Korea has produced music for thousands of years, into the modern day. After the division of Korea in 1945, both North and South Korea have produced their own styles of music.
The music of South Korea has evolved over the course of the decades since the end of the Korean War, and has its roots in the music of the Korean people, who have inhabited the Korean peninsula for over a millennium. Contemporary South Korean music can be divided into three different main categories: Traditional Korean folk music, popular music, or K-pop, and Western-influenced non-popular music.
Gosu (Korean: 고수) is a Korean term used to refer to a highly skilled person. In computer gaming the term is usually used to refer to a person who dominated games like StarCraft, Counter-Strike, Tekken, Warcraft III, Diablo II, DotA, League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, Overwatch 2, Apex Legends and others. The term was adopted by gaming communities in many countries because of a large South Korean presence in online gaming communities.
Pansori is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer.
Chunhyang is a 2000 South Korean period romantic drama film directed by Im Kwon-taek, with a screenplay by Kang Hye-yeon and Kim Myung-gon. Distributed by CJ Entertainment, the film was released on January 29, 2000 in South Korea. Lee Hyo-jeong plays Chunhyang and Cho Seung-woo plays Mongryong.
Sanjo (Korean: 산조), 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.
Simcheongga (Korean: 심청가) is one of the five surviving stories of the Korean pansori storytelling tradition. The other stories are Chunhyangga, Heungbuga, Jeokbyeokga, and Sugungga. The characteristic of this story is that it deals with the difficult lives of ordinary people in the late Joseon Dynasty, and it contains the heroism and values of life that ordinary people wanted at that time. In the end, it is a fantasy genre in which the socially disadvantaged overcome hardships and have a dramatic happy ending.
Chunhyangga (Korean: 춘향가) is a pansori folktale from Korea. Being a pansori, Chunhyangga is a narrative art form, and is traditionally performed by two people: a singer and drummer. There is also a story based on the Chunhyangga pansori called Chunhyangjeon.
Heungbuga (Korean: 흥부가) is one of the five surviving stories of the Korean pansori storytelling tradition. It is also called Baktaryeong (박타령) or Hungboga (흥보가). The other stories are Simcheongga, Chunhyangga, Jeokbyeokga and Sugungga. It is about the story of Heungbu, a poor but good man with many children. Heungbuga depicts common people's lives with a folksy atmosphere. Many listeners prefer Heungbuga because of its focus on humor. This humor in pansori is called jaedam sori, which means funny sound in Korean.
Jeokbyeokga is one of the five surviving stories of the Korean pansori storytelling tradition. The other stories are Simcheongga, Heungbuga, Chunhyangga and Sugungga. It is also known as Hwaryongdo. This story is a retelling of the Chinese historical legend of the Battle of Red Cliffs. Jeokbyeokga is a heroic story. Therefore, the expressions are grand, sublime, and strong. Accordingly, female singers rarely sing it. Jeokbyeokga has many scenes depicting conflict between the king, feudal lords and a commander, so the singer must have the capability of making grand vocalizations. A singer with an intense voice is aptly suited for Jeokbyeokga. Jeokbyeokga is considered to be the most difficult pansori, even though it is short.
Sugungga is one of the five surviving stories of the Korean pansori storytelling tradition. The other stories are Simcheongga, Heungbuga, Jeokbyeokga, and Chunhyangga.
Seopyeonje is a 1993 South Korean musical drama film directed by Im Kwon-taek, based on the eponymous novel by Yi Chong-jun. It is the first South Korean film to draw over one million audiences and has had significant influence in reviving popular interest in traditional Korean culture and pansori.
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.
Changgeuk (Korean: 창극) or ch'angguk is a genre of traditional Korean opera, performed as a play but in the Korean folk song style known as pansori. Shamanic songs are the ultimate origin of Pansori as well. There are many similarities between Pansori and Shamanic songs of western Korea. Pansori began as a recognized form of entertainment in Korea dating back to the 17th century, however, it wasn’t popular until towards the 19th century. In the 20th century, it declined in popularity, just like Talchum, during the occupation of the Japanese while Korea fought for its independence.
In Korean, gosu refers to a highly skilled person.
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.
Chuimsae (Korean: 추임새) is a form of exclamation during Korean traditional music. The gosu drummer and the audience make exclamations such as Eolsigu! or Jalhanda!, which mean Yippee! and Good! in Korean. The word chuimsae originates in the word dance in Korean. The chuimsae connects musician and audience and creates a cheerful atmosphere.
Shin Jae-hyo was a theoretician and adapter of pansori in the late Joseon Dynasty. While not a famous singer of pansori, he contributed much to its development. He organized and recorded the six stories of pansori: Chunhyangga, Simcheongga, Jeokbyeokga, Heungbuga, Sugungga, and Byunggang Saega. Before this, they had only been transmitted orally. He also systematized a theory of pansori.
Pansori-based fiction is a genre of novels that are related to pansori or fiction with strong characteristics of pansori.
Leenalchi (Korean: 이날치) is a South Korean pansori pop band formed in 2019.
