Monday, January 29, 2018

Making Ebru, Turkish Marbled Paper

Several weeks ago the Yongsan Global Village Center hosted an experience through the Turkish Culture Center (Yeoksam station, Seoul) of making the Turkish traditional marbled paper, ebru. The walls of the center are decorated with vivid colors -- ceramics painted mandala style, Turkish lamps of varying sizes, and frame upon frame upon frame of just plain ebru paper or ebru paper framing some other kind of artwork. 

The center table was already set up with four large pans of treated water, which had to be mixed several hours or even a day in advance. Ox gall is added to gel the water just a touch which allows the special paints (acrylic-based? oil-based?) to be buoyant for a short time. When I asked how much ox gall is needed, I was told there is no set recipe -- the mixing is based on experience. This makes sense to me as temperature, humidity, altitude probably all affect the ration of water to ox gall. 


The colors used are all natural pigments, and typically in Turkey artists are known to go out in nature and find their own pigments and stains and whatever to make their own paints. I asked the price of the typical ebru paints and was only told "very expensive". The center does sell paints to those who enroll in a four-month program, W900,000 for enrollment. 

So our small group of 12 was only introduced to the basics of ebru, since none of us had ever experienced it before. The center does offer basic courses for those interested. It's W25,000/person with a minimum of 4 people, which makes sense. Set-up for the water mixture would be quite the hassel and expensive if only a couple of people were going to be using it.

The instructor explained to us the various colors, the brushes which are made from animal hair and all artists pretty much make their own, and then she introduced us to the method of marbling the paper. In this introductory class, we learned three kinds of simple marbling:

Battal ebru or "stone" marbling - the paint is tapped in stone or pebble shapes onto the surface of the water, then a paper without sizing is placed flat on the water and the paint immediately adheres to the surface of the paper ... provided the ox gall ration is right, or the paint is right (not watercolor, for instance). It's important to lay the paper flat on the water and not get bubbles; otherwise, there will be a big white patch where the bubble was. So the best way to lay the paper flat is to treat the opposite corners like wings of a bird, and to hold those wings gently as the paper is lowered onto the surface of the water and then the wings are lightly released. 

our instructor tapping a paint-loaded brush to drop pebbles onto the surface of the water
Sal ebru or "wave" marbling - first tap stones or pebbles of paint onto the surface like with battal ebru, but then with a thin object make a back and forth pattern.


Tarak ebru or "comb" marbling is taking the wave pattern to the next level. A piece of wood with thin spikes/nails/knitting-needle-like objects is gently dipped in one end of the pan with paints floating and the comb is dragged through the paints to the opposite side. Often the comb is then dragged through again to make horizontal and vertical comb-like patterns. While I like the spontaneity of the battal ebru and the sal ebru, if only lightly waved, is nice, I really dislike the busy-ness of "combed" tarak ebru. But then that's just my opinion.


Another ebru that I like but which we didn't make is swirled ebru. The colors are spattered on the water and then gently swirled with a thin object. Van Gogh would have loved this style!

After painting a sheet, it is placed in the drying rack for at least 15 minutes. With everyone's sheets drying, we then went into a video room and watched YouTube clips of Ebru masters making massive sheets of ebru with impressive pictures, advertisements with ebru, and national images and clothing featuring ebru designs. Wow, my eyes have been opened to an aspect of the culture that I certainly would have overlooked if I just traveled to Turkey. Ebru is everywhere! The art form is absolutely a part of the national image!

Go to a Turkish home, coffee or desserts is a must. We were treated with rich brownies from a package, but who would have known they were an American product with their exotic presentation?! Turkish black tea was the complement.
Shelves and walls held many Turkish art forms, and the mandala-like painted ceramics were a big item.
Unfortunately this kind of class is not offered as the center has no kiln.
The ebru I made (left to right): battal or "stone" ebru, tarak or "comb" ebru, and sal or "wave" ebru
My battal ebru should be on top. I absolutely love the colors! The white on it is because my surface paint wasn't so dense and the non-painted water created a fifth color. I wish I had left more "white" on my next two paintings; they would have turned out more impressive.

Before we were turned lose on the paints, we were instructed to limit our paintings to only 3 colors, but I added a few flecks of yellow, my fourth color, for contrast ... and I really like the results. I do agree though that in general the limited color range is how to achieve the best results.

____________________________________________________________________________

For those wanting to learn more about ebru and its connection to the national image of Turkey, look up Garip Ay on the internet. He's Turkey's most famous ebru artist!
_____________________________________________________________

Contact info the Turkish Culture Center:
02-3452-8182
info@tulip.or.kr
www.tulip.or.kr
www.facebook.com/koreatulip

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

First Recorded Music in Korea


Lecturer: Jihoon Suk
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Venue: Second floor Residents’ Lounge, Somerset Palace, Gwanghwamun
(near Anguk Station, across street from Japanese Embassy)
Hosting organization: Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch

Write-up and picture from the www.raskb.com email concerning this event
In the first decade of the 20th century, the newly-established record industries in North America and Europe were eager to expand their market to all over the world. Starting in 1902, the London-based Gramophone and Typewriter (G&T) company began a series of recording sessions in non-Western countries, usually referred to as "recording expeditions", to record music and other types of performing arts for potential customers in the non-Western world. 

During these recording expeditions, there were always "intermediaries" in the area, who, not only acted as "talent scouts" to find performers willing to make recordings, but also acted as sales agents for the recording companies. Korea was no exception in the eyes of the executives of the G&T company. The 101 sides of Korean recordings recorded by the company (but eventually produced by its American affiliate, Victor Talking Machine Co.) in 1906, were the direct results of their third major recording expedition to Asia. 

The musical importance of these 1906 Korean recordings cannot be stressed enough, as they provide rich resources for studying the earliest attainable forms of Korean pre-modern music. Their production history also reveals an interesting dynamic between the Western record companies and the Korean public, which paralleled the socio-economic effects and outcomes of the coming of the "West" to the "East" at the turn of the 20th century. (It even reveals a surprising connection with the RAS!) 

This lecture will include a demonstration of early sound recording technologies, both playback and recording technologies using period equipment. It will also include several sound clips of several extant 1906 Victor Korean recordings. 

_________________________________________________________

Jihoon Suk received a BA and MA in Korean modern history from Yonsei University. While he calls himself a "generalist" in terms of his knowledge on Korean history, his primary research focuses on the roles of the modern non-textual media (sound recordings, films, and photographs), as it was one of the most crucial factors shaping the modern perception of Korean "traditional culture" or "national culture" as we see today. 

He is also an avid collector of vintage sound recordings, which led to his involvement with the Korean 78rpm Discography Project and Archive (http://www.78archive.co.kr), a near-complete online database of Korean commercial records issued between 1907 and 1945. He also has been working with various museums and archives in Korea and around the world, including the Independence Hall Museum of Korea, the Korean Film Archive, the National Gugak Center, U.S. Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, and the University of Hawaii-Manoa.


Published in Korea Times, Jan 17 (W), Foreign Column, "Tracing Korea's earliest recorded music"

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Heungam Evacuation - Ned Forney

At the bi-monthly lecture on Korea hosted by the Royal Asiactic Society, Ned Forney shared the remarkable and largely untold story of the United Nation’s first humanitarian operation and the largest US military amphibious evacuation of civilians, under combat conditions, in American history. Ned’s grandfather, the late Edward H. Forney, a colonel in the US Marine Corps, was attached to the US Army X Corps during the first six months of the Korean War. As the senior Marine working for Gen. Edward Almond, the commanding officer of X Corps, Forney helped plan the Incheon and Wonsan Landings and was then the evacuation control officer for the Heungnam withdrawal in December 1950.

During the 15-day operation, over 105,000 US, ROK, and British servicemen were evacuated, along with 17,500 jeeps, trucks, tractors, artillery pieces, and tanks and 350,000 tons of fuel, ammo, and supplies. It was not simply another Dunkirk. In addition to the military withdrawal, 100,000 North Korean refugees were also rescued from Heungnam. Colonel Forney, Admiral James Doyle, the US Navy commander responsible for the naval operations during the withdrawal, and Dr. Hyun Bong-hak, a Korean civil affairs officers and interpreter attached to X Corps, all played a pivotal role in the historic, unprecedented operation.

There are an estimated one million descendants of the Hungnam evacuees now living in freedom in South Korea, the United States, and throughout the world. ROK President Moon Jae-in is one of them. With the support of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA) and the Hungnam Evacuation Memorial Committee, Ned has interviewed 30 former Hungnam refugees and during his lecture will weave their tragic stories into the larger untold saga of the Hungnam Evacuation. 

Write up on the presentation via the RASKB website and this picture as posted in a RASKB email
Ned Forney writes and presents extensively on the evacuation and the people effected. Following are direct links to his homepage with content related to the Hungnam Evacuation:
Korean War Babies Born on the Meredith
More on the Heungam Evacuation
Other Forney Heungam-related articles

Monday, January 1, 2018

Korea & UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

Korea takes great pride in being recognized by UNESCO for its cultural heritage. As for right now, 1 January 2018, the UNESCO World Heritage Center lists South Korea as having 11 world heritage sites, 1 natural heritage site, and 16 more on the tentative list.

As for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in South Korea, at present there are 19 elements inscribed, one classified as ongoing (2018), and 25 on the backlog nomination list. 

19 Intangible Cultural Heritage elements inscribed:
2016: Culture of Jeju Haenyeo (women divers)
2016: Falconry, a living human heritage
2015: Tugging rituals and games
2014: Nongak, community band music, dance and rituals in the Republic of Korea
2013: Kimjang, making and sharing kimchi in the Republic of Korea
2012: Arirang, lyrical folk song in the Republic of Korea
2011: Jultagi, tightrope walking
2011: Taekkyeon, a traditional Korean martial art
2011: Weaving of Mosi (fine ramie) in the Hansan region
2010: Gagok, lyric song cycles accompanied by an orchestra
2010: Daemokjang, traditional wooden architecture
2009: Namsadang Nori
2009: Yeongsanjae
2009: Jeju Chilmeoridang Yeongdeunggut
2009: Ganggangsullae
2009: Cheoyongmu
2008: Royal ancestral ritual in the Jongmyo shrine and its music
2008: Pansori epic chant
2008: Gangneung Danoje festival
Jongmyo Jerye & Jeryeak ... royal ancestral ritual in the Jonmyo shrine and its music

Pansori epic chant ... with a story-telling singer and a drummer
perhaps this pansori singer is singing the famous Arirang, another intangible heritage

One on-going nomination (not inscribed so no links as yet)
2018: Ssireum, traditional wrestling in the Republic of Korea

25 backlogged nominations (not inscribed so no links as yet)
2013: Yeondeunghoe, lighting lantern festival
2012: Korea's programme for documenting intangible cultural heritage (ART18)
2012: Music of Daegeum and Piri, traditional Korean wind instruments
2012: Music of Gayageum, a traditional Korean string instrument
2012: Craftsmanship of Gat, men's horsehair hats
2010: Hakyeonhwadae-hapseolmu, the crane and lotus flower dance
2010: Hahoe Byeolsingut Tallori, mask dance drama of Hahoe
2010: Gyeonggi-do Dodanggut, tutelary rite of Gyeonggi province
2010: Bawijeol village funeral rehearsal play
2010: Naju Saetgolnai, cotton weaving of Naju
2010: Gasa, narrative songs
2010: Sagijang, ceramics
2010: Seokjang, stonework
2010: Jasujang, embroidery
2010: Chiljang, lacquer craft
2010: Gakjajang, calligraphic engraving
2010: Mokjogakjang, wood sculpture
2010: Yundojang, making geomantic compasses
2010: Wanchojang, sedge work
2010: Yeomsaekjang, dyeing with indigo
2010: Somokjang, wooden furniture construction
2010: Seonjajang
2010: Munbaeju, Munbae liquor
2010: Myeoncheon Dugyeonju, Dugyeonju liquor of Myeoncheon
2010: Gyeongju Gyodong Beopju, Beopju liquor of Gyodong, Gyeongju
a musician wearing a gat (horse-hair hat) playing the gayageum, a zither-like instrument