Meet Dasom Baek, a musician who specialises in Traditional Korean instruments such as the Daegum and the Sogeum. Baek is a composer, improviser, lecturer, performer, and a Certified Master of Important Intangible Cultural Asset, no.45.
Baek’s first connection to traditional Korean music came about when she, holding her mother’s hand, enrolled in a local class teaching students how to play the Danso (a bamboo flute used in traditional Korean folk music). From then her musical education includes having achieved both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from the Korea National University of Arts. Impressively Baek is currently continuing her studies by undertaking a PhD at Seoul National University.
Baek’s career as a soloist is also equally impressive. She has performed as a Kumho Young Artist and played a concerto with the KBS Gugak Orchestra. Baek has also performed at many concerts including those such as have been organised by the Ulsan Cultural Foundation and Korean Arts Management Service. Accolades to her name include winning both the Park Rokju Gugak Contest and the Nanggye Gugak Contest. She has also represented Korea at the ASEAN-KOREA International Flute Festival. In 2019 she was selected as a fellow for the OMI Music program in New York – making her an active musician both at home and abroad.
“Through my music,” which Baek described as stories in sound form, “it is possible [for me] to express more than just words.” She uses her music as a conduit to communicate her emotions and feelings. “Expressing something with my instrument [the daegum] was as natural as a Korean person speaking Korean, and after working as a performer for a long time, I wanted to create a story that was completely my own, so I started creating.”
Since she began performing contemporary music in 2017, Baek has “learned a lot about expressing the composer’s intention by using various playing techniques beyond simply playing notes. I think the charm of wind instruments is that their sound is based on how you breathe. Depending on the playing technique, you can make a sound like a warm embrace, or like a sharp stab to the heart. Basically, one can breathe life into the instrument and create wonderful sounds.”
Baek shared with me a little about the instruments she plays. They are both traditional Korean wind instruments made of Bamboo. They have formed a vital part of Korean traditional music and were both used in Court music as much as folk music – meaning that all members of society were able to enjoy them.
Firstly, we spoke about the Daegeum, which is the largest Korean wind instrument. It has a special feature called ‘Cheong’, which Baek informed me is “a thin membrane that makes a buzzing timbre which produces unique sounds“. The second instrument Baek plays is the Sogeum, which she described as the “piccolo of Western instruments”. Talking of the sounds it produces, Baek informed me that the Sogeum has an higher octave than the Daegeum.
When I learned that Baek had been appointed as a Certified Master of Important Intangible Cultural Asset, No.45, I was really keen to know more about what that entails and what that means to her. Baek informed me that this category of cultural assets are those which are “invisible”, examples of which include songs, dances, plays, dances, music & art. They serve to preserve as well as reveal the history, concepts, and thoughts of a country – in this instance, Korea. As such, these assets can only be preserved if they are passed on to the next generation. The best way to achieve this, Baek said, is to “play our traditional music in the present so that it survives into the future”. As a Daegeum player, Baek is therefore is special as the instruments she plays, and her role in preserving Korea’s culture and tradition is an important one.
“Korean traditional music is part of my identity and I believe it is my responsibility to uphold this rich tradition for the future and pass it on to the next generation. The best way to do that is to play our ancient Korean traditional music in the present so that it survives in the future.”
Baek shared with me some of the challenges she has faced during her career to date, but the hardest thing she has found as a musician has been practicing consistently every day. Talking of this, she shared that she practices every day for approximately 4 hours before starting work, and tries to stick to this routine as much as possible, even when she is on tour overseas. “Sometimes,” she said, “when I return from holiday, I spend more time and effort practicing to make up for it, but I think consistency is the most difficult part.”
Before Baek turns her hand to a new composition, she visualizes her thoughts and experiences that fit the topic in words and pictures. From this image, she searches for the best sounds to accompany it, a process which allows her to begin composing. Sometimes during the process she admits she “pushes at the limits of the instrument”, through exploring different ways of making sounds – be that breathing a little differently, or trying out a new technique. These experiments are important as she searches for the sounds that best express her story.
“Since music doesn’t have a clear visual component or a text, even when hearing the same piece, everyone feels a bit different. When people listen to my music, I hope that they can paint their own pictures in their minds.”
F: What inspires your compositions?
DB: For one of my pieces called Verge of Dawn, I wrote a song thinking about myself looking out the window next to my bed at dawn because I couldn’t sleep due to a lot of worries. Like this, my experiences and thoughts are contained in the music, so when I listen to my music again later, it feels like looking at a diary I wrote in the past. For this reason, I tend to find topics for songs mainly from my experiences and my daily life. I create while remembering the emotions and feelings of that time.
F: Is there a part of your career to date that you look back on as being a really proud moment?
DB: I felt proud when I released my first solo album & Nothingness& , as I pushed myself and broke the glass ceiling I had for myself. Through this project, I was able to overcome many unknowns and also helped me realize my potential. That said, I think each work is special in its own way as each of them is a story by themselves and each of them means a lot to me as they were a life experience.
“When I mainly play traditional music, I become sensitive and have a lot of things to worry about while preparing, but I remember having fun performing with the feeling of telling my own story. I felt like I was talking to the audience through music during the performance, which left me with a very happy memory.
Baek will be sharing the stage with duo CelloGayageum as part of the K-Music Festival, an their performance promises to be a wonderful mix of traditional Korean music, contemporary music and western music. Talking of what the audience can expect from their performance, Baek shared with me that she will be playing her solo album pieces which contain both traditional and electronic music. Together they will create a “melange of acoustic and electronic sounds, between Korean and western, also traditional and contemporary music is quite powerfully expressed to the audience” and hope to create a deep, truly intercultural experience.
Baek’s second full-length album titled “Mirror City” is due to be released on October 18th. In this album Baek has incorporated more electronic elements into a composition as a complement the traditional sounds. Baek shared with me that she created this project so that listeners are able to relate to themselves through the city they live in. The album stems from her belief that although we live in a city, that city is made up of various tangible elements that we all collectively create, regardless of our individual characteristics.
Baek’s advice to aspiring musicians: Every individual is different and every person has a different way of thinking and perception about a certain thing. Music gives the freedom to express and I would like musicians to express themselves freely and just believe in themselves and just do what they want to do without much noise from the outside. I believe inspiration comes from experiences and I would like artists to gain diverse experiences from others and nature to better understand themselves.
