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	Music of Korea Korean music info and reviews

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Boasting some of the more unique music found in Asia, Korea has the distinction of being able to successfully straddle old traditions and new ideas.

Although some aspects of Korean music and instruments are descended from other places, such as the kayagum, which is related to the Chinese zheng, other striclty-Korean music like Pansori opera sounds like nothing else in the world.

Modern artists have been saving traditional Korean music from dying out by updating it, keeping it fresh while drawing on centuries of history. Musicians like ByungKi Hwang compose new pieces for old instruments, merging ideas and genres in new ways that promise to keep Korean music alive well into the foreseeable future.

Korean Music Info

ByungKi Hwang

As both a scholar of traditional Korean music and a leading musician on the cutting edge of modern Korean avant garde music, ByungKi Hwang occupies a unique position on the world music scene. Known for his stellar mastery of the Korean zither known as a kayagum, Hwang's music reflects both the long ... [more]

Kayagum

For hundreds of years, Korea's most widely known and appreciated musical instrument has been the 12-stringed zither known as the kayagum. Used in common folk music as well as upper-class music, the kayagum produces a warm, full sound that stands as one of Korea's most important and... [more]

Pansori

Pansori is a simple but impassioned type of performance often called "Korean opera". It consists of only two people: a singer and a drummer. The singer tells one of the traditional pansori stories while the drummer beats out unique rhythms and shouts encouraging words at the singer. It is a unique type of theater, relying... [more]