Harmonies as resonant and meditative as the religious devotion they represent will fill Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel when the monks of Korea’s Young San Preservation Group perform “The Sound of Ecstasy and Nectar of Enlightenment: Buddhist Ritual Song and Dance from Korea.”

Students and faculty will have a first-hand, behind-the-scenes view of Buddhist ritual music from Korea when members of the ensemble and their leader, the Reverend Monk Dong Hee, lead a workshop demonstrating chant styles and instruments as ritual objects the night before the performance. The workshop was organized by Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology Jennifer Anne Fraser, Professor of Ethnomusicology Roderic Knight, and Ann Sherif, Associate Professor of Japanese and Director of the East Asian Studies Program.

The group’s eight monks will perform traditional pomp’ae, an unwritten music that, like Gregorian chant, must be learned by ear and recited by memory. Derived from ancient Buddhist ceremonies that were nearly lost to history, pomp’ae is marked by complex vocal patterns and a pure, heavy tone, with chanting that evokes a ruminative calm intended to facilitate spiritual growth. The Young San ceremony includes offerings of flowers, food, fragrance, music, and sacred dance in honor of the Buddha. In the distant past, the ceremony was performed throughout Korea to celebrate good fortune and mitigate disaster. Traditional Korean drums, cymbals, and gongs — as well as a ritualized dance piece known as chakpop — will accompany the Young San Preservation Group’s singing. The sounds and dances of the Young San ceremony were nominated by the government in 1973 for preservation as a Korean Intangible Cultural Asset.

Under the direction of Venerable Dong Hee, the Young San Preservation Group is committed to preserving the Young San ceremony. Dong Hee is the first woman to join the special lineage of monks who have performed the ceremony. She began her studies of the ceremony at the age of 13, under the tutelage of Venerable Song-am Park, a scholar who helped preserve the complex ritual despite the Japanese colonial government’s (1910-1945) ban on Korean Buddhist ceremonies. Song-am Park was designated a Korean Human Cultural Asset. For the last 40 years, Dong Hee has worked diligently to correctly maintain the rituals of the ceremony. In addition to being a highly respected religious leader, she is a scholar and an artist; she examined ancient records and documents in a dedicated effort to restore the original form and colors of the vestments worn by monks in the ceremony, and personally prepares all ritual objects for the spiritual event.

The Oberlin performance of “The Sound of Ecstasy and Nectar of Enlightenment: Buddhist Ritual Song and Dance from Korea” is part of a five-city, cross-country tour that begins with a performance on October 21 at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. The last performance on the tour takes place at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City on November 2.

The tour of “The Sound of Ecstasy and Nectar of Enlightenment: Buddhist Ritual Song and Dance from Korea”is sponsored and organized by the Korea Society, with additional support from the Arts Council of Korea and the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco. The Korea Society is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, organization that is dedicated solely to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding, and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea. The Oberlin performance is sponsored by the Korea Society, the Freeman Foundation Undergraduate Asian Studies Initiative, the Oberlin Korean Student Association, Oberlin College’s Departments of Religion and East Asian Studies, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Related Links:
East Asian Studies Event Listing