungmori, jungjungmori and jajinmori movements that follow.
A lineage rebuilt for the haegeum
Han Beom-su (1911–1984) was one of the leading masters of his generation, equally accomplished on the daegeum, piri and haegeum.
After studying under Ji Young-hee, he reworked melodic materials associated with the daegeum sanjo lineages of Park Jong-gi and Han Ju-hwan, reshaping them around the haegeum’s physical and tonal character.
He began developing the form in 1957 and completed its four-part rhythmic structure around 1964. Kang Sa-jun transcribed the music in 1965, while later musicians including Cho Un-jo and Cho Ju-woo helped carry the repertoire forward.
The result became a landmark in the transmission of haegeum sanjo. Rather than relying solely on oral teaching, it entered formal education and the professional performance circuit through written notation and systematic instruction.
Han Beom-su-ryu is grounded largely in the southern gyemyeonjo mode. Its rhythmic architecture is unusually clear, favoring a steady pulse over frequent metric disruption. Beneath its restrained melodic surface, however, lie both gravity and flexibility.
Instead of pursuing constant modal shifts, the style concentrates its expressive force on individual notes. A single pitch may be shaken, pushed upward or allowed to fade until its final trace disappears.
The jinyangjo begins at an extreme slowness. Cho uses long bow strokes and expansive vibrato to explore the interior of each note. Virtuosity here is not measured by speed, but by the width of the vibration, the pressure of the bow and the breath surrounding the moment when sound falls away.
Frequent movement among ujo, pyeongjo and gyemyeonjo draws out a controlled, understated sorrow.
From suspended breath to gathering momentum
As the performance enters jungmori, the rhythmic outline becomes more pronounced and the melody begins to travel more freely. Notes that had been held back in jinyangjo grow shorter, and the bow changes direction with increasing speed.
The soloist moves between the bukpyeon and chaepyeon strokes of the janggu, generating a taut sense of propulsion.
Jungjungmori brings the music’s physical energy to the foreground. Short bow strokes, repeated phrases and forceful nonghyeon exchange positions in rapid succession, tightening the dialogue between soloist and percussionist.
The drummer does more than maintain the beat. By reading the performer’s breathing and adjusting the rhythmic flow, the gosu helps shape the music’s dramatic rise and fall. Vocal interjections further heighten its tension.
Jajinmori demands even greater precision. Pitch, ornament and articulation must remain clearly defined as the music accelerates. The challenge is to sustain momentum without losing the restraint and depth that distinguish Han Beom-su-ryu.
A reunion six years after the recording
Cho released the album “Cho Youn Kyoung Haegeum Sanjo: Han Beom-su-ryu” in 2020. The recording includes both extended and shortened versions of the sanjo, spanning the full sequence from jinyangjo to jajinmori.
Six years later, she will reunite onstage with master percussionist Lee Young-seop, who joined her for the album.
A studio recording can preserve a refined interpretation, but live performance remains exposed to the acoustics of the hall, the response of the audience and the musicians’ condition on the day. Those variables create room for decisions that cannot be fixed in advance.
The recital will reveal how the experience accumulated by the two musicians has altered their sense of tempo, phrasing and exchange since the recording was made.
Cho earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Korean traditional music at Hanyang University before completing a doctorate in musical performance. She is a certified practitioner of Jongmyo Jeryeak, a state-designated National Intangible Cultural Heritage, and currently performs with the instrumental ensemble of the Busan National Gugak Center.
Her technical command was recognized with the gold prize in the haegeum division of the Onnara Korean Traditional Music Competition.
Cho has continued to develop projects that connect scholarly inquiry with live performance, including “Song of the Bow” in 2009, “A Change in the Way We View Tradition” in 2020, “Five Composers” in 2022 and “Sanjo-gil, One: Ji Young-hee-ryu Haegeum Sanjo” in 2023.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
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