Korean traditional music can be divided into two main categories according to modern categorization, one of which is court music, which we covered in the last three posts, and the other is folk music, which was passed down from the common people to professional musicians. Unlike court music, which had a specific role for each song, folk music was used more casually by the public, such as singing while working or playing, so songs with different forms and purposes were passed down. Traditional Korean folk music includes Minyo, songs that have been passed down in people’s lives; Japga and Yipchang, which were performed by professional musicians; Pansori, a dramatic roleplay song performed by one person’s intestines over several hours; and Byeongchang, where a portion of such Pansori is accompanied by the intestines’ own Gayageum; Sanjo, which was a form of instrumental solo music of the time; Dance music for various purposes; Nongak, which was sung to pray for a good harvest; Muak, which was sung by shamans in various rituals; and Beompae, which is a vocal piece sung when ashes are placed in temples.
The term Minyo refers to songs that have been passed down in the lives of people in traditional Korean society, and these songs have themes and roles that are closely related to everyday life, from labor to play. Minyo is categorized into Hyangto folk songs that have been passed down in a certain region for a long time, Tongsok folk songs which are Hyangto folk songs that have left their hometown and spread throughout the country and are sung by professional musicians, and New folk songs that are developed from existing Hyangto folk songs or Tongsok folk songs and created in modern times.
Hyangto folk songs can be further classified into Nodongyo sung during labor, Eusikyo sung during rituals and festivals, and Yuhuiyo sung while playing. Nodongyo are songs that were sung at the time of labor to exert strength or unite to exert great strength, and are classified into Agricultural labor songs, Fishing labor songs, Felling songs, Weaving labor songs, Flour Milling labor songs, and Miscellaneous labor songs.
Agricultural labor songs are songs sung while doing farm work and are divided into field farming songs and paddy farming songs. Since field farming was less laborious than paddy farming, it was mainly done by women, and the field plowing sound sung when plowing the field has been handed down.
Rice paddy farming was centered on men, and was characterized by the plowing sound of the oxen pulling the plow, the paddy picking sound of selecting the best soil for planting rice in the paddy field, the paddy plowing sound of using oxen to harrow the field, and the rice binding sound of plucking the rice from the seedbed and making bundles by hand, rice planting sound made while planting rice straws pulled from the nail, rice managing sound made while tying weeds with a hoe or pulling them out by hand, rice cutting sound made while cutting or tying rice with a sickle in a rice field, rice scooping sound made while hitting the crest of a hawk’s head to drop grains, and Gumbul blowing sound made while blowing the dust mixed with grains by creating wind with a winnow.
Fishing labor songs are songs sung during fishing activities and have the form of chanting and singing back and forth, as there are many tasks in fishing that require coordinated breathing and strength. Fishing labor songs are divided into fishing songs sung when catching fish and Seafood collection songs sung by women, including Haenyeo, women who work for their living with catching fish and shellfish, when catching fish and shellfish in shallow waters. Fishing songs include loading the net and winding the anchor before setting sail, rowing sound as they head out to the fishing grounds, unloading the net sound when they arrive at the fishing grounds, pulling the net sound and unpacking the fish sound to bring the fish to the front of the boat, and homecoming as they return home after the fishing trip. Seafood collection songs include rowing sound when going out to shallow waters, loading seaweed sound when picking seaweed and loading it onto a boat, and oyster digging sound when going to harvest shellfish such as oysters.
Felling songs is a song sung while felling trees or gathering herbs in the mountains, and there are Logging labor song sung while felling trees and Gathering labor song sung while gathering grass, cutting grass, and gathering herbs. Logging labor song is sung when two or more people cut down a tree with a scythe or saw; tree cutting sound is sung when a tree is cut down with an axe and knocked over; tree taking sound is sung when a group of people take down a tree with iron skewers or tie it with ropes and carry it down the mountain; and Mokdo sound is sung when a group of people work together to carry a tree.
The Gathering labor song include the Going to fell sound played in a way to harvest wood, the grass cutting sound played while putting wood or grass into a double header, the mowing sound played while cutting hay for horses or cows in late fall, the herb picking sound played by women in the spring while picking herbs in the mountains or fields, and the pine nut picking sound played while picking pine nuts. Among them, the song Arirang, which was sung in the Chungcheong-do region as a Going to fell sound, is still famous to this day.
Weaving labor song is a song that women used to sing while weaving fabrics such as ramie fabric, silk, and cotton; Cotton picking song and Mulberry picking song are sung while preparing materials for weaving such as cotton and cocoons; Seed picking song is sung while separating seeds from cotton bolls and collecting cotton fibers; spinning wheel song, which is sung during the pulling out fibers; Sam Samneun song which is sung while hanging a hemp bundle on a spinning wheel and pulling out the bundle one by one, connecting the roots and ends of the bundle; the Glue song, which is sung while smearing glue on a brush and fixing it to a loom; and the weaving song, which is sung while hanging threads on a loom and weaving cloth.
The Flour Milling labor songs is sung by women as they grind grain by turning a millstone or pounding a millstone; the millstone song is sung as they mill; and the stamping in mortar song is sung as two or more people grind grain in a mortar and pestle, treadmill grinding when grinding grain by stepping on the treadmill’s footsteps, and stone mill grinding when using horses or oxen to move the mill.
Miscellaneous labor songs are songs sung when doing work other than the above-mentioned labor, and are divided into construction labor songs, Household labor songs, handicraft labor songs, and commercial labor songs. Construction labor songs are songs sung during civil construction, such as Soil floating song sung while floating soil in groups of three or five, Earth compacting song sung by several people while compacting the ground, Bridge laying song sung while laying bridges, and Floor laying song sung while raising the floorboards on the pillars when building a new house.
Household labor songs are songs that women used to sing while doing household chores, and they are divided into Salimyo for household chores and Yangyukyo for raising children. Salimyo include sewing sounds, trimming sounds, and laundry sounds, while Yangyukyo include Calming baby sounds, berceuse, and belly rubbing sounds. Handicraft labor songs are songs sung while making daily necessities or farming tools using hands and tools, such as grass shoveling and earth shoveling while working on castings, Mangan weaving sounds while making hats using horsehair, and sawing sound and laying rope sound while twisting thatched roofs. Commercial labor songs are songs that were mainly sung in business activities to attract customers, and are categorized into Hogekyo that were sung to attract customers, such as selling rice cakes sound or selling fish sound, and Sansulyo that were sung to calculate when buying and selling goods, such as counting meat sound.
If you’ve learned about Nodongyo among the Hyangto folk songs above, let’s take a look at Eusikyo that were sung in rituals. Eusikyo are categorized into Seshi Eusikyo that are sung in rituals performed during major festivals and holidays, Funeral Eusikyo that are sung when a person dies and performs funeral rituals, and Religion Eusikyo that are sung in rituals performed by Buddhists, shamans.
Seshi Eusikyo are songs sung during rituals held on major holidays or major festivals such as New Year’s Day or Chuseok, such as Gosa-sori sung by a farmer’s band that goes around the house at the beginning of the year; ship ritual sound sung when a ship sets sail for the first time or when praying for a good harvest; King of Sea Ritual sound sung by the wives of fishermen who go to sea to pray to the King of sea for the safety of the crew, and Calling oyster sound sung to pray for a good harvest of seafood.
Funeral Eusikyo are songs that are sung during the funeral process of a person’s death and burial, such as the funeral play sound, which is sung by the pallbearers as they go around the village with an empty coffin the night before they leave to practice, the pallbearer sound, which is sung as they carry the coffin to the grave, the Garezil sound, which is sung as they trowel the soil when they arrive at the grave and bury the body, and the grave troweling sound, which is sung as they cover and compact the soil of the grave.
Religion Eusikyo are songs sung during rituals of various religious faiths, such as Dongtojabi sung during the process of solving various superstitious problems caused by improper handling of soil or iron in the house, Ekmagi song sung to prevent entering evil things, Removing dust song sung to remove dusts from the eyes, and expelling sound sung to expel ghosts from the body.
While these Eusikyo were used for ceremonies, there are also Yuhuiyo that were used for play. There are two types of Yuhuiyo: Sesi Yuhuiyo, which were sung during major holidays, and Ilsang Yuhuiyo, which were sung on a daily basis. The Sesi Yuhuiyo are closely related to holiday games, such as swinging sound, Neolttwigi sound, playing Yunnori sound, and tug of war song.
Ilsang Yuhuiyo are categorized into Instrumental Yuhuiyo, which are sung while playing with tools, Dance Yuhuiyo, which are centered on dance or gestures, and Verbal Yuhuiyo, which are performed with private words as the object of playfulness. Instrumental Yuhuiyo include Janggi song, Hwa-tu-song, and Tugjeon-song, while Dance Yuhuiyo include Quejina-ching-ching-nane and Ganggangsulrae-sori, and Verbal Yuhuiyo include Hangeul song, Number song, and Chinese words song, all of which are related to language or numbers. Many of these songs are still passed down to this day.
Many of these types of music are Hyangto folk songs, and since Hyangto folk songs are passed down orally, there are no accurate musical scores or records left, so they are often recorded by the state through surveys of local elders. On the other hand, Tongsok folk songs are songs that were sung by professional musicians all over the country, even beyond their hometowns, and although there are not as many types of Tongsok folk songs as Hyangto folk songs, they are relatively accurate and have many sources.
Tongsok folk songs are categorized according to the region in which they were developed: Gyeonggi folk songs, which were sung in suburban area; Seodo folk songs, which were sung in Hwanghae-do and Pyeongan-do, which are now North Korea; Gangwon folk songs, which were sung in Gangwon-do province; Namdo folk songs, which were sung in southern provinces such as Jeolla-do and Gyeongsang-do; and Jeju folk songs, which were sung on Jeju Island. Among them, Jindo Arirang is a song that is widely known to the public today.
These Hyangto and Tongsok folk songs were newly arranged during the Japanese colonial period with the development of various Western musical forms and instrumental technology, which is known as New folk songs. While the broader term refers to New folk songs that have emerged in modern times, the narrower term refers to new folk songs that had their heyday during the Japanese occupation with Trot. The Trot that developed during this time was mixed with various forms of Western music and developed in various ways, but unfortunately, it did not develop further until the introduction of hip-hop in the late 20th century and the emergence of K-pop groups in Korea. We will discuss trot in more detail later.