Content uploaded by Pál Koudela
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Pál Koudela on Sep 13, 2016
Content may be subject to copyright.
OTHER EXOTIC TOPOI AND TOUCHES
REF/JEF, 1–2, p. 87–106, Bucureşti, 2016
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS IN KUT,
THE KOREAN SHAMANIC RITUAL
PÁL KOUDELA, JINIL YOO
ABSTRACT
In a kut (the Korean shamanic ritual), music represents the most important part, and
functions indifferent ways. It helps the mudang (the Korean shaman) to reach a trance
state and triggers clients to different moods, but its role as entertainment is constantly
increasing within the last decades. Music of kut represents a complex world: musicians
in the mudang family, institution of musical education, advocacy and organization. In
this essay we are going to set next to each other those elements of this musical world
from ritual to amusement which can characterize it as a whole, but it also includes
regional differences of instruments, rhythms and melodies. In kut mostly percussion
and wind instruments play the most consistent role, but string instruments can be found
too. There are musicians, called aksas, who create ensembles especially for a kut, but a
hereditary mudang herself is a musician, having the ability to play many instruments,
sings and conducts the accompanying orchestra. A shaman is a professional musician,
who represents a feature that is particular to Korean shamanism.
Keywords: Shamanic music, Mudang, Sanjo, Kut.
1. INTRODUCTION
Korean Shamanism has a special role in folk music. The hereditary mudang
(one of the two basic kinds of shamans in Korea) families have been long
committed to music and created a traditional musician-priest proficiency since its
origin, in the era of The Three Kingdoms. Thus only the Korean mudang is a
professional musician among shamans around the world. In addition shamanic
rituals have a prominent role in contemporary South Korean society, as its
importance grows within the increasingly modern circumstances. As getting more
involved in modern life, the musical features have changed and the whole structure
of ritual musical traditions have transformed.1 The Kut, the shamanic ritual, is
1 Park, Mikyung 2011: 231–261.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 2
88
especially permeated with music as being maybe the most important part of the
ritual. For these reasons, relationships between form of musical expression and
shamanism as folklore are very important, but despite the long past of development
in these relations, features of shamanic music are not homogenous in the peninsula.
Characteristics in performance, rhythm, scales and tempos can be divided into five
separate regions. According to the long development of such cultural phenomena,
regional differences evolved through the century-old history of the whole peninsula,
but due to the strong ban on any religious activity in the North, shamanism
decreased there, and shamans fled to the South. As a consequence, very few
fieldwork were carried out both in the north-western region and in the western part
of the east coast region in the last decades, thus regional characteristics for the
mentioned parts of the peninsula come from the collections of shamanic rituals,
performed by northern refugee shamans in the southern regions. In the following
we are going to connect ethnological and musicological approaches in an overview
of the features of Korean shamanic music.
Mudang is the name of Korean shamans, among whom we can find two
basically different types of religious agents: on the one hand, there are the shamans
born into families traditionally dedicated to religion, and whom are called
sesŭmmu. They have received musical education since their childhood, learn to
play different instruments, sing and in most cases other, non-religious professional
musicians, called aksas, take part in the kut. However, a sesŭmmu can individually
manage a full performance. On the other hand, there are mudangs, who have
become spiritually involved into shamanism. They go through a selection process,
contesting their abilities, and they are called kangshinmu. They mostly lack
musical skills and knowledge which would make them be able to independently
perform a kut.
A mudang is mostly female and shamanism in Korea is an ancient religion
that appeared far before the arrival of Buddhism. Though there are a kind of
syncretism in the progress or adaptation of shamanism to changing environment
during the long centuries since the Three Kingdoms Period. The originally
dominated male shamans have not disappeared and some Buddhist elements have
been integrated into it, thus in the southern area of Korea those male mudangs,
called beopsa2 featuring spirits with Buddhist origins, often chant long incantations
to scare evil spirits away. These incantations, called gyeong, usually contain
Buddhist scripts, are called dokgyeong and are accompanied by the wooden gong
used by Buddhist monks. As a result of the melting intention of different traditions,
these incantations are sung sometimes in a similar tone to the Confucian rituals'
chants. The original meaning of gyeong is scripture, due to the Buddhist sutras or
the Confucian classics, but lost its original philosophical context, and became tools
for exorcism by their attributed magic power. Syncretism is also fed from Taoism
2 Originally blind male shamans, called pansu, sung these incantations.
3 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
89
during the Silla period, inasmuch scripts derived from there too.3 Other types of
mudangslike male shamans in Korea are rare.
Akutimplies a wide range of different spiritual performances. Its core idea is
basically the same as every shamanic ritual: to connect participants with deities in
their residential place, notably the sky. The process enforces to maintain a good
relationship between humans and gods,4 but this is important to mention that a kut
is a human oriented ceremony. Its major purpose is to achieve happiness and
evaluate the values of harmony embedded in a tripartite view of the world.5
A kut has many apparent characteristics, like color symbolism. Dark colors
are usually avoided, for instance, and bright colors are used instead; each color
represents a spirit. Food and drink also play an important role in Korean shamanic
rituals, representing feasts for participants. Life sacrifices were present in the past,
but gradually disappeared own to the influence of Buddhism. The most important
part of a kut, nevertheless, is music. Music creates its liveliest element, music is the
base of dance: making alive spiritual relationship between earthly and eternal
spheres.
2. MUSICAL TOOL IN A KUT
2.1. Instruments
Music has different basic roles in performing a kut: it helps mudangs to reach
ecstatic state or trance, but also creates different moods for participants, and a kut
becomes a cathartic session as each part of it has its adequate musical enforcement.
From this viewpoint differences in music appear in its core performer
characteristics and serve different functions, thus it can be divided roughly into the
following types. The first type is instrumental music, which is performed by the
mudang and professional musicians (aksas). The second type is vocal music,
basically called muga, which is a broader functional group, compiled from long
epic songs or myths recited in monotonous tunes. The subtypes: taryeong, the
hilarious songs, the ritual chanting of evocation, and the gyeong, are the only ones
which show Buddhist influence among chanting sutras.
From this functional aspect, instrumental music in a kut – accompanying
dance –, dialogues and all vocal music related to Korean shamanism is fundamentally
different from those in Japanese rituals. In ancient Japanese shamanism
instrumental music served the calling of the spirits of the dead,6 but in a kut it
functions as an instrument of aiding the mudang into ecstasy and supports other
3 Kim Hogarth 2009: 80.
4 Eliade 1964.
5 Kim Hogarth 2009: 54–55.
6 Sasamori 1993: 83–93.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 4
90
participants to reach different moods. For this reason, and counter to the slow and
quiet Confucian official music, loud percussion dominates in a kut: the janggu, a
double-sided, sand glass shaped drum and the jegeum, a brass cymbal – in the area
of Seoul – are the most typical among other instruments. All sesŭmmus can play
these instruments, thus a kut can be conducted in any circumstances.7 In other areas
percussions like barrel drums, called the buk, small drums, called the sogo, and
various gongs are also present. The latter instruments are dominant especially in
agrarian communities and are represented in community kuts. The effect of folk
music and the rural community kut is clearly found in the faster and fiercer style of
playing the drums during provincial kut performances compared to the smoother
style of Seoul kuts, which are rather influenced by the more refined court music.8
Picture 1. Young shaman student is studying to play the Buk. She decided to be a kangshinmu
four months earlier, after her body was possessed by a spirit (sinnaerim) in the high school.
But there are very different functions of every kind of instrument, which
contributesto akut. Kim Hogarth writes about a rare instrument, called jeongju,
usually practiced on the southern island of Jindo. This is a tiny brass bowl-shaped
percussion with an attached string, which is beaten with a deer-horn stick. This
instrument is renowned as the one mostly used for the kut of Buddha and of the
Harvest Spirit. The bowl-like part of the instrument represents the rice harvest and
the deer symbolizes the flight up to heaven, which proved to be a kind of
7 Lee, Yong-Shik 2004.
8 Kim, Hey-jung 2014.
5 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
91
syncretism of Siberian shamanism, Korean worship of Heaven and Buddhism.9
From another perspective the role of frenzying percussion instruments is the only
tool for a mudang to achieve trance supplanting drugs or hallucinogens used in
other societies' rituals.10 In addition, loud music or the loud noise induced by
instruments is commonly believed to keep away malignant spirits both in
shamanism as a religion andin East-Asian cultures in general.11
Nevertheless, percussive sound is also for the clients – or any participants,
because in larger kuts many non-participants watch the performance from the
outside without invitation – loud music benefits tobuild-up the needed suspense.
The audience usually believes that crashing sounds invoke – and later expel –
spirits, but we cannot exclude the effect how an excessive noise makes almost
impossible for participants to think of anything else but the sounds and movements
of the present moment, opening doors to transform the ritual and the sanctuary into
a happening space. Inviting spirits in general usually leads to undesired
consequences: the arrival of malignant ghosts, thus the mudang has to purify the
ritual place periodically. The sesŭmmuor her employed musicians used to play a
specific rhythm for this purpose. The fast 4/4 rhythm, called sajapuri – central to
all exorcistic moments in East Coast shaman rituals – consists ‘long, long, short,
short, long’ note durations respectively. The rhythm, played vigorously with strong
accents on the first two beats, is considered an effective tool to oust the ghosts.12
Along with percussions, various woodwind instruments play a role in a kut;
at least three different types of pipes are present. The small sized piri has eight
holes on its bamboo body, and considered the most popular wind instrument in a
kut. It contributes to make music louder with its sharp sound. This pipe is built up
of three or four parts: the construction contributes to a wide scale of sonority and
versatility. Seven of the eight holes are on the front side and one is on the back
used by the thumb. Hyangpiri, Se piri, Dang piri, and Daepiriare the four basic
types according to the style of the music, but this ispossibleto construct different
piri instruments by combining and splicing different parts, among their two most
important sections: the double reed and the stopped-cylindrical pipe.13 The danso, a
vertical flute with five holes is also popular in kuts. This instrument produces clear
and tranquil sounds. Its end-blown bamboo body is notched and today sometimes
made of plastic instead of the traditional bamboo. It has four finger holes on its
front side and one thumb hole at the back, and the playing range extends to two
octaves, going from low G to high G.14 The daegeum is the third major type of
9 Kim Hogarth 2009: 72–73.
10 Diószegi 1998: 46–47.
11 Pettid 2009: 1–13. and Mills 2010: 145–170.
12 Mills 2012: 149–151.
13 Nam et.al. 2014: 65–69.
14 Im 1984.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 6
92
pipes used during a kut. The transverse flute is played sideways and has two large
and six smaller holes; this is the most refined instrument of the mentioned three
and because of its complexity maybe less popular than a piri, but even more usual
than a danso. Its humming membrane has a special ringing overtone. This is worth
to mention that most of bamboo instruments, just like a daegeum, are used not only
in a kut, but as spiritual tools for healing in many other different contexts too.15
There is a much less frequent fourth wind instrument, the taepyeongso, used
forkut rituals. This isa double reed wind instrument of Chinese originin the shawm
family with a playful vivid sound. Its conic body is made of lemon-tree or yellow
mulberry wood, but its mouth-piece and bell is made of metal. This instrument is,
however, not an everyday piece in a kut, but mostly occurs during simultaneously
held kuts and even then often switches to the more preferred piri. However, playing
in a big orchestra, apiri player sometimes replaces its usual instrument with a
taepyeongso to achieve louder and more piercing sound, which helps the other
musicians to follow him.16 Thus these loud instruments are played only during
large-scale rituals, because mudangs often consider it as supporting festivals rather
than rituals. Neither is a Taepyeong so included in the sinawi17 chamber ensemble,
it is traditionally accompanied by the mudang during a kut. This orchestra mostly
consists of two flutes, a haegeum, a daegeum, a janggu and a large buk drum,18 and
a taepyeongso appears only in the southwestern Jeolla region.19
Stringed instruments are less frequent in a kut, but at least two types can be
mentioned. The more common in use is a haegeum, a small fiddle with only two
strings, accompanied mostly with apiri and a daegeum. It has a lugubrious, heart-
rending sound and constructed of a thin, wand looking neck and a hollow sound-
box, both made of wood, while the two strings are made of silk. Among these core
materials many others are used for building a haegeum like gold, rock, bamboo,
pumpkin, soil and leather. The instrument is played with a bow, sitting in half lotus
on the floor as the others, but keeping it vertically on the knee.20 The other, called
the ajaeng is a large, zither-like instrument with eight silk strings, laying on the
knees and played by a thin forsythia stick instead of, but in the manner of a bow
and also pizzicato. This instrument of Chinese origin has a deep and rough sound,
but very rare in akut, only used for background music for the parts of the ritual
featuring ancestors. This music is full of pathos and often brings tears to the eyes.21
15 Kim, Young Mi 2014: 207–213.
16 Seo, Maria 2002: 130.
17 Sinawi means the basic genre of a kut and the most typical orchestra composition at the
same time.
18 Lee, Yong-Shik 2004: 60–62.
19 Pratt 1987: 47.
20 Lee, Hae-Sik 2005.
21 Kim Hogarth 2009: 74.
7 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
93
Picture 2. Se piri, Hyangpiri, Dang piri (from top to bottom).
2.2. Vocal Performance in a Kut
As each mentioned instrument can be found in folk music, so canfolk music
genres be overlapped byshamanic music. In addition, despite the relevance of the
different instruments used in a kut, the most important is the mudang's voice, thus
the most important musical genre in a kut is a muga, the shaman’s song. Muga is a
generic term for different vocal music appearing in a kut and in a functional way it
can be divided into four basic types. Reciting is the most important in a kut,
especially in the southern area as long as creation myths and epic poems about
history, roles and even evocation of the spirits are performed by that. The Mudang
sings sometimes more than three hours in a monotonous tune, accompanied herself
only by the drums. Long bibliographical songs function also as evocation of spirits,
mostly by sesŭmmu in the south, who lack spiritual force. Around Seoul, where
kangshinmus are widespread, long epic songs are less frequent. The only one worth
to mention is themalmi-geori mourning ritual – the 13th of the 16 early shaman
rituals –, the Ballad of Bari Gongju22 , the Abandoned Princess in jinogi kut,
performed in mortuary. The mudang is reciting the story for an hour,
accompanying herself with a brass bell in her left and a jangguinher right hand.23
Ritual chanting is very similar to reciting, as long as some parts of kuts like the
purification ritual Cho bujeong or the invitation ritual Gamanggeori have parts
sung monotonously accompanied by drums. Nevertheless, they are more useful to
separate into independent categories, because there are no pre-arranged notes and
the mudang is varying tunes, tempo and words whilereciting.
22 Bari Gongju or Paritegi was the first female shaman according to the Korean Mythology,
thus she became the patron of all shamans.
23Seo, Dae-seok 1999: 92–95.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 8
94
Both tunes and verses are variable in epic poems and myths, and mudangs
often add or omit parts to lengthen or shorten the ritual. In the southern regions of
Korea these songs evolved to an independent folk opera genre, called pansori.
Inspite of the high spiritual importance of vocalization, singing melodic songs in a
kut serves only as entertainment. The interesting contradiction is that in
kangshinmu'skut the mudang's singing is the “spirits' entertaining” for the audience,
while participating men and women never sing for entertaining. In case of blessing
songs – the other main cause for singing – they sing to find way to the spirits' heart,
and that gives a chance for singers to enjoy themselves and singing. Eventually
taryeong, the melodic shaman ballad becomes entertainment for both participants
and creates harmony. Taryeong has derived from traditional folk songs and is
strophic in structure and organized into verses and refrains.
3. FORMS OF EXPRESSIONS
3.1. Muga
A Mudang is an entertainer. Although akut is primarily a spiritual ritual,
mainly for offerings to spirits to ask their support or a shelter, since clients’ need
for entertainment has always been very high, mudangs have become entertainers
too. Muga, the collective name for sacred songs in kut, is weakly standardized and
full of improvisations. Also lyrics and librettos are written only as an effort to
collect them since the beginning of the 20th century. But neither could it alter the
intentional elements to entertain and mediate between spirits and people, nor could
script overwrite music even today. This is appreciable in a phenomenon of rhythm,
and beat affects the rhyme and meter of the verse. Improvisation and its features do
not derive directly from written muga.24
Nevertheless, muga is more than a collection of some structural and formal
rules: hence muga unifies Korean people's view of gods, cosmos, spirits,
philosophy and existence, this supplements holy scripts in Korean shamanism.25
For this reason, the matching of structural form of verses and music is
exceptionally important. The majority of lines of verses are divided into two parts,
and each of them can be divided into 6 syllables,26 while two lines create a couplet.
The style of performances doesn't vary much in different kuts, and melodies are not
distinguished according to the content. The rhythmic cycle follows the typical
Korean folksong structure, hence a slow, soft initial phase is followed by an
increase in tempo and volume, and based on the consecutive four-syllable rhythm
of the verses. For this recitative reason, stories lack omission of episodes, and the
content is comprised of the same story repeated regularly. This phenomenon is
24 Ware 1991: 143.
25 Kim, Taegon 2006: 89.
26 Park, Mikyung 1996: 88.
9 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
95
linked mostly to religiosity and sacredness,27 but also has a structural function to
maintain the connection between the rhythm of the text and music. Muga is built
up of three main parts: introduction, narration and prayer, and this structure
overlaps the three-stage structure and expresses the kut itself compressed.
The ch'ŏngbomuga clearly expresses these connections between musical
structure and spiritual function of a kut through verbalization. This 13 minutes
length invitational song of the donghaean28 sesŭmmu is a kind of overture during a
kut. The main melody, sung by the mudang, has a five-part texture and includes
also a counter-melody of the janggu player accompanied by three percussion lines:
ajanggu, small gongs, a kengari and a para and the third line of a large gong, called
jing. Each part of the four-section structure of this muga have 10 beatsrhythmic
cycle, and all sections are performed antiphonally between singing and percussive
playing. While the singing part has a strophic form, on every 6thbeat of each
10-beat cyclesthe jing comes in and each part follows a decreasing length
consequently.29
3.2. Genres Used in a Kut
While muga stands alone for expressing vocal domination of the kut, this is
even very difficult to separate professional and amateur or religious and profane in
Korean folk music. From an ethnomusicological perspective these categories are
not distinct, inasmuch mudangs are musicians themselves and sesŭmmus also often
have musician husbands employed in their shrines. As all instruments used in a kut
derived from agrarian communities and from folk music, so the genres of sacral
music originate from this broader musical context and have overlaps between them.
Probably the most popular of those folk music genres used in shamanic rituals is
sanjo. The genre appeared first in its contemporary form in the 1880s, invented by
the aristocrat Kim Changjo from Yeongam County, South Jeolla, and has become
popular since the 1920s. Today the genre is part of the Important Intangible
Cultural Properties 16, 23 and 45, for geomungosanjo, gayageumsanjo, proclaimed
between 1960-69, and daegeumsanjo, proclaimed after 1970.30 Despite sanjo's
literally meaning is scattered melodies and Korean musicologists considered its
original meaning loosely organized melodies, it is characterized by extended and
careful organization.31
Although it varies according to musicians and situations, basic characteristics
are the very slow tempo of jinyangjo rhythm at the beginning, continuously
repeating an 18/8 rhythmic cycle. The originally tuning and adjustment section, the
27 Kim, Joonki 1994: 117–138.
28 Donghae is a city in Gangwon Province, South Korea.
29 Park, Mikyung 2009: 35–68.
30 Howard 2006: 49–80.
31 Howard 2007: 128.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 10
96
non-metrical daseureum is the foremost and then the speeding up and crescendo
lasts to the end. This constant accelerando triggers enthusiasm in the audience and
is common in Korean folk music.32 Enhancement consists of different complicated
meters and rhythmic cycles following each other. They are the moderato jungmori
of 12/4 beats, the allegro jungjungmori of 12/8 beats and the presto jajinmori of
12/8 beats. Other rhythmic cycles can substitute the middle part like gutgeori of
6/8+6/8 beats, hwimori of 12/8 beats and eonmori of 5/8+5/8 beats. The finale is
usually the repeating of hwimori but in a 4/4 pattern and its tempo is prestissimo.
An instrumental solo is always accompanied with janggu, while the drummer
regularly makes exclamations, called chuimsae in order to please the audience. The
original leading instrument was a 12-stringed plucked long zither, called
gayageum, but today almost every folk instrument is played in this genre like the
geomungo, the 6-stringed plucked zyther, the daegeum, the haegeum, the piri, the
taepyeongso, the ajaeng and the danso. Numerous school scan be separated
according to the style of the leading musician. The variations of tempo, meter and
tune express the contrast between tension and relaxation. Since it has no fixed
content or title, and its length varies between forty and sixty minutes, it is
considered absolute music. 33 Students studying sanjo often learn from more
masters and can expand their knowledge and adjust what they have learnt.
As it is explained above about its origin, regional folk music characterizes
contemporary sanjo not only in the southern areas, but even in North Korea.
Especially those slow rhythm overtures like jinyangjo and gyemyeonjo in a
restricted way, but melodic ornamentation has also derived from Jeolla music. For
example, the famed shaman ritual musician and founder of daegumsanjo, Park
Jonggi, who established many different schools with the passage of time, was born
in Jindo, southwest Jeolla. These sanjos incorporate many similar tunes inspite of
the differences in their forms. While Park-created tunes predominated contemporary
sanjo, during the following decades standardization and the verticality and rigidity
in various schools occurred and improvisation decreased in the broader sense of
folk music genre of sanjo.34
The genre, derived from Jeolla folk music's sounds and musical structures, is
dominated by gyemyeonjo mode, related to pansori.However, Howard considers
two other modes to be characteristic: the grand and magnanimousujo with the
pentatonic scale of a-c-d-e-g and the more everyday pyeongjo with the pentatonic
scale of g-a-c-d-f.35 The gyemyeonjo is typically a song in the slow six-beat 18/8
jinyangjo rhythmic cycle within the major musical genre of the kut and thesinawi.
In its tonal supply of five pitches (g, a, c, d, e,) g is the dominant and c is the tonic
32 So 2002: 37.
33 Heungsub 2007: 93.
34 Park, Hwan Yeong 2010: 65–114.
35 Howard, 2006, 133.
11 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
97
and sounds pretty similar to a minor scale.36 The central tone is played boncheong,
which means vibrato, but a lower trembling tone has primacy, which functions as
dominant. There is also a third, breaking tone, which makes fall in pitch leading
back to the central tone. The upper tone is like an appoggiatura and can be pitched
from one semitone to a minor third higher; the breaking tone has two components,
a short grace note one half step below, and struck at the same time almost exactly
like a high acciaccatura and a low resolving tone and a fast glissando is usually
used to linkthem.37 The melancholic gyemyeonjo has little ornamentation, but can
be characterized by in-betweenness, while often preceding modulation.
Sinawi is the basic musical genre of a kut, but the ensemble, playing in a kut
is also named like this. This genre is originated from the southern regions and is
used to accompany shamanic dances and recitals, but also fills intermezzos, while
the mudang rests or prepares altars for offerings. The widespread sinawi is built up
of different and variable melodic motifs and cells in adequate rhythmic cycles, thus
gives space to variations, counter-melodies and improvisation. Its content is
differentiated by regions,38 but always set in a pentatonic modal frame. Rhythmic
cycles like the medium- and rapid-paced salp’uri of 6/8+6/8 beats,dosalpuri of 6/4
beats and Deongdeo-gungi of 12/8beats are present in sinawi played in a kut. The
more the variations of motives are the better the music is considered by clients,
thus musicians' creativity is highly involved and needed. Only strict rhythmic
cycles and their modal configuration curbs impromptu, but during a kut each
musician have their own set of melodies they can vary, and the ensemble seeks to
sound more like one entity then to a composition of different individuals.
Musicians usually agree on the sequence of jangdan, the rhythmic cycle, before the
performance.
In sinawi each instrument plays the individual variation of the same melodic
line imitating each other simultaneously, emphasized by the different sonority of
each instrument. The relation between the singer and the instruments, playing
melodic lines tends to be heterophonic, linear and aharmonic.39 While sinawi is a
complex performance for shamanic orchestral music, other genres are part of the
whole performance. Salp'uri, for instance, is an exorcism song and dance at the
climax of the kut, performed by the mudang. The salp'uri is based on a special
rhythmic cycle kutkŏri of 12/8 beats.40 During the performance tempo accelerates to
a faster rhythm shinmyŏng and goes back to the original kutkŏri at the end.
Salp'urihas developed independently from sinawi and has become a profane
performance today, but also remained preserved in kut.41 Kutkŏri is a rhythmic cycle
36 Hahn 1990: 189.
37 Daeung 2003
38 Lee, Yong-Shik 2006.
39 Malm 1996: 213.
40 Kim, Unmi 2012.
41 Kim, Malborg 2005).
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 12
98
of the changdan rhythmic pattern family characterizing the whole Korean folk music
dictating meter, internal stress and accent organization. Certainly even in kutkŏri
there are regional differences: in the area of Seoul the widespread 12/8 beats are
substituted by the two distinct 6/8 halves, beginning with a solid downbeat and with
an accented strike halfway in the following. This functions as an upbeat pattern and
as a code for musicians establishing an extemporization model.42
Picture 3. Sinawi performance in the Swan Concert Hall, Andong Culture and Art Center,
November 08, 2011.
4. THE MUDANG AS A MUSICIAN AND THE AKSA
The mudang is always a competent musician, since the kut would be unfeasible
without it. They play numerous instruments, sing very well and have great abilities
for improvisation, according to the sudden situations – participants' wishes, for
instance – during a kut. While sesŭmmu is born into a shaman family, she only
becomes a mudang when she gets married. They learn practice from their mother
and after the wedding from their mother-in-law. Today a kutis becoming more and
more popular especially in big cities like Seoul and mudangs receive high income,
which makes a kut very attractive for professional musicians to become an aksa.43
While a sesŭmmu herself is a musician, a kangshinmu must employ an aksa to help
her reaching a trance state. Percussion instruments function mostly like in akut,
playing repeated pulses or simple rhythms loudly and for long periods. The
42 Howard 1993: 601–642.
43 Kim Hogarth 2009: 74.
13 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
99
mudang repeats schematic movements: spinning around or bouncing up and down
meanwhile, but also makes gestures for or shouts out instructions for the musicians
to fasten or slow the tempo for instance.44
Mudangs not only perform rituals, dramas, invoke spirits or heal clients, but
also lead them through varied programs in a thorough manner. For instance,
mudangs sing popular songs too during the rituals to entertain the clients or a larger
audience. These complex happenings can keep for hours to days and music helps to
establish structure. It signals the beginnings and ends of sections, and attributes
successive sections with different moods. Most exquisite musicians are in
ensembles employed by a sesŭmmu, bearing an excellent knowledge of contrasting
rhythms generally including gutgeori, jajinmori, hwimori and some profane
backing rhythms, used to accompany karaoke-like episodes. We mentioned earlier
that mudangs are healers and their contribution's popularity is increasing in
contemporary Korean society. Actually the whole kut has a kind of healing
function – among direct asks, wishes and helps – by reducing anger and sorrow
with psychotherapeutic techniques. This effort is highly enhanced by music, while
the mudang encourages people to geton their feet, dance and sing their favorite
songs.45 This might seem as something retrograde and obsolete due to the modern
scientific knowledge of psychiatry, but this latter as a practice is new in Korean
society, where we find the highest rate of suicide among the developed countries.
As long as those 3005 psychiatrists and 75,000 psychiatric beds46 do not function
properly, such demand for shamanism and shamanic music remains lively.47
We mentioned by descripting the multiple importance of the muga that
relations between text and music goes beyond the necessary connectedness of
contents. Visuality has a similar role in Korean folk music performances in general,
contemporary kugak (a general name for such performances) should follow through
acoustically on the visual framing.48 Visual aspects of these performances give
socio-cultural frames to musical content, structure these meanings, thus music
performances receive embodied activity.49A mudang has even more responsibility
to improve this combined effect in a kut, since her main scope is to display the
meeting of two different socio-cultural dimensions: the worldly and afterlife
reality. Mudangs' musical proficiency helps to generate feelings of divine presence,
and social enthusiasm brings the dead, living creatures, and gods together.
When a son is born into a shaman family, he is acquainted the music in his
“mother’s womb”. He lastly becomes a musician, who accompanies his wife’s
ritual. A mudang, despite being a multiple artist and having a musician husband,
employs professional musicians, aksas; as the number of musicians is not fixed,
44 Walraven 2009: 75–76.
45 Mills 2012: 44.
46 Park, JI, KY Oh and YC. Chung 2013: 186–190.
47 Lee, Ho Young 2004: 13–19.
48 Finchum-Sung 2012: 396–425.
49 Leppert 1993: 22.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 14
100
their presence is sometimes only additional. This is a production oriented
cooperation50 and aksas have the responsibility for some post-production, like
burning the paper decoration, too. Since the whole kut functions in a multiple way,
this is not surprising that it is often followed by pansori performances played by the
same aksa musicians. Pansori is a musical genre with narratives, called aniri
accompanied with mimic gestures and performed by a vocalist, called sorikkun. As
long as aksa is the family member or even a husband in the mudang’s household,
his responsibility extends to support musical education of new generations among
his children. They also apply a formal social organization of musicians in Korea in
terms of shamanism contributing their advocacy. Aksas' duty is to maintain
musical, but also shamanic tradition: music, functioning as a social support, tends
to strengthen self-esteem too.51
5. REGIONS
It was mentioned many times above that shamanic music can be elaborated by
regional differences characterizing them in many ways. The broader areas of different
musical features, like their idioms and the accompanying instruments, are the
Northwestern shamanic music, the Midwestern shamanic music, the Southwestern
shamanic music, the Eastern shamanic music and the Jejushamanic music. The first
two are performed mostly by akangshinmu, while the rest by a sesŭmmu.52
The Northwestern shamanic musicfeatures janggu, jing, and jegeum and
functions mainly to support a kangshinmu to reach trance state,whilethe role of
percussions is central. For larger performances musicians play blow instruments
like a piri, and less frequently the louder taepyeongsois used. The songs of this area
can be characterized by an anhemitonic pentatonic scale of sol-la-do’-re’-mi’,
which scale can be found usually in the broader folk genres too. Their tempo is
various, but always come with the 12/8 beat rhythm. The oldest Korean rhythmic
structure of the asymmetrical rhythm of ten beats in the sequence 2+3+2+3 is
preserved here in spiritual songs.53
In the Midwestern region aksas are more frequently employed and melodic
instruments like a piri, a daegeum and a haegeum are also used more often. This
ensemble of the mentioned instruments accompanied by a janggu and a jing
originates in the 18th century, when it was largely influenced by court music. For this
reason it is named even today after its original, but today not valid composition: the
samhyeonyukgak, which means literally three strings and six winds. Scale, rhythm
and tempo in songs are similar to the songs of the Northwestern region, but rhythm
sometimes vary from the complex combination of five to eight beats.54
50 Atkinson 1989: 14.
51 Yi 2011: 179-207.
52 Yun 2010: 99-125.
53 Lee, Yong-Shik 2007: 165.
54 Idem: 166.
15 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
101
Picture 4. Regions of shamanic music, Korean Peninsula. Musical regions follow the traditional
provinces of the peninsula here; although sources from North Korea are rare, the development
of shamanism and its music has centuries old roots in the history of Korea, much earlier than the
mid-20th century. The importance of the modern era division is signed with a black line according
to its less importance in this field.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 16
102
In the Southwestern area much more musicians are employed during akut,
and the diversity of instruments is higher as a consequence: the ajaeng and the
gayageum can be found only here for instance. Sinawi and sanjo, evolved from it,
arose and spread into other regions from here, but shamans of this area became
masters of pansori too. The determinative scale in shamanic music here is
anhemitonic pentatonic of mi-sol-la-si-do’-re’. While the lowest tone is
normallysung by a wide vibrato, a breaking tone from do’ to si makes the songs of
this place unique, but rhythm and tempo are still the same as in the previously
mentioned two regions.55 In Jeollado and South Gyeongsando a uniquely different
melodic line can be found in shamanic songs, while used independently, in
contrary to the typical melodic line called Yukchabaegi tori. Narrative songs are
also recited in a specific local dialect giving an altering character to them, but the
most important difference in the south is that these narrative songs can be sung free
of any rhythmical pattern, especially the jangdan, and without instrumental
accompaniment. 56 These narrative songs are free of constraints and inserted
elements, and last only for 30-50 minutes.
In the eastern part of the peninsula ensembles of kuts are composed only of
percussions: two kengaris, a janggu, a jing, and a jegeum are present. The
characteristic scale is anhemitonicpentatonic of mi-sol-la-do’-re’, but rhythms are
different from the other areas and show much more complexity. The ushering song
– for example – begins with five recurring 15/8 beat sequences and are followed by
another five 5/8 beat rhythm groups in the second movement. A 12/8 beat rhythm
appears in the third and fourth movements indifferent tempos, and the last
movement speed up to a presto 4/4 beat rhythm. The mudang is singing during the
first half of the song stanza and rests in the second half passing place to
musicians.57
The typical rhythmical patterns of this area, called jengbo, preserve the
ancient musical features. The usual form of daemadidaejangdan begins with two
beats of allimbak, that are played instead of a more adequate chae (typically used
for closing), since this rhythm follows thepuneori musical style. The structure of
jengbo consists of five chapters: while the first has four 40/8 beats sequences,
dokkaekki, the second has three of 40/8 beats. The third chapter goes with two
40/8bars, the fourth contains only one 40/8 bar again, and the fifth is of two 12/8
and three 8/8 beats. In the first chapter, during the 19th and 20
thbeats of the
yangjung (the husband, and the aksa) are in music and in the 39th and 40th beats the
mudangis in narration, the yangjung plays beats of equal time value with the next
following rhythm, which is an overlap. Gradual acceleration and dramatic
transition between the chapters are typical characteristics in this region. From the
first to the fourth chapter of jengbo a single beat of each chapter decreases by one
55 Lee, Yong-Shik 2007: 167.
56 Park, Jeonggyeong 2013: 81–109.
57 Lee, Yong-Shik 2007: 167–168.
17 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
103
beat: 4/8 for the first chapter, 3/8 for the second, 2/8 for the third, and 1/8 for the
fourth. In the last chapter, gutgeori-chae and deongdeokgungi with 3/8 and
dongsalpuli-chae with 2/8 are used, but rhythm shows different forms of variations
as well as particular playing styles and improvisation.58
Melodic lines are also unique in this area: musical styles, Menari tori and
Gyeongsangdo represent different songs to the other areas. A mudangskips the
most important middle tone sol while descending la-sol-mi, but inserts a talk
(functioning like a stop) to the narrative song, for instance, characterizing her
performance rather like a pansori59 Due to the inserted ritual elements the narrative
songs take 2-3 hours in this area. Mudangs frequently use different ornaments to
avoid monotonous music with long melodies at one phoneme or vibrato. The
Yukchabegi Tori has its own musical characteristics, for example, vibrato at mi,
dropping speedily do to si are not so rarein north Jeolla. Around Seoul and in
Gyeonggi provincesol would not be usedin Yukchabegi Tori, but played in Gyeong
Tori, the musical style, which is more typical around and also often appears in the
shamanic music of north Jeolla.60
On the biggest island of Korea, the southern Jeju, music differs from those in
the peninsula according to its history as having been partly an independent
kingdom for a long time. Accompanying percussions are janggu, buk, daeyeong,
and seolsoe giving 6/8 beat rhythms in diverse tempos to the anhemitonic
pentatonic of sol-la-do’-re’-mi’ scale songs. This is also specific in the island that
musicians are junior shamans instead of aksas, thusmusic is usually simpler than
that in the peninsula.61
6. SOME FINAL NOTES
As we have seen, many aspects of shamanic music or music of a kut can be
integrated to create a complex view of the themeas it functions in many different
ways to religion and entertainment. Music – both vocal and instrumental – gives
structure to rituals and performances, support themudang to reach trance state and
helps every participant to express their feelings, but functions also as a healing
provider for clients in a kut. But music is also a tradition, its institution in
shamanism is the mudang itself and the whole family too, giving new generations
and preserving musical heritage, functioning as an ensemble and for advocacy. The
two different mudangs have variant roles in the usage of music and musicians as an
institution in a kut, and, according to its previously supposed different origins,62
their relationship might be distinct. Howsoever, along with the increasing role of
58 Hong 2012.
59 Park, Jeonggyeong 2013.
60 Park, Jeonggyeong 2007: 133–176.
61 Lee, Yong-Shik 2007: 168–169.
62 Choe 1984. and Yim 1970: 73–90. 161–217.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 18
104
shamanism in contemporary society (despite it was also considered declining in the
past, according to its female centeredness)63 of Korea, the role and respect of a
mudangand an aksaas a musicianare also increasing. The musical genres of a kut
have grown out of their original frames and new contemporary music genres has
already evolved and are evolving even today from this base. Especially the
southern regions like Joella and the area of Seoul, which have so many variations
of rhythms and melodies and use more instruments than the other regions, are
hotbeds of further development, even recent popular music has roots in shamanic
music.64 Tradition lives on in many different ways of music and this relation
between modern and traditional gives us a more complex way to think of Korean
music and society today.
REFERENCES
Atkinson, Jane Monnig 1989: The Art and Politics of Wana Shamanship, Berkeley, University of
California Press.
Choe, KilSeong 1984a: Male and Female in Korean Folk Belief, in “Asian Folklore Studies” 43:
227–233.
Choe, KilSeong 1984b: Kankoku no shamanism [Korean shamanism], Tokyo, Kobundo.
Daeung, Baek 2003: Hankuk jeontongughmak bunseogron [A Theoretic Analysis of Traditional
Korean Music], Seoul, Eoulim.
Diószegi, Vilmos 1998: Samanizmus, Budapest, Terebess Kiadó.
Eliade, Mircea 1964: Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, London, Arkana.
Hahn, Manyoung 1990: Kugak: Studies in Korean Traditional Music, Seoul, Tamgu Dang.
Heungsub, Han 2007: Traditional Korean Music: Its Genres and Aesthetics,“Korea Journal” Vol. 47
No.3, 76–103.
Hong, Sung-Hyun 2012: Donghaean musokughmak yeongu- Byeolshingutgoa Ogugutjung
Cheonbojangdanughl Jungshimughro [A Study on Shaman Rhythm of Eastern Coast Region
in Korea Focusing on Cheongbo Rhythm of Byeolshin-gut and Ogu-gut], a master's thesis:
Chungang University Graduate School.
Howard, Keith 1993: Sacred and Profane: Searching for the "Shamanistic" Kukkori and Kindred
Rhythmic Cycles, in “Journal of the Society for Korean Historico-Musicology” Vol. 11 No. 1.
601–642.
Howard, Keith 2006: Preserving Korean Music: Intangible Cultural Properties as Icons of Identity,
Farnham, Ashgate.
Howard, Keith 2007: Professional Music: Instrumental, in Music of Korea, ed. Byong Won Lee and
Yong-Shik Lee, Seoul, National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, 127–143.
Im, YoonSoo 1984: Yeon Jeong Dan So Bo [Yeon Jeong Flute Music], Seoul, Daerim Publishing.
Kim Hogarth, Hyun-Key 2009: Gut, The Korean Shamanistic Ritual, Seoul, Jimoondang Publishing
Company.
Kim, Hey-jung 2014: Nongak: Community Band Music, Dance, and Rituals in the Republic of Korea,
Seoul, Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation.
Kim, Joonki 1994: Seosamugaui hyeongtaejeok teukseong [A study on the formality of shamanic
epic], in “Hankukminsokhakbo” [The Journal of Korean Folklore], 3: 117–138.
Kim, Malborg 2005: Korean Dance, Seoul, Ewha Woman University Press.
63 Choe 1984: 230.
64 Howard 2006: 122–123.
19 Music and Musicians in Kut, the Korean Shamanic Ritual
105
Kim, Taegon 2006: Hankukughi musok [Korean Shamanism], Seoul, Daewonsa.
Kim, Unmi 2012: Features of Korean Traditional Dance: Han and Shin Myŏng in the Salp’uri
Dance, SOAS AKS Working Papers in Korean Studies, No. 27., London, University of
London.
Kim, Young Mi 2014: Interactive Performance Art Using Musical Instrument Daegeum for Healing,
“Entertainment Computing – ICEC” Vol. 8770. 207–213.
Lee, Hae-Sik 2015: Haegeum ughluihan Haegung bunseok [A Study on Haegung for Haegeum], a
master's thesis: Seoul National University Graduate School.
Lee, Ho Young 2004: Past, Present and Future of Korean Psychiatry, in “Psychiatry Investigation”
1/1: 13–19.
Lee, Yong-Shik 2004: Shaman Ritual Music in Korea, Seoul, Jimoondang International.
Lee, Yong-Shik 2006: Minseok, munwhoa, gughrigo ughmak [Folk, Culture, and Music], Seoul,
Jimoondang.
Lee, Yong-Shik 2007: Religious Music: Shamanism, in Music of Korea, ed. Byong Won Lee and
Yong-Shik Lee, Seoul, National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, 159–171.
Leppert, Richard 1993: The Sight of Sound: Music, Representation, and the History of the Body,
Berkeley, University of California Press.
Malm, William P. 1996: Music Cultures of the Pacific, the Near East, and Asia, Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey, Prentice-Hall.
Mills, Simon 2010: Playful patterns of freedom: Hand gong performance in Korean shaman ritual, in
Musiké 4 – Analysing East Asian music: Patterns of rhythm and melody, ed. Simon Mills,
Hague, Semar, 145–170.
Mills, Simon 2012a: Music in Korean Shaman Ritual, in Rediscovering Traditional Korean
Performing Arts, ed. Haekyung Um and Hyunjoo Lee, Seoul, Korea Arts Management
Service, 39–46.
Mills, Simon 2012b: Sounds to soothe the soul: music and bereavement in a traditional Korean death
ritual, in Mortality: Special Issue on Music and Death, ed. Simon Mills, London, Routledge,
145–157.
Nam, Sangbong, Sun-jin Lee, Gangseong Lee, and Donoung Lee 2014: Study on the Timbre of the
Piri Focusing on Yoseong Sound, in “Advanced Science and Technology Letters” 67: 65–69.
Park, Hwan Yeong 2010: Daegeum Sanjough bieoncheongoajeong yeongu: Park jong-gioa Han ju-
hwanugh Sanjorl tonghan Sanjough hyeondaejeok hwaliong [A Study on the Process of
Change of Daegeum Sanjo - the modern utilization of sanjo through Park jong-gi and Han ju-
hwan Daegeum Sanjo], in “Hankukhakyeongu” [Korean Studies] 34: 65–114.
Park, Jeonggyeong 2007: Jeonbuk seosamugaugh ughmakjeok tughgjing [Musical characteristics of
shaman narrative song in north Jeolla province], in “Hankukmuseokhak” [Korean Shamanic
Studies]15: 133–176.
Park, Jeonggyeong 2013: Doseohaeanjiyeok seosamugaugh ughmakjeok tughgjing [The Research
about Musical Characteristics of Narrative Shaman Songs Performed in East and South
Coastal Area], in “Hankukmuseokhak” 26: 81–109.
Park, JI, KY Oh and YC. Chung 2013: Psychiatry in Korea, in “Asian Journal of Psychiatry” 6/2:
186–190.
Park, Mikyung 1996: Hankukughi musokgoa ughmak [Korean Musok and Music], Seoul, Sejong.
Park, Mikyung 2009: Tonghaean sesughbmuughi Ch’ŏngbo Muga yeonhengeseo dughreonanughn
ughmakjeok tughgjinggoa gugh ughmibunseok [An Analytical Study of Tonghaean Hereditary
Shamans’ Performance of Ch’ŏngboMuga], in “Hankukmuseokhak” [Korean Shamanic
Studies] 19: 35–68.
Park, Mikyung 2011: Sahwaejeok teonhengjeok beonhwaro natanan gutughmakugh jeongeyangsang
[New Unfolding Phase of Shamanistic Ritual Music Style in Korea], in “Hankukmuseokhak”
[Korean Shamanic Studies] 12: 231–261.
Pál Koudela, JinilYoo 20
106
Pettid, Michael J. 2009: Shamans, Ghosts and Hobgoblins amidst Korean Folk Customs, SOAS-AKS
Working Papers in Korean Studies No. 6.
Pratt, Keith 1987: Korean Music: Its History and Its Performance, London, Faber Music.
Sasamori, Takefusa 1993: Musical Efficacy in the Ritual Practice of Blind Female Shaman (itako),in
“Northern Japan' Bulletin of the Faculty of Education, Hirosaki University” 70: 83–93.
Seo, Dae-seok 1999: The Legend of Princess Paritegi, in “Koreana”, 13/2 (1999. Summer): 92–95.
Seo, Maria 2002: Hanyang Gut: Korean Shaman Ritual Music from Seoul, New York, Routledge.
So, Inhwa 2002: Theoretical Perspectives on Korean Traditional Music: An Introduction Korean
Music Resources Series V., Seoul, National Center for Korean Traditional Performance Arts,
Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Vanessa Finchum-Sung, Hilary: 2012: Visual Excess: The Visuality of Traditional Music
Performance in South Korea, in “Ethnomusicology” 56/3: 396–425.
Walraven,Boudewijn 2009: National pantheon, regional deities, personal spirits? Mushindo, sŏngsu,
and the nature of Korean shamanism, in “Asian Ethnology”68/1 (2009): 55–80.
Ware, James 1991: The Use of Muga in Korean Shaman Kuts, A Case Study for the Application of
Performative Language Theory in Cross Culture Hermeneutics, in “Intercultural
Communication Studies” 1/2: 137–147.
Yi, Yong-Bhum 2011: Hankuk musokgutugh ughmak damdangja: yooheonggoa yeokhwalgoajo
jikughl jungsimughro [The Types, Roles, and Organizations of Ritual Musicians in Korean
Shamanism Rituals], in “Suncheonhyangnonchong” 30: 179-207.
Yim, Suk-Jay 1970: Han-guk musok yeon-gu seoseol [Introduction to Korean Musok] in
“Aseayeoseongyeon-gu” [Journal of Asian Women], Seoul, 9: 73–90, 161–217.
Yun, Donghwan 2010: Gutughi hyeongsik jeonwhangoa muakugh byeonwha [Gut's Type Conversion
and Shaman Music Changes], in “Hankukmuseokhak” [Korean Shamanic Studies] 20: 99-125.
