National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea Nongyo (Farmers’ Songs) are sung by farmers while working in wet rice paddies or dry fields to recover from their fatigue and enhance the efficiency of the work. They are also called Deullorae (field songs). It is presumed that farmers’ songs started in this area during the mid-Joseon Period (1392 – 1910). There are different songs sung for different occasions in the area, Abureisuna (Song of Rice Planting), Doumso sori (Song of Finishing Rice Planting), Aebeolmaegi sori (Song of Weeding the First Rice Paddy) and Sangsadieo (Song of Weeding the Rice Paddy), Bangae sori and Eiyong sori (Songs of Finishing Rice Paddy Weeding), and Bonghei (Song of Finishing Work and Returning Home). Farmers’ songs in this area feature slow tempos, long-stretched tunes, duet-like effects made by the lead and the following in singing, graciousness in simplicity and plainness, and a unique local atmosphere.

National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea Mask dance is a stage play wherein one person or several people wearing a mask act as a person, an animal, or a supernatural being (god), delivering a message with dialogues or dances. Talchum (mask dance) was performed throughout the country until the early Joseon Period. When the Sandae (type of mask dance) was no longer performed in the Royal Palace, it was enjoyed as a pastime by ordinary people. Bongsan Talchum was started in Bongsan-gun, Hwanghae-do about 200 years ago. Performed on the night of Dano (fifth day of the fifth lunar month) and Haji (Summer Solstice), it is composed of dances associated with four monks, eight monks in black robe, a female member of a troupe, an old monk, a nobleman, and an old wife. Prior to the start of the play, the 36 members of the play (27 of them wearing masks) march to the site of the play while playing music. They also hold a sacrificial rite. The play contains satire about nobles harassing commoners, depraved monks, male chauvinism in a custom of allowing a man to take many wives, etc. Members dance to the tune of praying to Buddha, taryeong (Korean folk song), and gutgeori rhythm songs accompanied by the playing of samhyeon yukgak (three strings and six wind instruments) such as piri (flute), jeotdae (bamboo flute), haegeum (two-stringed fiddle), buk (drum), and janggo (hourglass-shaped drum). As the best known among the mask dances handed down in Hwanghae-do, Bongsan Talchum displays the lively movements of dancers including the shaking of the sleeves of the robes.

National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea Nongyo (Farmers’ Songs) are sung by farmers while working in wet rice paddies or dry fields to recover from their fatigue and enhance the efficiency of the work. They are also called Deullorae (field songs). Farmers in Goseong, Gyeongsangnam-do usually start these songs around haji (summer solstice). The songs are called Deungji (songs sung while planting rice seedlings). It is said that one day the Gyeongsang-do governor was passing through a field in Goseong and he stopped there to spend hours listening to the beautiful melodies of the songs sung by local farmers. There are different songs sung for different occasions in Goseong. There is Mojjigi deungji (Song of Picking Rice Sprouts), Mosimgi deungji (Song of Rice Seedlings), Dorikkaejil sori (Song of Flailing), Sangsa sori (Song of Rice Planting), Banga taryeong (Song of Milling), Samsamgi sori (Song of Hemp Weaving), and Mulle taryeong (Song of the Spinning Wheel). These songs are also performed in public. Their lyrics embody the sentiments of local farmers while the melodies display the influence of of Jeolla-do songs, probably due to the area’s geographic proximity to Jeollanam-do.