Kim: The New Modernity
By Yoo Jung Kim, Staff Columnist
Published on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Last November, the Korean percussion group SamulNori came all the way Hanover to perform at Dartmouth. The audience consisted of an eclectic potpourri of multicultural townspeople, Dartmouth professors and college students. Also in the audience were clusters of South Korean international students waiting eagerly to see the renowned Kim Duk-Soo.
The performance kicked off with an explosive bang at the back of the theater. Surprised members of the audience turned their heads to see a procession of Korean performers dancing through the aisles playing traditional instruments. After taking their positions on the stage, the members of SamulNori regaled the spectators with a prayer song, “Changgo Rhythm from Three Provinces,” “Nongak Rhythms from Three Provinces” and an acrobatic dance.
As I sat transfixed by the troupe’s ferocious beats, I observed a fascinating dichotomy between the spirit of tradition embodied by SamulNori and the mood of modernity embodied in Dartmouth’s Spaulding Auditorium. Through the efforts of Kim Duk-Soo and his troupe, the centuries-old agrarian songs of Korea’s itinerant traveling performers had transcended contextual boundaries of time and space to become a piece of art that could be appreciated by the international community. Such a trend may suggest a cultural paradigm shift through the rising prominence of non-Western traditions.
The centuries of European conquest and colonization have resulted in Western monopolistic influence over the concept of “modernity” and “civilization” in contemporary cultures. In the relentless rush for progress in developed nations, many locals worry that their indigenous traditions and customs are being pushed out by ideas and attitudes imported from the Western world. Since the the influx of American influence into Korean culture following the end of the Japanese occupation, the country has indeed adopted Occidental trends such as clothing, scientific methods, religion and governmental structures. It has transformed itself into a fast-paced, technology-driven, capitalist and democratically-inclined nation that closely mimics Western nations.
Yet the cultural influence is no longer exclusively one-sided. Thanks to the tireless dedication of a few individuals, certain Asian traditions have been transformed to survive and thrive in our rapidly modernizing world.
Many other non-Western nations have shined on the global stage by repackaging their traditions — such as mythology, philosophy and food — for international consumption. For instance, Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 animated film epic, “Spirited Away,” which drew heavily from traditional Japanese mythos, garnered critical acclaim in Europe and in the United States, winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards and the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival. Traditional Eastern modes of philosophy, such as yoga, tai chi, Buddhism and Tibetan and Chinese medicine have crossed political and cultural boundaries to become household concepts in the West. With the influx of immigrants, America has also seen a rise in popularity of Asian cuisine, as Indian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese and Korean restaurants can be found in every major city, and even in the wilderness of Hanover. While the cultural exchange no doubt remains unbalanced, the west no longer has sole monopoly over cultural export.
By the end of SamulNori’s powerful performance, the audience stood up in a rousing ovation. When asked in a subsequent interview about the future of Korean traditional music in modern society, Kim Duk-Soo ambitiously replied that he expects the popularity of SamulNori to grow in Asia and throughout the world. Through the recent resurgence of Asian cultures and traditions, I dream about the day when the Western pursuit of modernity will no longer be seen as the only legitimate path toward “progress” and when other nations and regions will be able to revitalize their traditions and present their own cultural productions in the global stage without being “exoticized” or seeming out of place.