Contextual Associations

This sogo is a double-headed frame-drum membranophone associated with farmers' music and dance (nongak or p'ungmul), a genre of Korean folk music. The sogo is also played by chorus members in professional folksong groups performing a repertoire known as ipch'ang (‘standing  songs’). The heads of the drum in this collection are decorated with the yin-yang symbol.

Description

The unreinforced edges of two mammal skin membranes are directly laced to one another over the openings of a shallow cylindrical shell made from a thin strip of wood. A wood handle is attached the shell wall (although it looks like the handle runs through the interior of the drum, it does not). A thick wooden mallet serves as the beater (not shown). 

Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production

The player, most often a mobile dancer in a nongak group, holds the handle of the drum in one hand and strikes one or the other head with the beater, which is held in the other hand. While producing a modest sound that is largely covered up by the gongs and other drums of the nongak band, the sogo functions primarily as a dance prop. However, performances by some types of famers' bands include a dance called popku nori for which the dancers beat on their sogo while twirling long ribbons attached to their hats to create spectacular patterns in the air.

Origins/History/Evolution

Available sources do not provide information on the origin and history of the sogo. Its use in farmers' bands suggests it is of some age since such ensembles have been a part of rural, agrarian-based social life on the Korean peninsula for centuries.
 

Bibliographic Citations

Hahn Man-young. 1973. "Ipch'ang." in Survey of Korean Arts: Traditional Music. Seoul: National Academy of Arts, pp. 229-234.

Howard, Keith. 1995. Korean Musical Instruments. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.

________. 2002. "Nongak (P'ungmul Nori)." In The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music v.7. ed. Robert C. Provine, Yoshiko Takumaru, and J. Lawrence Witzleben. New York: Garland Publishing, pp. 929-940.

Killick, Andrew P. 2002. "Musical Instruments of Korea." In The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music v.7. ed. Robert C. Provine, Yoshiko Takumaru, and J. Lawrence Witzleben. New York: Garland Publishing, pp. 821-831.

Provine, Robert C. 1984. "Sogo (i)," NGDMI v. 3: 413.