Korean Insight

Traditional Korean Music

Gugak (traditional Korean music) shared a cultural background with China and Japan. But despite some superficial similarities, anyone who has heard gugak can tell it is clearly different from other East Asian music. Korean music has a triple rhythm (three beats per bar), while Chinese and Japanese music have two beats per bar.

Gugak can be divided into two types: jeong-ak (music of the upper classes) and minsogak (folk music). Jeong-ak has a slow, solemn, and complicated melody, while minsogak, such as nong-ak (farmers' music), pansori (epic solo song) and shamanistic music, is fast and vigorous.

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