Korean music - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Traditional Korean music includes both the folk, vocal, religious and ritual

Korean court music

Korean court music refers to the music developed in the Joseon Dynasty . Very little is known about the court music of earlier Korean kingdoms and dynasties.It was partly modeled on the court music of China, known as yayue...

music styles of the Korean people

Korean people

The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...

. Korean music, along with arts, painting, and sculpture has been practiced since prehistoric times.

Two distinct musical cultures exist in Korea today: traditional music (Gugak) and Western music (yangak).

See Music of South Korea

Music of South Korea

Music of South Korea has evolved throughout decades with lots of different influences. Nowadays, South Korean music can be divided into three different groups: Korean traditional folk music, western influenced non-popular music and finally the mainstream pop music, which includes the genre...

and Music of North Korea

Music of North Korea

After the division of Korea in 1951, Korea was split, into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or North and the Republic of Korea or South Korea...

for contemporary Korean music.

History

Korean music history is divided into three periods: ancient, medieval, and modern.
The first period, or the ancient one, dates from the ancient tribal states to the foundation of Goryeo dynasty. The distinguishing characteristics of this period can be found in the development of akkamu (music, songs, and dance) comprising the kamu (singing and dancing) or angmu (music and dance) performed in the worship rites of heaven and earth of the ancient society, the introduction of some instruments from Central Asia during the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-668 AD), and the development of hyangakki (indigenous instruments) in each of the Three Kingdoms. Thus, in southern Manchuria, music and dance developed in worship rites and rituals such as the Yonggo of the Buyeo

Buyeo

Buyeo can mean:*Buyeo kingdom, a kingdom located in today's North Korea and southern Manchuria from around the 2nd century BC to 494 AD*Buyeo County, a county in South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, and one-time capital of the ancient kingdom of Baekje...

state, the Dongmaeng of the Goguryeo

Goguryeo

Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....

state, and the Much'on of the Ye

Ye can refer to:* Ye , a form of the second-person, personal pronoun "you"* Ye , a Chinese surname* an archaic spelling of the definite article "þe" , used by early printers when the obsolescent letter "þ" was not available...

tribal state, while in the Samhan

Samhan

The Samhan period of Korean history comprises confederacies of Mahan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan in central and southern Korean peninsula, during the final century BCE and the early centuries CE....

, the Kip'ungje provides an example of song and dance in connection with an agricultural ritual. Thus, the religious song and dance tradition of the ancient society of southern Manchuria and Korean peninsula became the root of the indigenous music, hyangak of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla during Three Kingdoms period. The concept of akkamu is also discussed in the music section in the Korean Samguk Sagi

Samguk Sagi

Samguk Sagi is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The Samguk Sagi is written in Classical Chinese and its compilation was ordered by Goryeo's King Injong Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of...

. With the rise of royal authority, the advent of Three Kingdoms brought about the creation of royal music institutions to support the cultural life of the royal and aristocratic families, and of palace musicians and dancers specializing in the songs, dances, and instrumental music supported by those institutions. Another historical development and outcome of these trends in the ancient period was the introduction of the music of the Three Kingdoms to the Japanese court of the music of Baekje

Baekje

Baekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....

(Kudaragaku in Japanese), of Goguryeo

Goguryeo

Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....

(Komagaku), and of Silla (Shiragigaku).

Buddhist and shamanistic dancing, and shamanistic drum music are extant, as well as a melodic

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

dance music

Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

called sinawi

Sinawi

Sinawi, sometimes spelled shinawi, is a traditional form of Korean music. It is performed improvisationally by a musical ensemble, and traditionally accompanies the rites of Korean shamanism. The style first emerged in the Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces, but is now widespread...

.

Traditional Korean music can be divided into at least four types: courtly, aristocratic, scholarly, and religious.

Korean Folk music

Korean folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

is varied and complex, but all forms maintain a set of rhythms (called 장단; Changdan) and a loosely defined set of melodic modes.

Because the folk songs of various areas are categorized under Dongbu folk songs, their vocal styles and modes are limited. Therefore, currently scholars are attempting to categorize the Dongbu folk songs further based on different musical features. These songs are mostly simple and bright. Namdo folk songs are those of Jeolla Province and a part of Chungcheong Province. While the folk songs of other regions are mostly musically simple, the folk songs of the Namdo region, where the famous musical genres pansori and sanjo were created, are rich and dramatic. Some Namdo folk songs are used in pansori or developed by professional singers and are included as part of their repertories. Jeju folk songs are sung on the Jeju Island. They are more abundant in number than any other regional folk songs, and approximately 1600 songs are transmitted today. Jeju folk songs are characterized by their simple and unique melodic lines and rich texts.

Pansori

Pansori is a genre of Korean traditional music. It is a vocal and percussional music performed by one sorikkun and one gosu . The term pansori is derived from pan , and sori .- Overview :...

is a long vocal and percussive music played by one singer and one drummer. In this traditional art form, sometimes rather misleadingly called 'Korean Opera', a narrator may play the parts of all the characters in a story, accompanied by a drummer. The lyrics tell one of five different stories, but is individualized by each performer, often with updated jokes and audience participation. One of the most famous pansori singers is [박동진 Pak Tongjin

Pak Tongjin

Pak Tongjin was the South Korean minister of foreign affairs in the 1970s. Much of his efforts involved building trade routes between the Soviet Union and non-Soviet countries through South Korea.-References:...

.

The National Theatre of Korea provides monthly opportunities to experience traditional Korean narrative songs or 'pansori'.

Where:National Theatre of Korea.
Seoul City Hall
South Korea

Pungmul

Pungmul is a Korean folk music tradition that is a form of percussion

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

music that includes drumming, dancing, and singing. Most performances are outside, with dozens of players, all in constant motion. Samul Nori

Samul nori

Samul nori is a genre of traditional percussion music originating in Korea. The word samul means "four objects" and nori means "play"; samul nori is performed with four traditional Korean musical instruments:* Kkwaenggwari...

, originally the name of a group founded in 1978, has become popular as a genre, even overseas. It is based on Pungmul musical rhythmic patterns and uses the same instruments, but is faster and usually played while sitting down.

Sanjo

Sanjo (music)

Sanjo, literally meaning 'scattered melodies' and is a style of traditional Korean music, involving an instrumental solo accompanied by drumming on the janggu, an hourglass-shaped drum...

is played without a pause in faster tempos. It shifts rhythms and melodic modes during the song. The tempos increases in each movement. The general style of the sanjo is marked by slides in slow movements and rhythmic complexity in faster movements. Sanjo is entirely instrumental music that shifts rhythms and melodic modes during the song. Instruments include the changgo drum set against a melodic instrument, such as the gayageum

Gayageum

The gayageum or kayagum is a traditional Korean zither-like string instrument, with 12 strings, although more recently variants have been constructed with 21 or other numbers of strings. It is probably the best known traditional Korean musical instrument...

or ajaeng

Ajaeng

The ajaeng is a Korean string instrument. It is a wide zither with strings made of twisted silk, played by means of a slender stick made of forsythia wood, which is scraped against the strings in the manner of a bow...

. Famous practitioners such as Kim Chukp'a, Yi Saenggang

Yi Saenggang

Yi Saenggang, also known as Lee Saenggang, is a South Korean musician and a leading practitioner of daegeum sanjo, an instrumental style of Korean music played on the daegeum, a large bamboo transverse flute...

and Hwang Byungki

Hwang Byungki

Hwang Byungki is the foremost South Korean player of the gayageum, a 12-string zither with silk strings. Hwang is also a composer and an authority on Korean sanjo, a form of traditional Korean instrumental music....

Chŏngak

Chŏngak means literally "right (or correct) music", and its tradition includes both instrumental and vocal music, which were cultivated mainly by the upper-class literati of the Joseon society. The Yongsan hoesang is the main repertoire of instrumental chongak tradition and the most representative chamber ensemble of Korea. The title is derived from a Korean Buddhist chang with the short text 'Yongsan hoesang pulbosal,' which literally means "Buddha and Bodhisattvas meet at the Spirit Vulture Peak." The Korean Buddhist music with the texts notated in the fifteenth-century manuscript Taeak Hubo was a vocal work accompanied by an orchestra.

Nongak

Nongak, means "farmers' music" and represents an important musical genre which has been developed mainly by peasants in the agricultural society of Korea. The farmers' music is performed typically in an open area of the village. The organization of nongak varies according to locality and performing groups, and today there are a great number of regional styles.

Shinawi

Shinawi, means in broadest sense, the shamanistic music of Korea which is performed during a Korean shaman's ritual dance performance to console and to entertain deities. In this sense of word, the term is almost identical with another term, shinbanggok (lit. 'spirit chamber music'), which indicated general shamanistic music performed at a folk religious ceremony known as kut

Kut

Al-Kūt is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 160 kilometres south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 374,000 people...

Salp'uri

Salpuri is a dance for soul cleansing and literally means : "to wash away bad ghosts". Salpuri’s modern movements represent the shown human hopes and aspirations.

Court/Ritual music

Korean court music

preserved to date can be traced to the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty in 1392. It is now rare, except for government-sponsored organizations like The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts

The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts

National Gugak Center, located in Seoul, South Korea, is the primary institution of learning for Korean traditional music.With a history dating back to the Eumseongseo music institute of the Silla kingdom in the 7th century, The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts was founded...

.

There are three types of court music.

One is called Aak, and is an imported form of Chinese ritual music, and another is a pure Korean form called Hyang-ak; the last is a combination of Korean and Chinese influences, and is called Dang-ak.

Aak

Aak is a genre of Korean court music. It is an imported form of Chinese ritual music. Aak is often labeled as "elegant music" in contrast with other traditional Korean music...

was brought to Korea in 1116 and was very popular for a time before dying out. It was revived in 1430, based on a reconstruction of older melodies. The music is now highly specialized and uses just two different surviving melodies. Aak is played only at certain very rare concerts, such as the Sacrifice to Confucius in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

Dang-ak

Modern dangak
Dangak
Dangak is a genre of traditional Korean court music. The name means "Tang music," and the style was first adapted from Tang Dynasty Chinese music during the Unified Silla period in the late first millennium...

, like aak, is rarely practiced. Only two short pieces are known; they are Springtime in Luoyang and Pacing the Void.

Hyang-ak

By far the most extant form of Korean court music today, hyangak

Hyangak

Hyangak, literally "village music," is a traditional form of Korean court music with origins in the Three Kingdoms period . It is often accompanied by traditional folk dances of Korea, known as hyangak jeongjae...

includes a sort of oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

, which is a small bassoon, called a piri

Piri

The piri is a Korean double reed instrument, used in both the folk and classical music of Korea. It is made of bamboo. Its large reed and cylindrical bore gives it a sound mellower than that of many other types of oboe....

and various kinds of stringed instruments.

Aristocratic chamber music

Originally designed for upper-class rulers, to be enjoyed informally, chongak is often entirely instrumental, usually an ensemble playing one of nine suites that are collectively called Yongsan Hwesang. Vocals are mainly sung in a style called kagok

Kagok

Gagok is a genre of Korean vocal music for mixed female and male voices.Accompaniments and interludes are played by a small ensemble of traditional Korean musical instruments.-External links:*...

, which is for mixed male and female singers and is accompanied by a variety of instruments.

Traditional instruments

Traditional Korean instruments can be broadly divided into three groups: string, wind and percussion instruments.

The gayageum

Gayageum

(12-string zither) and geomungo

Geomungo

The geomungo or hyeongeum is a traditional Korean stringed musical instrument of the zither family of instruments with both bridges and frets...

(six-string plucked zither) are part of the string fold instruments. The haegum (two-string vertical fiddle) and the ajaeng

Ajaeng

(seven-string zither) is part of the string T'ang. Court string music also included use of the seven-string zither and the 25-string zither.

The daegeum

Daegeum

The daegeum is a large bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a special timbre...

(large transverse flute), piri

Piri

(cylindrical oboe) and grass flute are all called wind folk. Wind T'ang includes the Chinese oboe, vertical flute and hojok or taepyongso (shawm). The saenghwang

Saenghwang

The saenghwang is a Korean wind instrument. It is a free reed mouth organ derived from the Chinese sheng, though its tuning is different....

(mouth organ), panpipes, hun

Hun (instrument)

The hun is a Korean ocarina made of baked clay or ceramic. It has a globular shape, with a blowing hole on top and several finger holes. It is used primarily in court music ensembles, although in the late 20th century some contemporary Korean composers began to use it in their compositions and...

(ocarina), flute with mouthpiece, danso

Danso

The danso is a Korean notched, end-blown vertical bamboo flute used in Korean folk music. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but in the 20th century it has also been made of plastic....

(small-notch vertical flute), and flute are wind court instruments.

Percussion folk instruments include jing

Jing

Jing can refer to:Software:* Jing , formerly Jing ProjectPlaces:* Beijing, capital of China * Jinghe County, also known as Jinghev, in Xinjiang, China...

(large hanging gong), kkwaenggwari

Kkwaenggwari

The kkwaenggwari is a small flat gong used primarily in folk music of Korea. It is made of brass and is played with a hard stick. It produces a distinctively high-pitched, metallic tone that breaks into a cymbal-like crashing timbre when struck forcefully.It is particularly important in samul...

(hand-held gong), buk

Buk (drum)

The buk is a traditional Korean drum. While the term buk is a native Korean word used as a generic term meaning "drum" , it is most often used to refer to a shallow barrel-shaped drum, with a round wooden body that is covered on both ends with animal skin...

(barrel drum), janggu

Janggu

The janggu or sometimes called seyogo is the most widely used drum used in the traditional music of Korea. It is available in most kinds, and consists of an hourglass-shaped body with two heads made from animal skin...

(hourglass drum). The bak (clapper) and the janggu

Janggu

(hourglass drum) are the percussion T'ang instruments. Percussion court includes the pyeongjong (bronze bells), pyeongyeong

Pyeongyeong

A pyeongyeong is a traditional Korean percussion instrument, a kind of stone chime or lithophone formed of sixteen L-shaped stone slabs suspended from a frame...

(stone chimes), chuk (square wooden box with mallet)and eo (tiger-shaped scraper).

External links

A Study of Musical Instruments in Korean Traditional Music (The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Korea, 1998)
Generacion Kpop (Community websites dedicated to Korean music and korean music radio)
Culture & Arts in Korea: Trends in Music
Overview of Traditional Korean Music
Minyo [Traslation from Minsok Kyoyuk Jaryojip, published by Bongchon Norimadang]
News articles about Korean Music

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