Cultural policies for national music in South and North Korea (1960s–70s): a comparative study

ABSTRACT

This article is a comparative study of the cultural policies of North Korea (DPRK) and South Korea (ROK) in the 1960s and 1970s, specifically concerning the disciple of music. In this period, both South and North Korean regimes demonstrated similar conceptualisations of ‘national music’, harmonising Korean traditional music with western musical styles, but the end result differed in the two regimes. The DPRK developed national music through a homogenised musical style by assimilating Korean folk music with a western musical style while excluding traditional court music, with drastic modifications to traditional instruments and musical forms. In contrast, the ROK’s policy on establishing national music resulted in a combination of traditional court music for the ruling class and western classical music, indicating elitism. Particularly, this article argues that these distinct features of their national music were the result of differences in the strength and interest of government officials between the regimes.

KEYWORDS:

• Folk music
• court music
• traditional and modernisation
• statist nationalism
• states and music

Notes

1. The ‘Juche idea’ is the national ideology of the DPRK, and means ‘the independent stance of rejecting dependence on another and of using one’s own powers, believing in one’s own strength, and displaying the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance’ (Kim 1975, 177).

2. Unlike in the DPRK, the term Minjogeumak in the ROK has multiple definitions. In general, it is defined as ‘music that demonstrates specific characteristics of a certain national people in opposition to the modern European music that is known for seeking the universal value beyond nationality’ (quoted in Lee 2006, 35). Because the DPRK used Minjogeumak as the term for its national music, musicians and scholars in the ROK tend to replace Minjogeumak with Gugak or Jeontongeumak.

3. Following this principle, Pansori, a famous form of traditional folk music, was also prohibited due to its being sung with Takseong, a unique vocal technique. In his book entitled On Creating Revolutionary Literature and Arts, Kim Il-sung argued that the Takseong technique stemmed from Yangban (aristocrats in the Joseon dynasty) culture in southern Korean and was therefore against the revolutionary spirit of proletariats.

4. During the colonial period, the Japanese Government General of Korea ran the institute for the study of cultural heritage of the Joseon dynasty as a colonial possession.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Seonglim Noh

Anna Seonglim Noh Adjunct Professor of Sookmyung University