KUWK: Episode 2, Pungmul
Photo Description: Ieumsae, a group of Korean pungmul players, smile upward towards the camera. They surround a table with festive items on it at Mosswood Park in North Oakland, where they practice pungmul.
For the past year, I have played pungmul, folk-style Korean drumming, with a group of mostly queer and trans radical Koreans called ieumsae. We practice on Sundays, which kind of feels like going to church. Unless it is too cold or rainy, we practice together under the sun in North Oakland’s Mosswood park. Outside of weekly practice we only perform at events oriented to communities of color such as protests, weddings, and other celebrations. Actually we don’t really ‘perform’ –pungmul has deep roots in political resistance and is more community action than performance. Before the Korean War, Korean farmers would play pungmul to unify people against the Japanese colonizers who were in process of stealing their land. In the legacy of those Korean farmers who used their drums for direct action, ieumsae uses our drums to fight for the people here in Oakland.
Photo Description: Nori’s drum is being strapped onto her by Caro. Both pungmul players wear traditional Korean costume called minbok. They are standing in a field with a tent structure and tree in the background.
When we come together to practice, we actively love and care for one another. We check in and share triumphs and challenges. We share food. Before we even begin practicing the week’s gut (musical piece), we practice our hoheup (breathing), and ogeum (body alignment), which grounds us and helps us enter our bodies. The drum itself has two sides on the left and right (imagine an hourglass laying on its side) and is played strapped onto the body. On the left, we use a flat wooden instrument that tapers to a point and creates a crisp “dah” tapping sound. On the right, we use a wooden instrument that resembles a drumstick with a sphere on the end and creates a deeper “gung” sound. Guts are made up of karak’s (rhythms) that include playing both sides of the drum at different paces and intensities. This gives each gut its own unique character or personality. They range from playful to exhilarating. My favorite gut is unofficially called ‘booty beat,’ notoriously known for making you move your booty. And that is the very point of pungmul to get all the people to move their booties together.
Photo Description: Nori and Hyejin stare fiercely into the camera both wearing purple shirts and headbands saying “Resist” with Korean characters.
Earlier this year, ieumsae joined forces with Third World Resistance for Black Power to protest Uber moving its headquarters to downtown Oakland. Uber is an international, multi-billion dollar corporation whose current headquarters are in San Francisco. Their move across the Bay will likely raise perceived value and actual costs of surrounding properties and land. This furthers the displacement and violence facing Oakland’s low income communities and historically rooted communities of color. Our protest showed me just how necessary and relevant pungmul is in the fight for justice . We led the march with a gut that mimicked an increasing heartbeat moving from Lake Merritt to Uber’s eventual new office space at 20th & Broadway. As I marched and beat my drum, I looked around at the people witnessing our disruption. Many white people had fear in their eyes and their bodies were frozen with panic. Many people of color read our signs and shouted or honked their horns in support. I thought about all the workers coming and going from their quiet office jobs in contrast with the booming, physical sound of our drums. With each beat we wake people up to the real terror that is happening in our communities. We wake up those not conscious to the rapid and pervasive gentrification that amounts to warfare, that forces people onto the street, displaces families, and divides communities. Playing pungmul together as ieumsae, we are warriors seeking to wake the unconscious and to bring power to our peope, calling everyone to the fight.
