This is my second piece for a traditional Korean instrument. It is always fascinating for me to learn about instruments I didn’t know before.
I guess because of my background – Japanese - I have been asked several times to write for Japanese traditional instruments before now. Mind you, I didn’t know Japanese instruments either, until I was asked to write for them. As I always want to learn other countries' traditional instruments, I was doubly pleased when Eunah asked me to write for her and for the haegeum.
When I write music for string instruments (like violins and violas), I always imagine that endless stretchy string can make an infinite shape without any gaps or feeling of stopping.
Then I met this instrument, the haegeum. This string instrument has no fingerboard, and the bow is attached to the instrument. In fact, the bow can never be detached from it. This means my everlasting stretchy string shape has no choice but to keep going. I immediately felt like this was the instrument I always wanted, but I didn’t know it existed.
I had a great time researching and studying this instrument, having online-workshopping sessions with Eunah Noh, the commissioner and great master of this instrument.
Dai Fujikura