On Saturday, November14th, 2011 in Kim Young Oak Middle School in Los Angeles, the Korean traditional (Samulnori) performers who are going to perform in this upcoming Hollywood Christmas Parade fully dressed up for Open House where their parents, friends, and important people got to watch them perform. “It’s a very important day for us because today is the day we show all we’ve learned in these past months,” says Mr. Kang, the Samulnori teacher.
At around 2:00 PM, nearly all the performers gathered in the school cafeteria and started dressing up. Unfortunately, the clothes didn’t seem to please the performers. “What is this? A dress? I’m a guy! Come on now,” says Brian Kim, a Flag bearer. Geon Woo, a Gong player says, “What is this crap on my head? This hat is ridiculous.” Frank Lee, a Buk (Bass Drum) player says, “Why is there a flower on my head? What’s up with these shoes?” There was a complaint from nearly all the performers regarding their clothes.
Starting from 3:30 PM, all the performers gathered up in the school gym to practice until the guests came to watch. Finally, after a couple hours, guests started coming in the school gym to sit on the bleachers. However, none of the performers were nervous even when they were told that people from South Korea came to watch them perform. For 10 minutes, the performers showed all they had to the guests. “It was amazing; just wonderful,” says Mr. Kim one of the people who came from Korea. “It will be the first time ever where Koreans participate in the Hollywood Parade and you guys will be the face that will be shown on television worldwide; you will be the symbol for South Korea and you guys are doing wonderful and this is what I expected from us Koreans,” says a guest.
Eric Garcetti, 13th District City Council for Los Angeles currently running for mayor, also came to give a speech. “You guys are amazing.” Overall, many guests thought the performance was great and some performers were moved by some of the guest speakers’ words. “Wow we really are the first generation to do this; we are the symbol for South Korea on that day showing everyone in the nation our tradition; we are making history,” says William Kim.
