Nongak, community band music, dance and rituals in the Republic of Korea marks_1
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  • Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright
    Manage No EE00000171
    Country Republic of Korea
    ICH Domain Performing Arts Social practices, rituals, festive events
    Address Nongak originated from communal rites and rustic entertainments that promoted harmony as people gathered to pray for peace and prosperity. It has evolved into a representative performing art genre of Korea, widely performed and enjoyed by all Koreans. Geographically, it is distributed throughout the Republic of Korea. There are distinctive regional styles of nongak, generally divided among five cultural centers: Gyeonggi/Chungcheong provinces, Gangwon Province, North/South Gyeongsang provinces, and North/South Jeolla provinces subdivided into East/West Honam regions. Within each area, differences exist from one village to another in band composition, performing style, rhythm, and costumes. Most bands carry the name of their home region or village, a strong communal tie ensuring the folk art’s safeguarding and transmission. Nongak has expanded out of the countryside to enrich Korea’s modern-day performing arts. Outside the Korean Peninsula, the Korean diasporas in China, the United States, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have developed the most distinctive styles.
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Description [Inscribed in 2014 (9.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity] Nongak is a fusion performing art genre that combines a percussion ensemble (with occasional use of wind instruments), parading, dancing, drama, and acrobatic feats. It has been practiced for various purposes, such as appeasing gods, chasing evil spirits and seeking blessings, praying for a rich harvest in spring, celebrating the harvest at autumn festivals, fund-raising for community projects, and professional entertainment. Any joyful community event was never complete without uproarious music and dance performed by the local band clad in colorful costumes. The resultant ecstatic excitement (sinmyeong) is often defined as a preeminent emotional characteristic of Korean people. The music frequently uses uneven beats of complex structures like simple three-time, compound time, and simple and compound time. Small hand-held gongs and hourglass drums, with their metal and leather sounds, play the main beats, while large gongs and barrel drums create simple rhythmic accents. The small hand-held drum players focus more on dancing than playing music. Dancing includes individual skill demonstrations, choreographic formations, and streamer dances. Actors wearing masks and peculiar outfits perform funny skits. Acrobatics include dish spinning and miming antics by child dancers carried on the shoulders of adult performers. Nongak was most often performed and enjoyed by grassroots people, but there were also professional groups putting on entertainment shows. In recent years, professional repertoires have evolved into the percussion quartet “Samul Nori” and the non-verbal theatrical show “Nanta,” dramatically emphasizing the music element and thereby appealing to broader audiences at home and from abroad.
Social and cultural significance Koreans have consistently experienced nongak in their everyday lives as it has been frequently performed at communal events to boost the mood and promote unity and harmony among people. To this day, this immensely popular folk art keeps playing a vital role at festivals and other gatherings of people. This is why nongak is widely considered a representative cultural heritage shared by all Koreans. Nongak in pre-modern times helped enhance solidarity and cooperation in the community and establish a sense of shared identity among community members; it maintains this time-tested function in today’s Korean society despite the changing lifestyles and ways of thinking amid urbanization and industrialization. Nongak is highly valued for its diverse roles ― as a fascinating native folk art, an exciting form of entertainment, an indispensable part of community festivals and public events, and indisputably the most widely appreciated grassroots cultural offering in local regions. Koreans are often described as emotionally exuberant and passionate; they can be easily immersed in sinmyeong, or ecstatic excitement. Such emotional inclination has much to do with their propensity to indulge in singing, dancing and playing. Nongak, characterized by the exhilarating beats of percussion instruments and piercing notes of trumpets, encourages everyone to sing and dance along. Thus it aptly marks the finale of festivals, inviting performers and spectators to mingle together for joyful merrymaking and communication. Thus individuals attain a strong sense of belonging and identity. This is an immutable quality of nongak, which has enabled its transmission through the ages.
Transmission method Nongak is transmitted very naturally and spontaneously; it has become the popular performing art that it is today, having been passed down as part of the everyday lives of the Korean people. Most Koreans naturally become familiar with it as they repeatedly watch and participate in its performances in villages and cities. Public education at the elementary level provides lessons on playing some instruments for its music, so every Korean can learn the basic content and play an instrument. Thus at schools of all levels, from elementary to college, students can learn the music and participate in group performances through after-school or club activities as well as regular education programs. Adults also can enjoy playing the music by joining clubs at their workplaces and communities. Cultural centers of local governments in different regions and individual performers and societies for safeguarding of nongak designated by the central and local governments provide regular education programs to disseminate nongak as a medium for cultural empathy and communication among community members, and pass it down to future generations. These education programs are offered once or twice a week. Enthusiastic participants include both professionals and ordinary people. Public institutions such as the National Gugak Center as well as professional performing groups play important roles in the education and transmission of nongak. The National Gugak Center has a top-class band which offers highly-refined performances; the center’s local branches in various parts of the country contribute to promoting and transmitting the local versions in their respective regions.
Community Nongak is transmitted by various types of community groups scattered throughout Korea. These groups at the forefront of its transmission display and preserve their respective regional characteristics in diverse activities to popularize their genre. Village bands embrace this role in farming and fishing communities. In the cities, voluntary groups at business companies, schools, municipal districts and neighborhood communities are engaged in teaching, performing, popularizing, and transmitting nongak. These enthusiastic voluntary efforts in the private sector have built a solid base for its safeguarding and transmission. Schools play an important role in teaching and transmitting nongak. Most elementary school students have an opportunity to learn a few basic instruments used in its music, and many schools from elementary to college levels have voluntary student clubs devoted to nongak. These early experiences help to reignite their interest later in adulthood. Active efforts are also in place at different government levels. In particular, the central and local governments give recognition to outstanding performers and performing groups by awarding state, municipal or provincial titles as bearers of intangible cultural heritage (“living cultural treasures”) as mandated by the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. They are thus endowed with special responsibility to pass down nongak to future generations. Professional performing groups supported by the National Gugak Center (Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts) and other state and public institutions as well as private organizations also contribute to the transmission of nongak.
Type of UNESCO List Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Incribed year in UNESCO List 2014
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