R. Anderson Sutton

rhythm Fusion MUSIC timbre feeling

In the last fifteen to twenty years, Korean musicians have interacted intensively with musicians from other countries, resulting in a diverse category of music often referred to broadly as “fusion music” (p’yujŏn ŭmak). A substantial number of Korean fusion music pieces in recent years have not employed Korean rhythms, instead relying solely on the timbre (sound quality) of Korean instruments to give them a “Korean feel.” Many members of the younger generation would identify any music that had a Korean instrumental timbre (e.g., a haegŭm playing with a synthesizer and electric guitar) as “Korean,” even if the rhythm bore no relationship to Korea’s rich rhythmic heritage of changdan. I propose in this paper that the most successful pieces of fusion music, those that represent a true blending of Korean and foreign elements, will reveal a basis in Korean rhythms and that rhythm, more so than timbre, represents a fundamental aspect of musical stylistic identity. Data from a small survey of Korean listeners, rating forty-one fusion examples, are discussed in the paper and lend support to this hypothesis.