• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.39
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• pp.669-700
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• 2019

Farmers' band music is a religious ritual in Korea. It is a solemn ritual to exhibit the auspicious holiness of the people to the God. Most of the ritual is accomplished by music. The music of the farmers 'band, in this sense, has its meaning as the expression of holiness by sound. In this paper, I will explore the principle to make various rhythms of farmers' band music, especially focusing on the chaegut (lit. "stroke music"). It is very symbolic because the name of the music shows the strokes of the gong, called jing, in a rhythmic phrase. In this sense, the chaegut is man-made music based on the specific principles in accordance with the strokes of the gong. Among many chaegut rhythms, samchae (lit. "three strokes") to chilchae (lit. "seven strokes") are the main rhythms. They were made after the principle of 'forward with drums, backward with gongs' in Five way procession. It the basic principle of military procession from the early Joseon Dynasty. The procession follows with the sound of the drums and gongs. There was always a principle of "five strokes" to control the procession. The "five strokes" became the basis of the making of chaegut rhythms. The rhythms of the samchae to chilchae are based on the rhythm of samchae. The samchae has three gong strokes in a cycle, which exhibits the chaotic moment with the rhythmic noise. The name of the rhythm exhibits the correspondence of the signifiant, that is the name "three strokes" and the signifié, that is the real three strokes of gongs in music. Other four rhythms has made up from the samchae with half cycles are added in accordance with the strokes of the gongs. In this way, the chaegut shows the principle of "five strokes" in the military procession. The rhythm of ochae jilgut is a mixture of ochae (lit. "five strokes") and jilgut (lit. "road music") which is usually performed on the road to a mountain shrine. The musical structure of ochae jilgut corresponds to the colotomic structure of Southeast Asian music and the 15th-century music of old musical scores. The rhythm of gilgunak chilchae is a mixture of gilgunak (lit. "road military music") and chilchae (lit. "seven strokes"). The rhythmic structure is similar to other regional music, sijo ("short song") of the literati music and norae garak (lit. "some melody") of the shaman music. In sum, the chaegut is very artistic music made from the military procession of the Joseon Dynasty. The name of the rhythm corresponds with the strokes of the gong in a cycle. In this way, the chaegut shows the principle of music-making to exhibit the ritual characteristics of the Korean people.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.41
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• pp.353-380
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• 2020

Samul nori/Pungmul-gut is the symbol of ethnic identity for the Koreans abroad. It is the representative diaspora musical genre which is performed many cultural events held by Koreans. It is, at the same time, a global music which is appreciated by not only the Koreans but also the foreigners. Many musical communities in various countries exhibit the cultural migration through the discourse of 'tradition/variation' and 'authenticity/hybridity' in the course of the acculturation and enculturation of samul nori/pungmul-gut. The pungmul-pae 'Bichoe June' active in Toronto, Canada was organized by a foreign performer. For the foreigners pungmul-gut is easy to access as a genre of world music. As a percussion ensemble, it is easy to learn for the foreigners. The pungmul-pae 'Bichoe June' is a 'music community' consist of the Koreans and foreigners. The band tries to preserve the traditionality and authenticity of the Korean music. There is no variation or hybridity in its music since the member still learns the authentic music through various available textbooks and internet sites. Through the participation of the Koreans and foreigners, the band stimulates the globalzation of the pungmul-gut. The enculturation of the pungmul-gut is exhibited in two performances held by the band. One was host by the Canadian progressive group and the other was by the Korean conservative community. The former understood the nature of pungmul-gut as the music of the common people. The latter, however, accepted the music as the representative traditional music but was not easy to enjoy the 'noisy' music. In other words, the positive/negative acceptance of the pungmul-gut depends of the ideological nature of the listeners rather than the ethnical nature.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.78-117
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• 2017

Buddhism, which was subject to repression all over the early Joseon Dynasty, received a certain recognition from the state, because Buddhist monks had participated in the war of the Japanese invasion in 1592. On the other hand, however, one of the results was the destruction of many temples. In the late Joseon Dynasty, the Buddhist monks themselves acted as players of Pungmul(people's percussive band music) for the rebuilding of Buddhist temples. These so-called "the Buddhist monks' Pungmul" is the imitation of former clowns' Pungmul and farmers' one that sometimes request money or rice at houses of villages. In the late Joseon Dynasty, the activities of the Buddhist monks' Pungmul were held all over the country. Today, there are "Bitnae Nongak(farmers'percussive band music)" in Kyeongsangbuk-do, "Beokku-noli(the drum play) in the areas of Yeosu and Gangjin in Jeollanam-do, the song of the Buddhist monks' Pungmul for the people's house spirits in the Gyeonggi-do, Gangwon-do and Chungcheong-do, and Namsadang-pae(the nomadic entertaining groups composed of only men), as clear pictures of it. In these things related to Nongak or Nongak relevant affairs, the shapes of the Buddhist monks' Pungmul in the late Joseon Dynasty remain clear. On the other hand, today the Namsadang-pae, which was formed as a result of Buddhist monks' Pungmul in the late Joseon Dynasty, was left only in the Chungcheong-do and Gyeonggi-do, because the temple construction in the Gyeonggi-do was made especially many in the late Joseon Dynasty. During the late Joseon Dynasty, the Buddhist monks' Pungmul, which had long-lived and had taken place throughout the nation, had a great impact on Pungmul. There are the Buddhist elements, such as Gokkal(the Buddhist monk's peaked hat), paper flowers, the color band, the small drum, and Bara(small cymbals) are often found in the Pungmul of Korea. In the late period of the Joseon Dynasty, it is obviously important place in the Pungmul history of Korea. Research and studies on this subject should be made more in the future.