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Our History (in a nutshell)
NYURI became an official ASSBAC (All-Square
Student Budget Allocation Committee) Club in the Fall of 2003, after
a year of contingent supervision under ASSBAC. Although this makes
it seem like we are an infant club, this is far from the truth. NYURI
is one of the oldest organizations in US, dating back to 1987,
when a couple of NYU Korean students enjoyed the simplicity of playing
poongmul, or as we like to call it, jammin’/i>. While overcoming
tribulations, NYURI has successfully remained a group that continues
to experience the harmony of coming together.
Throughout
the years, NYURI has taught itself the art of poongmul and
samulnori through videos, CDs, camps, and experienced players.
Arguably, the greatest period of growth began in Spring 98 and continues
today, with landmarks being set each year.
Spring 98
Jiyoung
(Christine) Kim, an alumni of Yonsei’s Han-Uhl brought
her talents, skills, and leadership to the team and taught Jwa-doh
Pilbong for 2 consecutive years, teaching a little of tal-choom
and minyo along the way.
Her
greatest accomplishments include showing us the basics of poongmul,
teaching us what it means to be poongmul players, and giving
us a solid identity and a sense of what NYU Poongmul-pae can
be (i.e. the importance of ho-heup, the dynamics between the
leaders and other players, the balance that can be achieved between
preserving the tradition and changing our pan-gut
for modern generations).
99~00
Hyung Joon Kim from KTPAA (Korean Traditional
Performing Arts Association) or Gook Ak Hyup Hwe taught us
Young-Nam Garak--giving us a chance to learn our first official
samulnori piece. These pieces have been invaluable to us since
it allowed us to perform on stage when sun-ban was not possible.
Furthermore, the dynamic beats and meticulous rhythms gave us a new
perspective--this is an area that requires attention to details and
control.
Having
a solid foundation of identity within the community of poongmul organizations,
we believed it was time for us to find our own “voice,”
a term offered by Young Ki (Kyle) Kim, who has been a part of University
of Chicago’s Loose-Roots. This brought a new concept of jjam-ppong
("mixed") garaks by the sangswe Hee-young Sunwoo (i.e. picking
out different sections of certain pieces and putting it all together
to make a new piece, and creating new sun-ban choreographies for what
was originally a samulnori piece). Furthermore, thanks to Young Ki
and his friends from Loose-Roots, it was during this year when NYURI
first experienced playing poongmul with players who has had a different
style of playing. Eventually the newcomers had tremendous influence
on shaping NYURI.
Fall
?1
It was
sangswe Haena Kim's idea to make NYU Poongmul-Pae an official NYU
club; she also came up with our club name: NYU Rhythmic Impulse (NYURI).
The truth is NYU Poongmul-Pae has been around for more than 10 year
by 2001, without being officially funded by NYU. We renamed ourselves
as NYURI to symbolize the world, and modify the spelling of what was
originally going to be NOORI into NYURI, so that we may simultaneously
represent ourselves as an organization of NYU. Very clever, right?
This is the story of our first-steps to becoming an official club
with a solid identity. During this transitionary period of our club,
Kay Yoon, the first and only female buk player of the group at the
time, became the President to guide our organization as an official
ASSBAC budgeted organization. It was also during this period that
we found sudden fame and increase in membership from matriculating
NYU students, primarily thanks to the continuous efforts by Hyun Jeong
Ju, who has been part of the team for the past 2 years.
Spring 02
One
beautiful April afternoon, celebrating the Asian Heritage Month, NYURI
held its first Annual Washington Square Park Concert in both the Fountain
and the Garibaldi Plaza. We played two creative “jjam-ppong”
pangut, also known as “Woo Ri Nori” (Our Play), composed
by Hee-Young Sunwoo and Young-Ki Kim. Also, the first act of Honamwoodo,
Mr. Vong Pak’s Sul-Jang-go Solo and one samulnori piece called,
“Young-nam-ga-rak,” were presented to some hundreds of
people who gathered. NYURI, during its two-hour long concert, stole
many hearts of many New Yorkers and the Han Guk Il Bo, Korea Times
with our energetic performance.
Fall 02
NYU
Rhythmic Impulse's (NYURI) first year as an official New York University
student organization. SeungKon Geena Woo became the sangswe and the
President, to not only continue NYURI’s legacy as a poongmul
group, but also to situate the group within the University community
as a student club. NYURI, however, was already famous for all the
heart-pounding performances in various cultural, musical, and open-mic
events on and off campuses. NYURI also networked (and is continuing
to network) with other poongmul groups in the tri-state area such
as Hanoori in NJ and Binari in Queens for such events as Jishinbalghi
and Korean Parade.
Spring 03
Hee-Young Sunwoo took over as sangswe
while SeungKon Geena Woo continued her presidency. Our Second Annual
Washington Square Park Concert was in April. We performed one pan-gut
by Hee-Young Sunwoo, the first act of Honamwoodo, and Young-nam-ga-rak.
Once again, our beloved teacher and friend, Mr. Vong Pak performed
Sul-Jang-Go solo; but this year, he brought his mo-deum-buk to play
young-nam-ga-rak with us which added a true thunder-like base sound.
Fall 03
NYURI kicked off the Fall 2003 semester
with the opening of the brand new Kimmel Center for University Life. Here,
we were invited to welcome the student body with the solid rhythms of poongmul
in the opening ceremony of the E&L Auditorium and our first performance of the
new school year. NYURI’s new E-board, consisting of Liz Chong Eun Rhee
as President, Bonhee Chung as Vice President, Florence Soyoon Kim as Treasurer
and ¡°Webmistress,¡± Peter Choe, as camera man, promoted to Secretary, and Young
Ki Kim as our fearless Sang-sswe, was able to work together to create many more
opportunities to share our music and spirit with the NYU/NYC community. The fall
semester was a huge success with invitations to perform for events like the Annual
BK Party in Brooklyn, the historic Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride in Corona Park,
a Mets pre-game show at Shea Stadium, and even an 80th birthday gala in Bayside!
Although NYURI’s resilient nature helped create a successful year, there were many
obstacles along the way.
Despite the ample space in the new student center, NYURI was denied a practice and
storage space for quite sometime. After much persistence, persuasion (and daily visits
to the Operations Office) NYURI was given a regular practice space on the 6th floor.
However, we still lacked a storage space for our drums. With a stroke of luck, Chong Eun
was able to store all 15 Changgoos, 5 Buks, 2 Jings, 3 Ggwengari’s and one Nong-gi (banner)
around the small bed in her small room at Palladium. Even in the rain and snow, NYURI members gathered
every Friday night to lug 20 drums from Union Square over to West 4th Street for our weekly practices.
We then schlepped all of them back to Union Square in the wee hours of the night after practices (which
were followed by many many nights at Ap Gu Jung/K-town to share the laughter, tears, jung, gunbae’s,
and conversations about the past, present, and future of NYURI).
Towards the end of the semester, Ji-Young Kim, a sunbae from the early days of NYU Poongmul Pae,
joined us to teach Samdo Sulchanggo. During the winter break, 5 NYURIans gathered with Ji-Young
Kim to learn the piece in its entirety during a 5 day workshop at Palladium, ending with a work-
in-progress show, which gathered an audience of over 50 people.
Spring 04
NYURI began another busy semester with many practices and performances
with the new Bu-swe-in-training, Chris Chung. We were invited to perform at NYU Medical School’s
Culture Night, NYU’s Korean Culture Night (KCN), the annual Lunar New Year "JiShinBalki"
parade, and also hosted a drum workshop for the mentors and adoptees of Also- Known -As. Meanwhile,
on January 9, 2004, NYURI’s VP- Bonhee Chung persuaded Kimmel Operations into giving us
storage space for our growing number of drums. (’Tis a day that will go down in our history!)
This allowed easy access to our drums with one less obstacle in our way. For the future officers
of NYURI: when working with NYU administration, ALWAYS BE PERSISTENT.
Another momentous event was the FIRST NYURI Membership Training (MT) in February, where 9 members
drove down to Chong Eun¡¯s parents house in Virginia. We bonded, practiced, drank, ate, drank, sang,
drank, and made NYURI history!
NYURI ended a memorable year with our 3rd Annual Washington Square Park Concert. We invited guest
performers from Philadelphia’s SoriMori Korean Cultural Troupe to perform Jindo Buk Choom.
The crowds continued to gather throughout the day as we performed a pan-gut by Hee-young Sunwoo,
called "Woori Nori," Young Nam garak, Sulchanggo, and the "Northwestern" pan-gut
by YoungKi Kim. As always, we were blessed with beautiful weather, one-ness in ho-heup, and a renewed
hope for NYURI.
Who We Are Now
The NYURI Family has continued to become more diverse as each member
brings his and her own ideals, energy, and spirit to our drumming group. In the 2003-2004 school year,
each of us shared a part of ourselves that allowed NYURI to grow in spirit and further explore the
roots of Korean cultural drumming. In doing so, we, as cultural advocates, play an important role in
shaping Poongmul into what it is today.
If you have any
questions or comments related to this site, please email us.
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