Story of an interesting Korean Traditional music.

According to the experts Korean traditional music includes both the folk and court music styles of the Korean people.According to relevant sources have written that Korean music is based on Buddhist and native shamanistic beliefs. Buddhist and shamanistic dancing, and shamanistic drum music, are extant, as is a melodic, dance music called sinawi.

Traditional Korean music can be divided into at least four types: courtly, aristocratic, scholarly, and religious.Among the Korean folk music Pansori is one of my favourite music so far I have come across.

Although,apart from Pansori they have other music forms do have for example Pungmul and Sanjo.





On the other hand Court Music or the Korean court music preserved to date can be traced to the beginning of the Choson Dynasty in 1392. It is now rare, except for government-sponsored organizations like the The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts.

There are three types of court music, One is called Aak, and is an imported form of Chinese ritual music, and another is a pure Korean form called Hyang-ak; the last is a combination of Chinese and Korean influences, and is called Dang-a

Aak was brought to Korea in 1116 and was very popular for a time before dying out. It was revived in 1430, based on a reconstruction of older melodies. The music is now highly specialized and uses just two different surviving melodies. Aak is played only at certain very rare concerts, such as the Sacrifice to Confucius in Seoul.

Dang-ak
Modern dangak, like aak, is rarely practiced. Only two short pieces are known; they are Springtime in Luoyang and Pacing the Void.

Hyang-ak
By far the most extant form of Korean court music today, hyangak includes a sort of oboe, which is a small bassoon, called a piri and various kinds of stringed instruments.