About Kim Duk-soo
Kim Duk-soo (Korean: 김덕수; born September 23, 1952) is a South Korean traditional musician and the founding professor of the School of Korean Traditional Arts at the Korea National University of Arts. He is best known for creating the samul nori genre of Korean music. == Biography == Kim was born in Daejeon, South Korea on September 23, 1952. He began his music career at the age of five when joined the Namsadang group, a wandering artists troupe, first as a child acrobat, then a drummer. At age seven, Kim became the youngest person to win the President's Award in the 1959 National Folk Music Contest. A few years later, Kim began touring internationally with group such as the Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea, performing at the Mexico and Montreal Olympics, as well as the Osaka EXPO. In 1978, Kim, alongside his colleagues Kim Yong-bae, Lee Kwang-soo, and Choi Jong-sil, formed the SamulNori group. The group used four main instruments: kkwaenggwari, jing, buk, and janggu, the latter of which Kim played. They performed indoors, as, under the Park Chung-hee administration, traditional instruments were associated with student protests, and playing them outside could lead to arrest. The samul nori genre expanded from this initial ensemble, as more groups started to play the same music style. Samul nori soon gained popularity both nationally, especially among the urban youth, and globally, with the quartet being invited to perform in Tokyo and at the opening of Disney World Resort’s Epcot Centre in Florida in 1982.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.