buk

The tradition & historical record

The buk (Korean: 북) is a traditional Korean drum. While the term buk is a native Korean word used as a generic term meaning "drum" (the Sino-Korean word being go), it is most often used to refer to a shallow barrel-shaped drum, with a round wooden body that is covered on both ends with animal skin. Buk are categorized as hyeokbu (혁부, 革部) which are instruments made with leather, and has been used for jeongak (Korean court music) and folk music. ¹

The buk used for court music are usually fixed with nails on the rims, while ones used for folk music are usually tied up with leather straps to form the shape. Performers in the court music usually beat their buk with bukchae (북채, a drum stick) on one hand or two hands together, while drummers in the folk music commonly beat their buk with it on their right hand as hitting the other side of the buk with their bare left hand. A while ago, even jong (종, bell) was referred to as "soebuk" (쇠북, metal drum) and included in the buk category. Buk have been used for Korean music since the period of the Three Kingdoms of Korea (57 BC – 668 AD) in light of mural paintings in Anak Tomb of Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) and records of Book of Sui on the kingdoms, Goguryeo and Baekje (18 BC – 660 AD). In the 3rd of Anak Tomb, two types of buk are depicted in the paintings titled Juakdo (주악도, 奏樂圖, "painting of playing music") and Haengryeoldo (행렬도, 行列圖, "painting of marching") such as ipgo (입고, 立鼓) and damgo (담고, 擔鼓) respectively. The ipgo is a buk that performers beat as standing, while the damgo is a buk that drummers strike as carrying it on their shoulder. During the Unified Silla period (668–935), daego (대고, 大鼓) or keunbuk, meaning "a big drum", was used along with a percussion instrument named bak (박, 拍) in a music played by Samhyeon samjuk (삼현삼죽, 三絃三竹) which comprises samhyeon, three string instruments such as geomungo, gayageum, and hyangbipa and samjuk such as daegeum, junggeumand sogeum. ¹

There are two forms of undecorated buk used in Korean folk music: the buk used to accompany pansori, which has tacked heads, is called a sori-buk (소리북), while the buk used to accompany pungmul music, which has laced heads, is called pungmul-buk (풍물북).photo The sori-buk is played with both an open left hand and a stick made of birch that is held in the right hand, with the stick striking both the right drumhead and the wood of the drum's body. The pungmul-buk is one of the four instruments used in samul nori, a modern performance version of pungmul.[1] It is played by striking a single stick (usually with the right hand) on only one of its heads. Due to its similarity in shape and construction, the yonggo (hangul: 용고; hanja: 龍鼓; literally "dragon drum"), which is a barrel drum with tacked heads decorated with painted dragon designs and used in the military wind-and-percussion music called daechwita, is sometimes also classified as a form of buk. It is struck with two padded sticks. A modern set of buk (usually four) is called modeum buk (모듬북).photo They are typically placed horizontally on wooden stands and played with sticks.photo ¹

Janggu or Janggo (hangul: 장고 or 장구; hanja: 杖鼓 or 長鼓) – A double-headed hourglass-shaped drum played with one stick in each hand, or with one stick and one hand Galgo (hangul: 갈고; hanja: 羯鼓) – Double-headed hourglass-shaped drum similar to the janggo but played with two sticks and thinner drum heads; sometimes called yanggo or yangjanggo; no longer commonly used [2] Jingo (hangul: 진고; hanja: 晉鼓) – Largest barrel drum Jeolgo (hangul: 절고; hanja: 節鼓) – Barrel drum Jwago (hangul: 좌고; hanja: 座鼓) – A barrel drum in a wooden frame Geongo (hangul: 건고; hanja: 建鼓) – Huge barrel drum Yonggo (hangul: 용고; hanja: 龍鼓) – A barrel drum with a dragon painted on its shell; used in daechwita Eunggo (hangul: 응고; hanja: 應鼓) – Barrel drum suspended from a frame Sakgo – (hangul: 삭고; hanja: 朔鼓) – A long barrel drum suspended from a wooden frame Gyobanggo (hangul: 교방고; hanja: 敎坊鼓) – Flat drum suspended from a frame Junggo (hangul: 중고; hanja: 中鼓) – Flat drum suspended from a frame; similar to the gyobanggo but larger Sogo (hangul: 소고; hanja: 小鼓) – A small hand-held drum Beopgo (hangul: 법고; hanja: 法鼓) – A small dharma drum; also refers to a large barrel drum Nogo (hangul: 노고; hanja: 路鼓) – A set of two drums pierced by a pole Nodo (hangul: 노도; hanja: 路鼗) – A set of two small drums on a pole, which is twisted to play; used in ritual music Yeongdo (hangul: 노도; hanja:靈鼗) – Four drums on a pole, which is twisted to play; used in ritual music Noedo (hangul: 뇌도; hanja: 雷鼗)) – six small drums hung in a frame; used in ritual music Noego (hangul: 뇌고; hanja: 雷鼓) – Three small barrel drums on a pole, which is twisted to play; used in ritual music Do (도) – single pellet drum on a pole ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Buk (drum)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

buk is Korean traditional drum, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²