"Release Hitting": An Analytical Study Commemorating the Artistry of the South Korean Shaman Musician Kim Yongt'aek

Abstract

Within the world of South Korean traditional music, the percussion-based ritual music performed by hereditary shaman troupes in the East Coast region is justly famed for the diversity and complexity of its rhythmic structures and the virtuosic patterning that the ritualists often produce. This article presents a detailed rhythmic analysis of a multi-sectional structure called “tchoshigae,” which is frequently reckoned by the ritualists to be the most difficult item to perform in their repertoire, primarily because of its passages of ever-shifting polyrhythmic interplay, its lengthy metrical frameworks characterized by irregular and flexible internal organization, and its rapid tempi. In addition, because tchoshigae is performed at a critical juncture in a post-death ritual (Ogu Kut), the ritualists are keenly aware its effective performance is crucial to ensuring a successful ritual. Specifically, this analysis focuses on a single ritual performance of tchoshigae recorded by the author in April 2000, led by the celebrated ritual musician Kim Yongt’aek, playing the changgo drum, and his wife the shaman Kim Yŏngsuk, singing of the challenges posed by death, with other essential parts provided on kkwaenggwari hand-gongs and ching gong. The aim here is to present a thorough and wide-reaching examination of the selected performance, elucidating the music’s metrical frameworks, identifying how the ritualists organize their patterning within those frameworks, and clarifying the links between musical attributes, song text, belief system, and ritual objectives. Kim Yongt’aek, who passed away in February 2018, was the most highly esteemed and widely emulated instrumentalist within the tradition; this analysis shines a light on the impressive musical artistry that he cultivated together with Kim Yŏngsuk.