janggu

The janggu (, also transliterated as janggo or changgo) or seyogo () is a drum often used in traditional Korean music. It consists of an hourglass-shaped body with two heads made from various types of leather. The two heads produce sounds of different pitch and timbre, which when played together are believed to represent the harmonious joining of Um and Yang. The janggu is one of the four components of samul nori (사물놀이), alongside the buk (북), jing (징) and kkwaenggwari (꽹과리).

==History== The earliest depictions of the instrument were inscribed on a bell belonging to the Silla (57 BC–935 AD) period and in a mural painting of the same period in Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) tomb. The oldest written records about an hourglass-shaped drum may be traced to the reign of King Munjong (1047–1084) of Goryeo as a field instrument. The Korean record from 1451 titled Goryeo-sa, or History of Goryeo, in chapter 70, records twenty janggu as the gifts of instruments to be used in the banquet attended by the Song dynasty emperor Huizong to the Goryeo court in Gaeseong in 1114. This book also notes the earliest appearance of the word janggu in a Korean source. Later in chapter 80, for the year 1076, the term janggu-opsa (one who plays or teaches the janggu) is used.