Traditional and folk music
There is a long musical tradition in Korea. It is said that the kingdom of Baekje (18 B.C. to 660 A.D.) transmitted its culture to Japan, and this country has preserved troops that have been using its ancient dances and music since the 7th century! The very formal court music is inherited from the royal music of the Chinese Song dynasty and is divided into three types: 'aak', 'tangak' and 'hyangak'. The latter, which is steeped in haegeum (two-stringed hurdy-gurdy) and janggo (the Korean percussion par excellence) is still widely practiced today. In addition to this court music, there is also jeong-ak, a chamber music for nobles or aristocrats. Slow and sophisticated, it is either instrumental (strings and winds) or vocal music full of poetry and vibrato. Among the typical instruments of the gugak (the name of the Korean traditional music), one crosses very regularly the gayageum. Invented under the Three Kingdoms by Gaya, it is a kind of horizontal harp with twelve plucked strings. This truly divine instrument expresses all the seasons of the soul. It is part of orchestras, but there are also dedicated solo pieces called sanjo. Other typical traditional instruments are the piri, a small, very thin recorder, and another, thicker bamboo flute, the daegum. In folk music (minsokak) or peasant music (nong-ak), the predominance of percussion is remarkable. The samulnori
is the most popular of the folk ensembles, and consists of four types of instruments: the drum, the sand drum, the standing gong and the hand gong. These instruments, linked to the peasant festivals of sowing and harvesting, symbolize the natural elements (thunder, rain, etc.). Shamanic music uses some of these folk instruments, such as the drum and the small brass trumpet with a very high-pitched sound. Buddhist music uses the main percussion instruments (gong, drums, wooden percussion, bell). In the field of song, under Silla there were songs of the land(hyangga), some of which have come down to us. Later, the traditional arirang song developed from Goryeo, declined in several versions and considered a national treasure (moreover registered as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity). Under Joseon, especially from the 17th century onwards, the folk song or min-yo developed. The content, as in thearirang, is generally nostalgic and bitter. The pansori is another popular form that dates back to this period. Often wrongly referred to as "Korean opera", it is a long song (several hours) performed by a woman or a man(myeongchang) with the only accompaniment being a drum(gosu) that gives rhythm to the song and responds to the singer's assertions. The song, sometimes close to speech, tells a story and brings out several characters who all express themselves through the mouth of the singer alone. Gestures(pallim), accompanied by a fan, are also important. The pansori requires years of learning and the singer does not become capable of performing until he is about 40 years old. It is said that singers have to train under a waterfall to be able to cover the sound of their voices. The singing does not come from the throat, but from the belly(tungseong), which gives traditional Korean song its specificity. Today, artists such as pianist Eunhye Jeong breathe new life into pansori by combining it with jazz or experimental music. A surprising universe like Park Jiha's and his bewitching mix of court music, jazz, post-rock and minimalism that offers new perspectives to traditional instruments (especially piri).Where to listen to traditional Korean music?
By far, the best place to see a traditional show in Korea is the National Gugak Center. The place has built its excellence by inviting on stage both students from the National Institute of Classical Music (attached to the center) and "Human Cultural Properties", outstanding artists protected as part of the cultural heritage. The program, different every week, is varied, ranging from formal court music to peasant folk dances and kayageum(horizontal harp) solos. Otherwise, in the heart of Seoul, the large Sejong Cultural Center complex also regularly organizes folk music and dance performances. Two interesting festivals are also worth noting: the Jeonju International Sori Festival, an excellent gathering of traditional and world music taking place every year in October, and the Nangye Yeongdong Traditional Music Festival, commemorating Nangye Park Yeon, which lived during the Joseon Dynasty with a great celebration of Korean traditional music in history.
Popular music
Before the monopoly of K-pop, the popular music par excellence in Korea was the Trot. In the 1910s, while Korea was under Japanese domination,enka - the Japanese variety - became very popular. Gradually, as the Korean music industry developed, trotting sprang up from theenka. Nicknamed the trot because the rhythm of theenka is reminiscent of the American foxtrot, the genre incorporates, after the Second World War, characteristics of traditional Korean music - such as gagok, a singing technique - and becomes more distinctive. During the 1960s, it was the turn of jazz and rock to take to the trot. This was a direct consequence of the American military presence on the territory. The following decade is considered the golden age of the trot. A time when its big stars appeared (often siblings: Jung Sisters, Lee Sister, Kim Sisters) and when the genre constantly absorbed new popular styles (such as pop). From the 1980s and 1990s, trotting declined and incorporated the new codes of the international market, until it gradually mutated, at the beginning of the 2000s, into a new genre: K-pop
K-Pop
Korean Pop
, or K-Pop, is part of the scene in Seoul. Omnipresent as background music in trendy shops, sung in parks on weekends or performed in gigantic concerts that attract impressive crowds, it is adored by young Koreans. Girls and boy bands, neat looking solo artists, rock bands and elaborate choreographies... K-Pop looks like Japanese J-Pop. Formerly reserved only for the South Korean market, K-Pop is now exported. The countries on the periphery have succumbed to the wave and artists are performing further and further away. alone embodies the K-Pop phenomenon. Having become a superstar in Korea, Psy is constantly present in commercials, you can't escape it. Three other emblematic names: Girls Generation, undoubtedly the best known of all Korean girl bands, Bigbang, idem but in a male version, and Hyori Lee (1979), star of the genre and fashion icon. Although K-Pop is omnipresent - from stores to TV - you can be sure to hear it on stage at the Sokcho Korean Music Festival where all Korean music is represented, from traditional sounds to K-Pop.But behind this fluo and apparently harmless universe, shadowy areas appear. This is illustrated by the suicide in 2017 of K-Pop superstar Kim Jong-hyun. At only 27 years of age, this Korean idol, singer of the group SHINee, put an end to his life, leaving the entire music world in shock and millions of fans devastated. The huge star who claimed to be "broken from within" was a cog in the wheel of Korean soft power
around the world. Far from being anecdotal, Jong-hyun's suicide brought to light the violence of the K-Pop system, a ruthless universe where fierce competition, public pressure and harassment are the daily lot of stars who are often very young. Beyond the artistic microcosm, suicide is a real scourge on the peninsula with a record rate compared to other industrialized countries. To find out more, you will find in this guide a specific file entirely dedicated to K-Pop.Classical music
In spite of a tradition of learned music very different from that of the West, South Korea has cultivated a very beautiful scene overflowing with prodigies. The Korean name on everyone's lips is of course Myung-Whun Chung. Honoured with the most prestigious music prizes - including the Kumkuan, the highest award given by the Korean government for his contribution to the country's musical life - he has, through his fame, placed South Korea on the world map of classical music. A distinguished pianist (he was second in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition Prize), he is best known for his work as a conductor. Adored by French music lovers, he was the artistic and musical director of the Paris Opera Orchestra between 1989 and 1994, then of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra between 2000 and 2015. Since then, he has been invited to conduct the world's greatest orchestras: the Berlin Philharmonic, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, La Scala in Milan, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York and the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Boston and Cleveland..
The dance
Intoxicating and refined, traditional Korean dances and folk dances are true national treasures. Korean traditional dances are mainly composed of court dances and are slower and more compressed than folk dances. The slightest gesture or movement is controlled, right down to the expression on the face. Generally practised by women dressed in the traditional hanbok, there are several kinds (nearly fifty), always taught in specialized institutes and performed in theatres and at festivals and celebrations. One will note the Gainjeonmokdan, a magnificent peony dance, the buchaechum
, a fan dance where dancers dressed in court dress mimic flowers opening and butterflies, or the sword dance, evoking military battles against the Japanese... Folk dances are represented in peasant shows (pungmul-nori) and are often lively, athletic and practiced by men. They are accompanied by the instruments of the samulnori and also by a trumpet and are a mixture of dance and music, as in the changguchum, performed by dancers (men or women) carrying sand drums. One of the most spectacular folk dances is the standing samulnori where young men perform acrobatic figures wearing hats decorated with long white ribbons that they twirl in the air (sangmo). There are also masked dances, talchum or talnori. A mixture of dance, music and theatre, they date back to the 17th century and correspond more or less to our medieval mad parties where all social roles were reversed. Buddhist dances are also worth seeing. They have often been influenced by shamanism and evoke, like the seungmu, the monk's access to enlightenment after overcoming the sensual temptations of this world. To attend Buddhist dances, for example, one will go to Bongwonsa in Seoul. There are also dances that are strictly shamanic, such as salpuri or dance of "liberation from evil forces", which serves to purge the shaman of the powers and energies he received from the spirit world at the beginning of the gut(exorcism).All these dances can be admired, for example, at the Seoul Nori Madang, a small open-air amphitheatre that hosts folk dance and music groups every weekend. Of course,the National Gugak Center in Seoul offers some wonderful shows of this kind. Some festivals are worth noting, such as the Dan-O festival in Gangneung where you can see shamanic and masked dances as well as the very popular Cheonanfestival.
