At its best, the power trio is one of music’s most elegant and well-balanced ensembles. Each aspect of the trio leans on the others while pulling equal weight, filling the sonic space without any extraneous elements. Seoul-based Dongyang Gozupa are a perfect example – even if their set-up turns the standard power trio on its head.
Dongyang Gozupa are Jang Dohyuk on a personalised drum-and-percussion kit, Ham Minhwi on bass guitar and Yun Eunhwa on yanggeum, the Korean hammered zither. Importantly, the group doesn’t orbit around a singer. This removes the focal point of the listener’s attention, and serves to highlight the equal importance of each musician. Their full message is delivered through instrumental sound. “When one conveys an emotion, such as loneliness, joy, love, or even rage, there are times when one cannot express that emotion in a word or phrase,” they state. “Through our performances, we try to create an emotional narrative that connects with as many people as possible.”
While they paint with emotions, their musical style itself defies easy explanation. They don’t anchor their music around any particular genre, but draw from many streams. For Jang, genres aren’t the point: “Rather than wanting to create something that the world has never heard before, we just want to create something fun which incorporates the tastes and references of each band member.” This includes elements of prog-rock and gugak (traditional Korean music) with hints of metal and industrial, all tinged with the avant-garde, making a sound that can be dark and dissonant while retaining a certain playfulness: it avoids any over-seriousness and makes dancing inevitable.
It’s those spicy dissonances that give Dongyang Gozupa their signature sound. Those moments of discomfort are not something they shy away from, but rather embrace as a fundamental part of the sonic environment, a necessary tension to balance the consonance. “Personally, I don’t think that dissonance is something wrong,” says Ham. “This all-or-nothing, right-or-wrong thinking makes creative vision very narrow. It’s the same with dissonance. If a note does not fit in a particular place, repeating that note can create a special kind of psychedelic effect.” And that can take a piece to a different place entirely.
The group’s identity and philosophy can be seen in microcosm in Yun’s yanggeum; it is rooted in tradition without being bound to it. Her instrument was specially-made – it literally has her name on it: “I wanted to express myself with a yanggeum that was a little more spectacular and dynamic.” To that end, hers has many more strings than smaller gugak version, giving her access to a much wider range of both tone and style. Yun also plays with two sticks instead of the traditional one, and uses a variety of effects pedals to alter the sound when appropriate. Spectacular and dynamic – adjectives that extend to the whole group.
The past decade has seen a truly electrifying new wave of artists using Korean folk and classical music to discover new directions and meanings in sound – think Jambinai, Black String – and Dongyang Gozupa can surely claim their place among them: a perfectly-weighted power trio with an intricately balanced sound.
Photo: Yun Eunhwa, Jang Dohyuk and Ham Minhwi of Dongyang Gozupa.