Folk Music Traditions
Instrumental Music
- Chongak
- means “proper or correct music”
- it consist of both vocal and instrumental pieces.
- Sanjo
- means “scattered melodies”
- instrumental solo
- influenced by two other musical traditions: p’ansori (vocal) and sinawi (shamanist dance music).
- Nongak
- means “farmer’s music”
- developed by peasants of the agricultural society of Korea.
- held in an open area of a village.
- also includes dance, acrobatics, and singing
Vocal Music
- Chongak
- Kagok
- long lyric song
- Kagok singer accompanied by instrumental ensemble
- must include five basic instruments: komun’go, se p’iri (soft oboe), taegum, haegum, and a changgo or janggu.
- Sijo
- short lyric song
- a changgo is the most used accompanied instrument but others can be added.
- Kasa
- narrative song
- relatively long
- lacks structure or singing form, unlike kagok and sijo.
- accompanied by taegum and changgo, but others can be added.
- P’ansori
- performed by two musicians: a vocalist and a puk player.
- the vocalist uses singing, speech, and dramatic actions to tell a story.
- the vocalist also uses a fan to show a change in scenes.
- the puk player or drummer keeps basic rhythmic cycles.
- sometimes the audience can offer encouragement to the vocalist by shouting ch’uimsae (words of encouragement) such as “choch’i!” (“Nice!”) or “kuroch’i!” (“Right on!”)
- Folk song
- does not just include simple work songs of peasants, but also the polished works of professional singers.
