BWW Reviews: OZASIA FESTIVAL 2014: SYNERGY PERCUSSION MEETS NOREUM MACHI Was an Exciting Cultural Music Exchange

Reviewed by Barry Lenny Friday 12th September 2014

Australia's Synergy Percussion and Korea's Noreum Machi came together for an exciting evening of percussion with the two groups laying together on some pieces as well as each group having the opportunity to perform alone, Synergy in the first half and Noreu Machi after the interval. Synergy Percussion Meets Noreum Machi gave the audience the unique opportunity of comparing western 20th century, and even newer compositions, with revitalised traditional Korean percussion pieces, as well as being able to see how percussionists from two such different musical backgrounds are able to come together to create something new and captivating.

Synergy core members Artistic Director, Timothy Constable, Bree van Reyk, and Joshua Hill were joined by Tim Brigden for this performance. The Noreum Machi members are led by their Artistic Director, Ju-hong Kim, with Ho Won Lee, Hyun Jo Oh, Young Jun Kim, and Tae Ho Kim completing the line up.

A taste of what was to come was a combined effort by members of both groups coming together to play the movement, Salome's Entrance, by Michael Askill, written for Graeme Murphy's ballet, Salome, before Synergy Percussion presented their part of the concert. They began with the very complex piece, Third Construction, by John Cage, a work that doesn't quite include the kitchen sink, but does involve a set of assorted large tin cans, as well as such rarely used items as a lion's roar, cricket callers, and a conch shell, along with a large number of drums, numerous congas, rattles, ratchets, and other percussion instruments.

Omphalo Centric Lecture, a marimba quartet by Nigel Westlake was next, a work written for this group. With the four percussionists using up to four mallets each, the rhythmic and harmonic possibilities are endless, and Westlake has created an intricate piece, of which Synergy Percussion give a truly marvellous performance.

The final two works were written by Timothy Constable, Last Waltz, for a huge array of drums and with a tempo that made it sound almost like a piece in 6/8, and Wastelands. Synergy Percussion showed again why they are so popular in a display of great talent and dedication to their music, as well as a high level of enthusiasm and a degree of exuberance.

After the interval Noreum Machi made their entrance from the back of the auditorium, parading along the back of the audience and down the far aisle to the stage playing Gil-sori, an arrangement of Korean folk music by Ju-hong Kim. That alone was enough to capture the hearts of the audience, and they just kept getting better.

The most notable drums are the panggu, a double ended drum with an hourglass shaped body, and a small barrel shaped drum, the buk, providing a bass note. Two gongs are also played, the larger being the jing, and the smaller being the kkwaenggwari. Along with these, Ju-hong Kim also plays a type of trumpet, the nabal.
It was explained that each instrument represents a natural condition, the janggu represents rain, the kkwaenggwari thunder, the jing the wind, and the buk the clouds.

While the other four members of the group play various percussion instruments, Young Jun Ki plays the Taepyongso and Piri. The Taepyongso is a double reed instrument of the shawm or oboe family with a bamboo body, but with a metal mouthpiece and a metal bell end, giving it a very strident sound. The Piri is another double reed instrument, made entirely of bamboo and having a large bore, giving it a more mellow tone than an oboe. He presented us with a superb piece of great beauty, Piri Solo, written by Ju-hong Kim, while the others were changing outfits.

It does not end there, though, with a just wonderful concert based on traditional music and illed with energetic playing, as they all occasionally sing and/or get up and dance while playing, making several costume changes to suit the various pieces of music. Pan-gut drew a lot of applause as the performers danced around wearing the sangmo, a hat with a long ribbon attached that slight movements of the head cause to flow around through the air. This is a sort of exorcism dance, and the ribbons are supposed to banish bad spirits.

The folk song Arirang is considered as the unofficial national anthem of Korea, much like our own Waltzing Matilda is treated as the unofficial anthem of Australia. We had, of course, been encouraged to clap time to a piece, and in K-TRap we had been taught the vocalisation of the sounds of the instruments, something used in teaching, just as tabla and sitar teachers do with their students in India, joining in with them all, until they progressed to a point far too advanced for us to follow, which caused a few laughs. With Arirang we were again expected to pick up the melody and sing along, which was not actually very hard, and they had the whole audience engaging with the music.

A full house gave a standing ovation after the group's final piece on their own, and then another after the very last piece of the concert, featuring all of the members of both groups. It was a remarkable evening that had the audience enthralled and seemed to be over too soon. Let us all hope that we see them again at this festival.