VOA标准英语2012--Ancient Sound Reimagined for Modern Times

Ancient Sound Reimagined for Modern Times

 

Composer Jin Hi Kim's instrument of choice is the komungo, a traditional Korean instrument which dates back to the 4th century.

"Korean music is based on ritual, Shamanism, Buddhism¹, Confucianism, ritual," she says. "That means a very meditative² energy."

Resembling a lute³, the komungo is made of wood and is two meters long. In order to play it, you lay it on your lap and pluck its six strings⁴ with a thin bamboo reed.

The komungo remained a ritual instrument, through 1500 years on the Korean peninsula, until 1910 when Japan annexed⁵ Korea.

"The Japanese tried to destroy your identity, Korean identity, language and all the culture," Kim says. "Instead, the Japanese actually taught us Western tunes⁶, Western music, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, on and on."

Japan surrendered control of Korea in 1945, at the end of World War ll. The Americans brought their music in 1950, when they arrived to support the Republic of Korea against the North. Thirty years later, when Kim began studying music at Seoul University, Korea was still obsessed⁷ with Western music.

Western-style orchestras, she says, paid musicians twice what traditional Korean orchestras did. "Korean music was despised by its own people. They worshipped Western music. I really didn’t agree with that."

So she focused her attention and talent on the traditional komungo.

"And if I carried this komungo on the street, ordinary people would stop me and say, 'What is this?'" she remembers. "I said, 'Komungo.'"

Kim set out to win respect for traditional Korean music - both in Korea and the West. "I wanted to have Korean music and Western music treated equal," she says. "My mission was putting these two cultures together."

She brought the komungo to the United States where, for decades, she's been composing works that blend traditional komungo styles with Western music.

"Eternal Rock," one of her compositions, is about planet Earth as it flies through space. Kim performed the piece at Stanford University’s Pan Asian Music Festival earlier this year.

"When I wrote "Eternal Rock," I tried to understand what actually Western scientists are thinking about this space at the moment," Kim says. "Because the Korean court music, especially, is based on cosmology. All relate to yin and yang. And as we know now, the universe, the gravity, is shifting and the dark energy pushing farther and farther, and the universe is extending."

With her modern arrangements for the ancient komungo, Kim continues to introduce the traditional instrument to new audiences around the world.

1 Buddhism   

n.佛教（教义）

参考例句：

• Buddhism was introduced into China about 67 AD.佛教是在公元67年左右传入中国的。
• Many people willingly converted to Buddhism.很多人情愿皈依佛教。

2 meditative   

adj.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• A stupid fellow is talkative;a wise man is meditative.蠢人饶舌，智者思虑。
• Music can induce a meditative state in the listener.音乐能够引导倾听者沉思。

3 lute   

n.琵琶，鲁特琴

参考例句：

• He idly plucked the strings of the lute.他漫不经心地拨弄着鲁特琴的琴弦。
• He knows how to play the Chinese lute.他会弹琵琶。

4 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

5 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

6 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。