Asia, Land of Light and Sound
  • This section introduces reproduced contents of the booklet and CD for exhibition, 'Kim, Soo-Nam & Choi, Sang-il - Asia, Land of Light and Sound (6 to 29 July 2005, Seoul, Republic of Korea)'. Kim, Soo-Nam, documentary photographer representing the Republic of Korea, has started his profession as a photo journalist in Dong-A Ilbo and contributed to introduce the beauty of shamanistic and traditional culture of ethnic minorities by traveling everywhere in Asia. He never let the camera out of his hands till his last day in Chiang Rai in Thailand in 2006, next year of the exhibition. His enormous works still pass down Asia’s value to the world. Choi, Sang-il, who believes that ‘folk songs everywhere contain the unembellished thoughts and sentiments of their people’, has shown various broadcast programs, music albums, and books on folk song and music in Korean and Asia since his join to Munhwa Broadcating Company (MBC). Until now, he continues his contributions including recording diverse intangible cultural heritage and promoting it through excellent broadcast program such as ‘In Search of Our Sounds’. In recent, he received commendation from the president and Award for Professional Achievement in Producing. We express our gratitude to the families of the late Kim, Soo-Nam, and MBC producer Choi, Sang-il for allowing to make these precious collections available online, so that the beauty of living heritages in the Asia-Pacific will be better known to the world.
Miao of China Thai Golden Triangle Indonesia Bali, Indonesia Myanmar Kam (Dong) of China Sri Lanka The Philippines Ladakh, India Japan Okinawa, Japan Southwestern China Ladakh Mongolia Uzbekistan 
  • The moment you set foot in Bali, you are greeted by the florid music of the gamelan. Each village has one or two professional gamelan groups that are hired to play traditional music at the homes of individuals as well as rituals in temples and clan houses. Large events may sometimes involve many gamelan groups.

Gamelan refers to both the instruments and the name of an instrumental group. A typical group consists of a string section, wooden wind section and percussion section, played by twenty-five to fifty musicians. In some regions, the gamelan is made of bamboo. Each gamelan is organized like an orchestra, with a variety of instruments such as gongs and gangsa, a xylophone-like instrument.

Ceng-ceng is an instrument with an onomatopoeic name. It consists of five pairs of cymbal-like instruments set on the back of a wooden turtle, which is said to hold up the universe in traditional legend. Each musician holds a pair of cymbals and strikes them together to make the “ceng ceng” sound.

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