Hak Yeonhwadae Hapseol mu refers to a comprehensive dance of the Crane Dance(Hak mu) and the Lotus Flower Dance(Yeonhwadae mu). These dances were performed following the rite of driving away evil spirits from the Royal Court during the early Joseon Period.

The Crane Dance was performed to bless and praise the King in a rite held at the Royal Court from the Goryeo Period. It is the only dance in the country in which the performer is disguised as a bird.

The Lotus Flower Dance is based on a story about two girls born as pistils of a lotus flower repaying the King’s virtuosity with a dance and asong. Two performers disguised as cranes start the performance with a dance. A little later, they peck the two lotus flower buds. Two girls appear from the lotus flowers and the cranes run away, frightened.

The Crane Dance is accompanied by music like seryeongsan, samhyeon dodeuri, and taryeong, and the Lotus Flower Dance by a piece of Royal Court music. These dances portray communication between animals and humans. They display high artistic quality and traditional values both in content and style.

Gasa, which is part of the country’s traditional vocal music, refers to a long narrative in verse. Based on relevant records, it is presumed that this form of verse started to be written after the reign of King Yeongjo (r. 1724-1776).

A total of 12 pieces have been handed down and survive today. They are Baekgusa(The Song of the Seagull), Jukjisa(The Song of the Bamboo Branch, Hwanggyesa(The Song of the Yellow Cock), Eobusa(The Song of the Fisherman), Chunmyeongok(Spring Indolence), Sangsa Byeolgok(Longing for the Departed One), Gilgunak(The Street Military Music), Gwonjuga(The Drinking Song), Suyangsanga(The Song of Mt. Suyang), Cheosaga(The Song of the Hermit), Yangyangga(The Song of Yangyang Town), and Maehwa Taryeong(The Song of the Plum Blossom).

It is not known who composed these songs or wrote their lyrics, but it is thought that the tradition of Gasa was established toward the end of the Korean Empire (1897 – 1910). The narratives of Gasa are very long and are not regularly styled, and so it is not clear how singers are supposed to arrange their diverse features and sounds. Melodies differ slightly from narrative to narrative. Modulations and repetitions appear characteristically.

As for their rhythm, Baekgusa and Jukjisa have dodeuri rhythm (sextuple time). Sangsa Byeolgok, Cheosaga, and Yangyangga have quintuple time. Gwonjuga has no fixed rhythm.

Basically, Gasa is sung without instrumental accompaniment, but sometimes it is sung to the accompaniment of piri (flute), haegeum (two-stringed fiddle), daegeum (bamboo flute) or janggo (hourglass-shaped drums).

As a free-style song, Gasa is good at expressing people’s sentiment or natural beauty. It is a song sung by professionals, and is the country’s indigenous music featuring peacefulness and locality.

Pansori refers to a single singer weaving a long story by mixing a spear (sound), horse (aniri), and gesture (nareum) to the rhythm of a master.

Park Nok-ju Body Pansori Heungbo of Chung Soon-im, the holder of the obvious entertainment record, is joined by Song Man-gap - Kim Jung-moon - Park Nok-ju - Park Song-hee (Park Jung-ja) - Jeong Soon-im, and was born as the eldest daughter of (Go) Jang Soon-ae (Jangwoljungseon), the 19th intangible cultural asset, and inherited her artistic talent from her mother.

Around the age of 10, Shimcheongga, Chunhyangga, etc. were already learned, and Heungbo, Sugungga, and Yeonsa continued to learn. Jung Soon-im is known as a master singer of pansori in name and reality by winning the Presidential Prize for the Pansori Department of the Namdo arts Festival in 1985 and the KBS Korean Music Awards in 1997.

Pansori, a combination of a singer (a singer, a clown), a master, and an audience. When the singer sings a spear, the master beats the drum and adds chimes. The audience also gets excited by singing together. The singer does not adjust to the rhythm, but talks (or does not) as usual, and sometimes uses a fan to act according to the rhythm or editorial content. The outstanding broadness grips the audience.

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Although Buddhist dance is called heavy dance because it is a dance performed in Seungbok, it does not refer to a dance performed by a Buddhist monk, and it is one of the most representative folk dances of Korea. The origin of the song is said to have been developed in the 1910s from the perspective of Buddhist culture and history, from the perspective of Buddhism and Kim Man-jung's novels, and among mask plays, there are theories that it is a dance produced by the anguish of old dance and Pagye-seung, but it is not clear which one is certain.

The monk wears white jangsam and red lyrics, and dances according to changes in the rhythm such as Yeombul, Dodri, Taryeong, Gutgeori, and Jajinmori, with a white jade-like cone and an exceptionally prominent birseonko. The movement of somersaults or flying arm movements is very unusual, and the accompaniment is used as a flute, daegeum, haegeum, janggu, and drum.

Buddhist dance is a very good dance that combines the delicate expression of sweet, adult, and loose rhythm with the subtlety of the dance.

After the death of the late entertainment owner Shim Hwa-young (1913-2009), his granddaughter, Lee Ae-ri, has been inheriting the vein of stewardship.

Pansori Gobeop(way of playing buk) was born after the mid-Joseon Dynasty when Pansori was settled, and the Gosu (the buk player) accompanies Pansori with Buk.

It is rare to see famous gobeop master in the Joseon Dynasty. In addition, the development of gobeop was minimal as it was regarded as a means of Pansori classes. In the late Joseon Dynasty, pansori developed with a wide variety of characteristics, but it was not until the end of the 19th century that professional gobeop masters came out.

There are many theories of pansori technique, but they can be largely divided into posture theory, accompaniment theory, and acting theory. Recognized as a holder of pansori high-tech entertainment, Kim Jae-geun is a successor to the late Kim Myung-hwan, and Kim Myung-hwan's theory of pansori has several characteristics.

The first is to sit down and put the buk a little ahead of the singer's left side, usually with his right foot under his left knee and the buk before him, but Kim Myung-hwan plays next to his left knee. Second, it is considered to be not beautiful to open the drumstick wide or raise it above the head with hands. Thirdly, the playing of the buk is usually 4~6 points depending on the gosu, whereas Kim Myeonghwan is 3 points in the middle of the buk and the right corner of the drum and the front right of the drum.

Kim Jae-geun, who received the gobeop from Kim Myung-hwan, is striving to foster younger generations with his teacher's old style and his own style.

Pansori refers to a singer who intertwines a long story by mixing sing (sori), narrative (aniri), and a gesture (neoreumsae) to the rhythm of a drummer.

Pansori was famous for eight pansori singers from around King Sunjo (1800-1834), including Gwon Sam-deuk, Song Heung-rok, Mo Heung-gap, Yeom Gye-dal, Go Su-gwan, and Shin Man-yeop. They developed their rhythms and tunes as they are today. They were divided into regions such as Dongpyeonje (Northeast of Jeolla Province), Seopyeonje (South Jeolla Province), and Junggoje (Gyeonggi and Chungcheongdo Province).

At the time of Pansori, the length of one madang(piece) was not that long, so the number of Pansori was twelve madangs. Currently, only Chunhyangga, Simcheongga, Sugungga, Heungboga, and Jeokbyeokga are handed down as the five madang or five batangs of Pansori.

Sugungga is one of the five madangs of Pansori, which is also called Tobyeolga, Rabbit Taryeong, and Byeoljubutaryeong. When the Dragon King became ill, he lured the rabbit to the palace to get the rabbit's liver for medicine. However, it is a pansori that tells the story of a rabbit coming back to life by tricking the Dragon King.

Pansori is one of the arts of the common people, and it is a Changak that reflects the lives of ordinary people in detail. Pansori is an art of singing interestingly, mixing gestures and singing a long story that takes up to three hours to eight hours to complete with the buk(drum) accompaniment of a master singer in a yard or concert hall. It is also a musical drama in the form of a collection, and an epic drama that shows the story as a play. In 'Pan', pansori is the form of a comprehensive art in which stories, songs and acts are performed together.

On January 15, 2004, Lee Ok-cheon was recognized as the owner of Heungbo, and on January 3, 2013, Jeong Eui-jin was recognized as the owner of the Sugungga.

※ For detailed information on the above cultural assets, please refer to the Seoul Metropolitan Government Department of Historical and Cultural Heritage (202-2133-2616).

Jinju Geommu is a sword dance performed by women and handed down in Jinju. Also called Geomgimu or Kalchum, it was one of the dances performed during a party held at the Royal Palace.

There are two theories about its origin, i.e., one about the Silla people who started dancing in memory of a boy who sacrificed his life for the country and the other about gisaeng (female entertainer) of Jinju engaging in dancing to console the spirit of Nongae, a gisaeng who jumped into the river clasping a Japanese officer during a party held at a pavilion on a riverside cliff during the Japanese invasion in the late 16th Century.

Jinju Geommu is played by a group of eight dancers in warrior’s uniform to the rhythms of dodeuri, slow taryeong (Korean folk song), and fast taryeong. Two rows of four people on each side dance facing each other, holding a sword and a piece of rainbow-striped cloth in their hands. Dancers’ movements include turning around with bent knees, sitting on the floor, bending forward and then backward, and stretching out the arms with the sword placed on the floor.

The dance is accompanied by the playing of piri (flute), jeo (bamboo flute), haegeum (two-stringed fiddle), janggo (hourglass-shaped drum), and buk (drum).

Jinju Geommu as we see today is one that was handed down among gisaeng who belonged to the local government of Jinju. The old ones were presumed to have served previously at the Royal Palace but returned home and taught the dance to the locals.

Jinju Geommu have artistic value as one that maintains the prototype of the sword dance performed at the Royal Palace in terms of style of performance, movements, and way the swords are handled.

☆ Koreans have always held the four most precious ceremonies for ceremonial occasions. In particular, the procedures for regularity are similar nationwide, but they have changed slightly depending on the region.

The coastal areas of Incheon are not only adjacent to Gyeonggi Province and Hwanghae Province, but also depend on fishing for their means of living, so funeral songs are also influenced by the folk songs and sea songs of Gyeonggi Province and Hwanghae Province.