Beat makers
From the back of Goldstein Auditorium, a slow and loud drum beat resonated through the room. The beats and chants grew louder, and the audience burst into cheers and whistles.
Two lines of Cheon Ji In drummers entered the auditorium from the back, converging into one as they slowly snaked down the center aisle. Adorned in blousy white pants and black smocks with sashes of red, blue and yellow wrapped around their chests, the drummers made their way onto the stage.
The snow did not stop the diverse audience of young and old, Koreans and non-Koreans, students and residents of the Syracuse community, from gathering to watch the sixth annual Cheon Ji In performance Saturday night.
Cheon Ji In members danced, skipped and ran across stage during the more traditional pieces, while beating their drums in unison. The energy and enthusiasm of the drummers was contagious as the audience came alive, clapping and yelling along with the rhythmic sounds.
‘Each time they perform something different so I don’t know what they’ll come up this time,’ said Jinyoung Chung, president of the Korean Cultural Outreach Network College Group and a student at Buffalo University. ‘I’m excited.’
During one unique portion of the show, Cheon Ji In collaborated with the DysFUNKtion Crew – an eclectic rap group of approximately 15 Syracuse University students – mixing traditional music and modern Korean music, including Korean rap and hip hop, while drummers and break dancers performed in unison on stage.
At one point, Cheon Jin In performed an act referred to as
Liz Myers and Ben McTernan, whose 6-year-old son Harry was adopted from Korea when he was four months, enjoyed the performance last year and decided to attend this year’s event.
‘In the broader sense, it’s to keep Harry connected to the Korean culture and his Korean pride,’ McTernan said. ‘Even a 6-year-old boy can get into drums.’
Though they didn’t perform, members of the University at Buffalo Korean drumming club, Sorimori, were also in attendance for the performance. They, along with Syracuse, New York University, Cornell University, Columbia University, Binghamton University among other New York colleges and universities, are part of the KCON organization, which helps promote Korean culture for both Koreans and Korean-Americans.
‘All the New York state schools help each through KCON, the Korean Cultural Outreach Network,’ said Donghwi Seo, a junior biology major and president of Sorimori, Buffalo’s Korean drumming group. ‘Every year, each school has an annual performance, so we come watch them.’
Seo joked Sorimori might try to steal some skills from Syracuse’s Cheon Ji In performance for its performance next month for the KCON schools.
Margarita Lapczynski and her son John from Marietta, N.Y. heard about the performance through a member of Cheon Ji In who works with her husband.
‘My son is interested in drums, so we thought it’d be a neat thing to do,’ Lapczynski said. ‘He’s a percussionist, so it’s right up his ally.’
The night served its purpose in bringing together an eclectic mix of people laughing, singing and celebrating the Korean culture.
‘It’s so impressive to me how much fun it is,’ Myers said of the performance. ‘There is a really good sense of pride of being Korean.’
