Introducing the Traditional Music of Korea!

 

Do you enjoy listening to Korean songs? Korean pop music, or K-pop, is quite popular all around the world. But Korea also has traditional music. Trot, which has been the latest music craze, is also a traditional music genre of Korea. Let’s take a look at the traditional music that embodies the unique features of Korea.

First, gukak is literally translated into traditional music of Korea. It is a unique musical genre of Korea and it is characterized by a relatively slow start and as if speaking filled with sorrow to someone. There are now creative gukak that transforms the traditional genre according to the trends of the time. If you want to hear the traditional gukak of Korea, you can go watch pansori (dramatic song) or minyo (folk song) or watch videos of it over the internet. It is common to wear the hanbok (traditional Korean clothes) when singing gukak in Korea.

Leenalchi Band has gained quite a lot of popularity recently. They claim to be an alternative pop band that reinterprets pansori into popular music. The Leenalchi Band was created when the SsingSsing Band, which performed similar music disbanded, and they mix gukak and pop to perform unique and fun music. Hear the music of Leenalchi Band at the YouTube address below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P1CnWI62Ik

The next genre is trot. Korea is in a trot fever these days. Trot was popular since the 1970s, but with the K-pop craze, it lost much of its popularity. But recently, trot auditions were held on entertainment shows and trot once again gained huge popularity among men and women of all ages. Some of the newer trot songs are mixed with dance music and there are many exciting songs so check some of them out! As trot gained popularity, they are also being aired on a variety of TV shows. Most trot songs have refrains that are easy to sing along with and so they are highly addictive.

Just as every country has their representative music, Korea also has music filled with tradition in addition to K-pop. Try listening to some of Korea’s traditional music too!