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.
The traditional culture of Korea is the shared cultural and historical heritage of Korea before the division of Korea in 1945.
Korean court music comprises three main musical genres: aak, an imported form of Chinese ritual music; a pure Korean form called hyangak; and a combination of Chinese and Korean styles called dangak.
Pansori is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer.
Stories and practices that are considered part of Korean folklore go back several thousand years. These tales derive from a variety of origins, including Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and more recently Christianity.
Korean masks have a long tradition with the use in a variety of contexts. Masks of any type are called tal in Korean, but they are also known by many others names such as gamyeon, gwangdae, chorani, talbak and talbagaji. Korean masks come with black cloth attached to the sides of the mask designed to cover the back of the head and also to simulate black hair.
Korean literature is the body of literature produced by Koreans, mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in Classical Chinese. For much of Korea's 1,500 years of literary history, it was written in Hanja. It is commonly divided into classical and modern periods, although this distinction is sometimes unclear. Korea is home to the world's first metal and copper type, the world's earliest known printed document and the world's first featural script.
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.
Yayue was a form of classical music and dance performed at the royal court and temples in ancient China. The basic conventions of yayue were established in the Western Zhou. Together with law and rites, it formed the formal representation of aristocratic political power.
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.
Turkish theatre refers to theater activities in Turkey that emerged as a unique and complex blend of theater traditions in the country and Western influences.
Changgeuk (Korean: 창극) or ch'angguk is a genre of traditional Korean opera, performed as a but in the Korean folk song style known as pansori. In Korean, “chang” means pansori and “geuk” means drama. Changgeuk represents a fusion of pansori and Western theater/drama, drawing upon elements of both traditions to create a unique and dynamic form of musical theater that reflects Korea's cultural heritage while also embracing global influences. It maintains the narrative storytelling aspect of pansori and incorporates Western storytelling techniques. Changgeuk productions typically involve a large cast of performers who take on the roles of different characters in the story. They combine traditional Korean instruments like the buk (drum) and gayageum (zither) with Western instruments such as the violin and piano, and they make use of elaborate sets, costumes, props, and staging techniques to create the world of the story and enhance the storytelling experience.
Mak yong is a traditional form of dance-drama from northern Malaysia, particularly the state of Kelantan. It was banned by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party because of its animist and Hindu-Buddhist roots which pre-date Islam in the Asian region by far. The late Cik Ning was a leading mak yong performer in the 1980s. In 2005, UNESCO declared mak yong theatre a "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity".
Theatre of Vietnam comprises many traditional forms of drama which survive and retain their popularity to varying degrees. It formed during the Đinh dynasty, when the Đại Cồ Việt state was born. Water puppetry is a distinctively Vietnamese art form which arose in the 12th century in which a split-bamboo screen obscures puppeteers, who stand in water manipulating the puppets in front of the screen using long poles. Water puppetry is currently popular with tourists to Vietnam. With the success of the August Revolution in 1945, theatrical art entered a new creative period including a new type of theater based on the music of local folk tunes.
Dance in Indonesia reflects the country's diversity of ethnicities and cultures. There are more than 1,300 ethnic groups in Indonesia. Austronesian roots and Melanesian tribal forms are visible, and influences ranging from neighboring Asian and even western styles through colonization. Each ethnic group has its own dances: there are more than 3,000 original dance forms in Indonesia. The old traditions of dance and drama are being preserved in the numerous dance schools which flourish not only in the courts but also in the modern, government-run or supervised art academies.
Jongmyo jerye (Korean: 종묘제례) or jongmyo daeje (종묘대제) is a traditional rite held for worshipping the deceased Joseon monarchs in Jongmyo Shrine, Seoul, South Korea. It is held every year on the first Sunday of May. The jongmyo rite is usually accompanied with the court music playing (Jerye-ak) and dance called Ilmu or line dance. Jongmyo jerye and jeryeak were designated as the first of South Korea's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001.
The namsadang is a Korean itinerant troupe which consists of male performers who present various performing arts such as acrobatics, singing, dancing and playing like a circus. It is said that namsadang was spontaneously formed before 1900 during the Joseon period and used to wander about marketplaces and villages. The troupe was considered the lowest class in society along with cheonmin or baekjeong (butchers), so that very few historical documents remain on them. However, since a record that a puppet show was performed during the Silla period has been found, it is assumed that similar types of itinerant companies appeared in Korean history a long time ago.
Talchum (Korean: 탈춤) is a Korean dance performed while wearing a mask, and often involves singing and dancing.
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.
Hahoetal (Korean: 하회탈) are traditional Korean masks worn in the Hahoe byeolsingut talnori ceremonies that date back to the 12th century. They represent the stock characters needed to perform the roles in the ritual dance dramas included in the ceremony. The masks originated in the Hahoe Folk Village and Byeongsan Village, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. They are counted among the treasures of South Korea, and the oldest Hahoe mask is on display in the National Museum of Korea. The Hahoetal masks are considered to be among of the most beautiful and well known images representing Korean culture. The South Korean government named the masks "National Treasure #121" and the dance of the Pyolshin-gut Ta'l nori as "important intangible cultural asset #69." The Hahoe Mask Dance Drama Preservation Society performs the dance drama weekly at the Hahoe folk village for tourists, while Andong City hosts an international mask dance festival every October.
