Rising Rhythm: A Guide to Nanta Drumming
As a row of musicians powerfully strike large buk drums, a thunderous sound unfolds from the stage and into the audience. In unison, the performers sweep their arms above their heads, as if summoning a force from the heavens, then begin a rapid beating pattern. Their rhythm gradually grows and culminates in a booming marching beat, ending with a dramatic flourish. The final strike of the buk drums reverberates throughout the room and echoes long after the performers exit the stage.
Nanta (난타) is a traditional Korean style of drumming which means “to strike relentlessly.” The nanta style uses a Korean barrel-shaped drum called a buk (북). The buk has been an integral part of traditional Korean music since the Three Kingdoms of Korea period (57 BC-668 AD). This traditional drum is constructed with a round shallow wooden body, often dried linden wood due to its soft and light texture, and leather sides, usually aged bull hide. Though held and used differently for varying traditional Korean music styles, in the nanta style, the buk is perched on a tall stand and struck with two wooden drum sticks called bukchae (북채).
The nanta style of drumming dramatizes rhythms of samul nori (사물놀이), another genre of Korean percussion music. Developed from pungmul (풍물), an agrarian folk music tradition, by a famous quartet named SamulNori, samul nori grew into an entire genre in its own right focused on stage performances in the late 1970s and 1980s. Samul nori translates to “four objects play,” which encapsulates the four core instruments used in this musical genre. The four samul nori instruments each represent an element of nature. A small handheld gong or kkwaenggwari (꽹과리) mimics thunder. Jing (징), a large gong, symbolizes the wind. Janggu (장구), an hourglass-shaped drum, resembles rain, and buk (북), the same barrel drum used in the nanta style, portrays the clouds. Dressed in colorful traditional Korean clothing, the four samul nori musicians are arranged in a circular formation, angled toward each other, as they perform.
Drawing from its samul nori roots, the strong rhythms of nanta are created by striking the bukchae together or against the center and rim of the buk. Unlike the typical samul nori seated semicircle formation, nanta performers usually perform while standing in a straight line or rows. With their nanta drums on tall wooden stands, performers dressed in hanbok incorporate movement and dance-inspired elements into their performances, such as raising arms, flicking hands, or quick turns.
The Korean American Youth Artists of Texas recently established a youth nanta performance group. The group is taught by Mr. Taeyong Lee, a professional drummer and adjunct professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Under his instruction, the students learned routines drumming to BTS’ “Dynamite,” “Arirang,” and ROSÉ & Bruno Mars’ “APT.” In the future, KAYAT hopes to grow our student performance group to share the traditional art of nanta drumming with the local community.
