Composed of six incredibly talented musicians who combine traditional and contemporary rhythms with ease, the E-DO Korean ensemble gave a performance entitled “Scent of Korea” at the Cairo Opera House Main Hall on Tuesday 11 September and at Alexandria Opera House on Sunday 9 September. E-DO is the first visiting foreign group to open the new artistic season of the Cairo Opera House 2018/2019. The troupe is led by Yu Kyung-hwa, who is credited with reviving the chulhyungeum, an ancient Korean iron-string instrument that had been on the verge of extinction. Playing the chulhyungeum and janggu (the hour-glass drum), Yu was accompanied by Kyung-Koo Lee (on the long pipe called daegeum pipe), JC Curve, Lee Jun-hyoung, Jung-Chul Seo and Young-Deok Jo (on guitar). They played bass and percussion, mixing jazz and pop into traditional sounds. The music was interspersed with dance tableaus by Jin Yoo-rim, Wonkwang, Ryu Ji Sook, Kim Ji Hyun, Kim Seunmi and Jung Yeon jung – all dressed in the traditional hanbok. Among the highlights was Yu's own composition Bird of Oblivion, performed for the first time in 2004. This chulhyungeum solo has been reinterpreted in orchestra concerto, chamber music, chulhyungeum-tabla duet and other formats. The composition has a philosophical implication that we should forget ourselves in order to find a new self. As Shiva, the supreme god in Hinduism, is also the destroyer, the new creation comes from the destruction. For Yu, the sound of oblivion and destruction is expressed as the diverse variations of rhythms while maintaining a fast tempo. The Bird signifies the “I” that forgets itself and flies away. The daegeum melody at beginning and end expresses this concept while the chulhyungeum portrays the sound of birds through high-pitched notes. One impressive moment is the swing of the fan that signifies the movement of the bird. Equally mesmerising was The Brave Moonlight, a composition by JC Curve; the main rhythm pattern is a mixture of African and Korean rhythms. This, in addition to E-DO compositions Sinawi and Kangwondo Arirang. At the end of the concert, Korean Ambassador Yoon Yeocheol said that he wasn't able to enjoy the E-DO ensemble's type of music until he listened to it at a concert and then he felt how the performances presented a fusion of tradition and modernity.
