The Cobaltpunk Project
The Problem With “Fusion”
In Korea, many traditional musicians have been creating new works in a genre commonly referred to as "fusion" music—works that incorporate both traditional Korean and western instruments. However, we have found much of these works unsatisfactory: key Korean stylistic elements are often diluted, neutered, or eliminated to accommodate western harmonic progressions, and in an effort to adopt western classical and pop music structures. The western music elements and structures often overshadow; overpower;
Furthermore, the western instrumentalists, usually contracted musicians who are unfamiliar with the nuances of traditional Korean music, often play their parts bereft of these important stylistic details.
The Cobaltpunk Project aims to address this shortcoming.
Korean Music DNA | Koreanization of Instruments |
Like much traditional music from Asian countries, Korean music is highly pentatonic; but, what distinguishes Korean music from other pentatonic music traditions is its unique stylistic elements: its distinct articulations, its wide pitch bends, vibratos, and slides. We like to think of them as its "musical DNA".
The artistic vision of the Cobaltpunk Project is to create innovative expressions of traditional Korean music that incorporate non-Korean instruments—but performed in a meaningful way that preserves these key Korean stylistic elements.
In the fall of 2018 we began developing playing techniques for the fretless electric bass to emulate passages from “Sanjo”, a virtuosic solo instrumental genre that is considered the quintessential musical form that embodies these stylistic elements.
We premiered this in 2019 May at a Salon Concert at the Gibson House Museum.
This approach showed much promise, and now we are replicating this experiment with other selected instruments.
Instruments were selected for their ability to perform stylistic elements crucial to traditional Korean music. In a manner of speaking we are working to transplant the DNA of traditional Korean music into non-Korean instruments. Or the “Koreanization” of these instruments.
Coining our Name and Style “Cobaltpunk”
Wishing to distinguish ourselves from
Looking for an appropriate name for this project and the incarnation of our collective.
More than “fusion” music, we felt a greater affinity with Steampunk, Dieselpunk, and other retro-futuristic movements, that we decided to find an appropriate prefix for “punk”. We wanted to avoid stereotypical associations that Bamboopunk, or Silkpunk offered.
Best way to explain the artistic goal is to imagine what Korean traditional music might sound and look like if transplanted into the world of Mad Max, or Blade Runner, or a post-apocolyptic Korea peninsula, or Toronto in the year 2699.
We chose cobalt because of its rich associations in east and west; in art and science;: pigments for asian ceramics, Bristol blue glass; as well as nuclear science.
Furthermore large deposits have been found in our home province of Ontario, Canada.
Suggestive of Asian culture without being stereotypical. Furthermore the word sounds/works/looks well with “punk”
THE COLBALTPUNK DOGMA
1) When using instruments not
2) cannot use instruments that do not allow expressive elements especially pitch bends of less than 2 tones
3)
CollaboratIon with Goguma Crazy; Flamboyant Generals;
“Koreanization” of Fretless Electric Bass, Theremin, Cello, Keytar, Linnstrument, Electric Percussion
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