Buk (drum)


The buk is a traditional Korean drum. While the term buk is a native Korean word used as a generic term meaning "drum", it is most often used to refer to a shallow barrel-shaped drum, with a round wooden body that is covered on both ends with animal skin. Buk are categorized as hyeokbu which are instruments made with leather, and has been used for jeongak and folk music.

History

The buk used for court music are usually fixed with nails on the rims, while ones used for folk music are usually tied up with leather straps to form the shape. Performers in the court music usually beat their with bukchae on one hand or two hands together, while drummers in the folk music commonly beat their with it on their right hand as hitting the other side of the buk with their bare left hand. A while ago, even jong was referred to as "soebuk" and included in the buk category.
Buk have been used for Korean music since the period of the Three Kingdoms of Korea in light of mural paintings in Anak Tomb of Goguryeo and records of Book of Sui on the kingdoms, Goguryeo and Baekje. In the 3rd of Anak Tomb, two types of buk are depicted in the paintings titled Juakdo and Haengryeoldo such as ipgo and damgo respectively. The ipgo is a buk that performers beat as standing, while the damgo is a buk that drummers strike as carrying it on their shoulder.
During the Unified Silla period, or, meaning "a big drum", was used along with a percussion instrument named in a music played by Samhyeon samjuk which comprises samhyeon, three string instruments such as geomungo, gayageum, and hyangbipa and samjuk such as, and. In the Goryeo period, as and were introduced to Korea from China, a lot of such as,, began to be used for the court music.
In the Joseon period, scores of were used for the royal court music including and others. Among them was also used for folk music, and later became the most commonly used instrument.
While there are twenty types of buk used in the present Korean traditional music, most commonly used buk are to perform , for marching music, for , for Buddhist ritual ceremonies, sogo used by Namsadang, and street musicians, or called for, used for, and used by farmers as working.

Usages

There are two forms of undecorated used in Korean folk music: the used to accompany ', which has tacked heads, is called a , while the buk used to accompany pungmul music, which has laced heads, is called pungmul-buk. The is played with both an open left hand and a stick made of birch that is held in the right hand, with the stick striking both the right drumhead and the wood of the drum's body. The pungmul-buk is one of the four instruments used in samul nori, a modern performance version of pungmul. It is played by striking a single stick on only one of its heads.
Due to its similarity in shape and construction, the , which is a barrel drum with tacked heads decorated with painted dragon designs and used in the military wind-and-percussion music called daechwita, is sometimes also classified as a form of buk. It is struck with two padded sticks.
A modern set of buk is called modeum buk. They are typically placed horizontally on wooden stands and played with sticks.

Types

  • Janggu or Janggo – A double-headed hourglass-shaped drum played with one stick in each hand, or with one stick and one hand
  • Galgo – Double-headed hourglass-shaped drum similar to the janggo but played with two sticks and thinner drum heads; sometimes called yanggo or yangjanggo; no longer commonly used
  • Jingo – Largest barrel drum
  • Jeolgo – Barrel drum
  • Jwago – A barrel drum in a wooden frame
  • Geongo – Huge barrel drum
  • Yonggo – A barrel drum with a dragon painted on its shell; used in daechwita
  • Eunggo – Barrel drum suspended from a frame
  • Sakgo – – A long barrel drum suspended from a wooden frame
  • Gyobanggo – Flat drum suspended from a frame
  • Junggo – Flat drum suspended from a frame; similar to the but larger
  • Sogo – A small hand-held drum
  • Beopgo – A small dharma drum; also refers to a large barrel drum
  • Nogo – A set of two drums pierced by a pole
  • Nodo – A set of two small drums on a pole, which is twisted to play; used in ritual music
  • Yeongdo – Four drums on a pole, which is twisted to play; used in ritual music
  • Noedo ) – six small drums hung in a frame; used in ritual music
  • Noego – Three small barrel drums on a pole, which is twisted to play; used in ritual music
  • Do – single pellet drum on a pole