Korea has produced music from thousands of years, until the modern day. After the division of Korea in 1945, both North and South Korea have produced their own styles of music.
Hyangak, literally "indigenous/native music, folks 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. These dances are performed in front of audiences—as opposed to the square dance more familiar to Westerners, which is primarily for the participants' enjoyment.
Dance in Korea began with shamanistic early rituals five thousand years ago and now ranges from folk dance to newly created and adopted contemporary dance.
Sanjo, literally meaning 'scattered melodies', is a style of traditional Korean music, involving an instrumental solo accompanied by drumming on the janggu, an hourglass-shaped drum. The art of sanjo is a real crystallization of traditional Korean melody and rhythm which may have been handed down by rote generation after generation. The drummer who beats the janggu also makes chuimsae (exclamations) in order to please the audience. The audience can also express their excited feeling with chuimsae while listening to sanjo. A big chuimsae indicates a good performance, so the musician can make a better performance. Like pansori, chuimsae plays an important role in sanjo. Without chuimsae, the music is meaningless. Chuimsae connects musician and audience during a sanjo performance. Almost every Korean traditional musical instrument is used in sanjo: gayageum, geomungo, daegeum, haegeum, piri, taepyeongso, ajaeng, danso.
Samul nori (Korean: 사물놀이) is a genre of percussion music that originated in Korea. The word samul means "four objects", while nori means "play". Samul nori is performed with four traditional Korean musical instruments: Kkwaenggwari, a small gong; Jing, a larger gong; Janggu, an hourglass-shaped drum; and Buk, a barrel drum similar to the bass drum.
The taepyeongso is a Korean double reed wind instrument in the shawm or oboe family, probably descended from the Persian sorna and closely related to the Chinese suona. It has a conical wooden body made from yuja (citron), daechu (jujube), or yellow mulberry wood, with a metal mouthpiece and cup-shaped metal bell. It originated during the Goryeo period (918–1392).
Pungmul is a Korean folk music tradition that includes drumming, dancing, and singing. Most performances are outside, with dozens of players all in constant motion. Pungmul is rooted in the dure farming culture. It was originally played as part of farm work, on rural holidays, at other village community-building events, and to accompany shamanistic rituals, mask dance dramas, and other types of performance. During the late 1960s and 1970s it expanded in meaning and was actively used in political protest during the pro-democracy movement, although today it is most often seen as a performing art. Based on 1980s research, this kind of music was extensively studied in Chindo Island.
The janggu or sometimes called seyogo is the most representative drum in traditional Korean music. It consists of an hourglass-shaped body with two heads made from animal skin. 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).
The buk (Korean: 북) 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. Buk are categorized as hyeokbu which are instruments made with leather, and has been used for jeongak and folk music.
Traditional Korean musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments. Many traditional Korean musical instruments derive from Chinese musical instruments.
Geommu is a traditional sword dance practiced in Korea. Geommu is performed with special costume, dance moves, and music. The dance is known for its grace in performance. Extra emphasis is placed on the movement of the costuming, notably the sleeves, in harmony with the movements of the dancer. The symbolic use of ssang dan geom, i.e. a replica of dual short swords, keeps to the militaristic origins of this dance. Geom-mu has become a dance of great beauty and is treasured as the South Korea's 12th Important Intangible Cultural Property.
Daechwita is a genre of Korean traditional music consisting of military music played by wind and percussion instruments, generally performed while marching or as a static performance.
Pellet drums, or rattle drums, are a class of membranophone, or drum, characterized by their construction and manner of playing. They have two heads, and two pellets, each connected by a cord to the drum. The damaru, which is used in Tibet, Mongolia, and India, is an hourglass drum that is grasped by its waist with the hand twisting back and forth, causing the pellets to strike the heads in a rhythmic fashion.photo In China, Korea, and Japan, pellet drums are affixed to or pierced by a vertical rod or pole, and, depending on the instrument's size, the rod or pole is rotated back and forth along its axis either with one or both hands or between the palms, causing the pellets to strike the heads in a similar manner.
The Korean barrel drum is a shallow, barrel-shaped drum used in several types of Korean music, one of the many traditional Korean drums. This variety of drum has a round wooden body that is covered on both ends with animal skin. They are categorized as hyekbu which are instruments made with leather, and have been used for jeongak and folk music.
Sori Choi (최소리) is a Korean traditional percussionist known for performing traditional Korean musical styles and contemporary art music by modern composers.
Nogo is a set of two drums pierced by a pole and mounted on a frame. It is played during Korean Confucian ancestral rites.
Nodo is a set of two small drums on a pole. To play the nodo, the pole is twisted causing the leather strap attached to the ring of the drum to hit the drum and make a sound. It is used in Korean ritual and court music. The nogo, which is similar to the Nodo, has two larger drums and is used in the same ceremonies.
Pungmul is a Korean folk musical art that has a long history of being used for tradition, community formation, ritual, and expression. Its roots are deeply tied to Korean pre-industrial farming culture. Although pungmul was used in earlier protests, it became widely acknowledged as a method of protest during South Korea's pro-democracy movement in the 1970s. Through the minjung movement that spurred the struggle for democratization and labor rights, pungmul's regular presence at protests signifies a "sonic marker of dissent" and continues to be an active part of contemporary protest culture in South Korea and beyond.
Imsil Pilbong nongak(Hangul : 임실필봉농악) is a type of Korean folk music (pungmul-nori) from Pilbong-ri, Gangjin-myeon, Imsil-gun, North Jeolla province. It was designated as No.11-5 asset of the Important Intangible Cultural Property by the South Korean government. It was added to the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list on November 27, 2014. It passed on the tradition of Honam-jwado nongak and was made famous by Yang Sun-yong
Kim Duk-soo 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.
