Sinaboro

Sinaboro is a traditional Korean drumming club at the University of Michigan founded in 1998. Sinaboro members learn and perform samulnori, a style of Korean traditional drumming, with the mission of sharing Korea’s culture on campus and in the Ann Arbor community.

 

While Sinaboro’s main event is the Annual Concert held every spring, they also perform at the KSA Culture Show, Gen APA, and other cultural shows or festivals around campus. The Sinaboro instructional staff also visits public middle and high schools in Ann Arbor to teach a group called “Sina Jr.”, giving a chance for younger students to learn about samulnori.

 

Samulnori is a style of Korean traditional drumming. It was originally performerd by farmers in a village celebrating and wishing for good harvests. In Korean, “Sa” means four, “mul” means objects”, and “nori” means game or playing, so samulnori literally translates into “four objects playing.” Each instrument represents a different element of weather: "kkwaengwari" represents thunder, "buk" represents clouds, "janggu" represents rain, and "jing" represents wind.  

 

While the founding members consist of mostly Korean International students, Sinaboro’s membership has become much more diverse over the years and currently has an even distribution of non-Korean, Korean Americas, and Korean International student. Sinaboro also consists of undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni, providing an academically and culturally rich community.

 

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