Rhythm Notes · Samulnori
Kkwaenggwari Off-beats and Jjaksoe: What Makes Samulnori Groove
The first thing that grabs you in Korean samulnori is the bright, piercing kkwaenggwari — a small brass gong. It does not simply follow the beat; it darts between the beats on purpose and pulls the whole band along. Here is where those off-beats come from and how they lock with the other instruments, with sounds you can play.
Four instruments, one weather system
Samulnori brings the rhythms of pungmul, Korea’s farmers’ band music, to the stage with four instruments; it began as a stage performance in 1978. The four are often compared to weather: the kkwaenggwari is thunder, the janggu rain, the buk drum clouds and the jing gong wind.
| Instrument | Role |
|---|---|
| Jing (large gong) | Rings out the head of each cycle. In many pieces the number in the rhythm’s name matches the number of jing strokes (ilchae one … chilchae seven). |
| Buk (barrel drum) | Doubles the big beats of the janggu and grounds the cycle. |
| Janggu (hourglass drum) | Keeps the skeleton of the cycle (read: janggu rhythms). |
| Kkwaenggwari (small gong) | Leads from the front. The leader is the sangsoe, the second gong the busoe. |
When the kkwaenggwari swells, the janggu and buk drop back, and vice versa. The four leave room for each other and fill each other in, so they move as one body.
Kkwaenggwari syllables: open, light and damped
Kkwaenggwari parts are also spoken aloud. The gong is struck with a wooden mallet while the fingers of the other hand either let it ring or clamp it.
| Syllable | Sound |
|---|---|
| 갱 · 갠 gaeng | Strong open stroke. The fingers stop the previous ring just before, so it speaks clearly. |
| 개 · 지 gae · ji | Light open stroke — a pickup or ornament around the strong ones. |
| 깻 · 갯 · 잿 kkaet | Damped stroke: the hand grips the gong for a dry “click”. |
| 개갱 · 지갠 gaegaeng | Grace note plus strong stroke, like the janggu’s gideok. |
| 개르르 gaereureu | A roll. |
The leader plays a higher, brighter “male” gong (sutkkwaenggwari) and the second player a lower “female” gong (amkkwaenggwari), so you can always hear who is speaking in a dialogue.
The basic riff: madang samchae
In this three-per-beat riff, the kkwaenggwari strikes “gaeng” on every beat and a light “gae” on the last sub-beat to call the next one. Underneath, the janggu plays the jajinmori skeleton and the jing marks beats one and three. So far the gong sits squarely on the beat.
The off-beat riff: resting where the gong rings
In the off-beat riff (eotgarak) the kkwaenggwari leaves beats one and three empty — exactly where the jing strikes — and slips in with “gae” on the sub-beat before. On its own, the gong sounds as if it has slipped a box. Heard together with the jing’s long ring, the two interlock like gear teeth and the groove gets tighter, not looser. The off-beat thrill comes from a space left open that another instrument fills.
A 3:2 hemiola: a second pulse laid over the beat
Play the damped “kkaet” every two sub-beats and you lay six even strokes over four beats of three. A three-way and a two-way division of time run at once — the 3:2 cross-rhythm also used by pansori singers (gyodaejuk), and the kind of off-beat that moves listeners’ bodies the most.
Off-beats in two: hwimori and dongsalpuri
As a performance races toward its end, the rhythm shifts to hwimori with two sub-beats per beat. The gong hammers “gaeng-gae” without a break while the janggu answers “gung-ttak gung-da”.
In dongsalpuri the gong silences the front half of beat three (“eung”) and strikes the back half, and the jing rings on that same back half: two of the four instruments stab the off-beat together. Even in two, the off-beat is made of a space and the stroke that fills it.
Jjaksoe: a conversation between two gongs
Jjaksoe (also jjakdeureum) is a dialogue between the lead and second gong. The second player answers the leader’s one-cycle phrase one cycle later. As the performance heats up, the exchanges shrink — four cycles, two, one, then single strokes.
When the exchange shrinks to single strokes, the two gongs split one line between them: the leader takes the beats and the second player the spaces in between, interlocking like a hocket. They drive it loud for four cycles and soft for four, then finish together: “geurang-geurang, gaegaegaen, gaeng!”
The shape of a performance: slow start, whirlwind finish
An utdari (central-region) pungmul performance commonly starts with the slow, soft chilchae, moves through yukchae and madang samchae, whips into hwimori, lets the lead and second gong duel in jjaksoe, and closes with a cadence. The lead gong signals each change with a cue phrase. As the tempo rises, so does sinmyeong — the collective exhilaration the music is meant to raise.
In the southeastern (yeongnam) samulnori piece byeoldalgeori, the players break into shouted lines between gong cycles — “look up at the sky and pick the stars, look down at the earth and farm the land” — one syllable per sub-beat.
Chuimsae: shouts that fill the gaps
“Eolssigu!”, “Jota!” (good!), “Geureochi!” (that’s it!), “Jalhanda!” (well done!), “Eolssu!” — these chuimsae are encouragements dropped into the spaces where the singing or melody pauses, often the fourth beat in jajinmori and jungjungmori. They are how players and listeners show they are riding the cycle together.
Play kkwaenggwari off-beats in Two Beat
- Janggu mode — the better you play, the more your excitement (sinmyeong) gauge fills. When it is full, the kkwaenggwari switches to the off-beat riff and the 3:2 hemiola from this article.
- Rhythm Playground, final stage “jjaksoe” — the robot is the lead gong (higher), you are the second gong (lower). Your left hand is the damped “kkaet”, your right hand the open “gaeng”. Echo the robot’s bar in the next bar; in round seven the robot plays the beats while you fill the gaps in a hocket.
Sources
- National Gugak Center dictionary — Kkwaenggwari (in Korean)
- National Gugak Center dictionary — Byeoldalgeori (in Korean)
- National Gugak Center dictionary — Chuimsae (in Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture — Nongak / pungmul (in Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture — Dongsalpuri jangdan (in Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture — Pansori buchimsae (in Korean)
- National Gugak Center e-Academy — Samulnori (in Korean)