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Korean Kayagum Sanjo: A Traditional Instrumental Genre, by Keith Howard, Chaesuk Lee, and Nicholas Casswell. SOAS Musicology Series. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2008. xii, 160 pp., black and white photographs, figures, musical examples, bibliography, discography, index, compact discs. $54.95 cloth.
Korean Kayagum Sanjo: A Traditional Instrumental Genre is the first English-language monograph on Korean kayagum sanjo. Today, sanjo is one of the most representative Korean traditional musical genres. It comprises a body of related works performed on a solo melodic instrument with rhythmic accompaniment on the changgo, an hourglass-shaped drum. Sanjo was first conceived for the kayagum, a twelve-stringed zither, and then was gradually adapted to a variety of Korean instruments. Some contemporary musicians in South Korea even liberally interpret sanjo as referring to a virtuoso instrumental piece and compose new music, modeled on and named after sanjo (p. 6, n. 4). Since Kim Ch'angjo first introduced the kayagum sanjo in the late nineteenth century, numerous kayagum schools have been formed by Kim's disciples and their students. Unlike the practice in ryu-the counterpart system of training in Japan-Korean musicians master sanjo by crossing over between different schools of kayagum sanjo. The musicians interpret and reinterpret the sanjo as their musicality matures and are also allowed to introduce their own artistic creations. Korean Kayagum Sanjo: A Traditional Instrumental Genre spotlights...