Korean instruments on view at Barcelona museum
Museu de la Musica de Barcelona, one of the major museums dedicated to music in Spain, will hold a special exhibition on “gugak” (Korean traditional music) starting Nov. 2.
Titled “Eolssigu, the Sounds of Korean Music,” features some 80 objects with 22 of them donated to the museum from the National Gugak Center.
The exhibit came to fruition through the efforts of Spanish musician Horacio Curti, who visited Korea in 2015 to attend the National Gugak Center’s international gugak workshop.
Curti, who teaches at Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, a music school which works closely with the museum, suggested the exhibition. The exhibition title was inspired by the Korean interjection “eolssigu,” which Curti thought similar to Spain’s “ole.” He was fascinated by the similarities of the two countries folk music after attending the workshop.
Kim Hee-sun of the National Gugak Center said, “This exhibit is going to provide a chance for both countries to experience cultural differences and broaden the understanding on traditional music and the performing arts.”
For the Barcelona exhibit, the National Gugak Center gathered the finest of Korean traditional instruments including “gayageum” (12-string zither), ajaeng (seven-string bowed zither) and haegeum (two-stringed fiddle). The center also donated some 30 “janggu” (hourglass-shaped drum) for educational purpose last year.
Other than musical instruments, other related objects such as masks used in traditional Korean mask dance will also be on display.
The exhibit runs through June 3, 2018. For more information, visit http://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/mu seumusica/ca.