Pungmul

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Pungmul (Korean: 풍물; Hanja: 風物; IPA: [pʰuːŋmul]) is a Korean folk music tradition that includes drumming, dancing, and singing. Most performances are outside, with dozens of players all in constant motion. Pungmul is rooted in the dure (collective labor) farming culture. It was originally played as part of farm work, on rural holidays, at other village community-building events, and to accompany shamanistic rituals, mask dance dramas, and other types of performance. During the late 1960s and 1970s it expanded in meaning and was actively used in political protest during the pro-democracy movement, although today it is most often seen as a performing art. Based on 1980s research, this kind of music was extensively studied in Chindo Island.^[1]

Older scholars often describe this tradition as nongak (Korean: [noŋak]), a term meaning "farmers' music" whose usage arose during the colonial era (1910–1945). The Cultural Heritage Administration of South Korea uses this term in designating the folk tradition as an Important Intangible Cultural Property. Opposition from performers and scholars toward its usage grew in the 1980s because colonial authorities attempted to limit the activity to farmers in order to suppress its use and meaning among the colonized. It is also known by many synonymous names throughout the peninsula.

Drumming is the central element of pungmul. Each group is led by a kkwaenggwari (RR- ggwaenggwari) (small handheld gong) player, and includes at least one person playing janggu (hourglass drum), one person playing buk (barrel drum), and one person playing jing (gong). Wind instruments (taepyeongso, also known as hojeok, senap, or nalari) sometimes play along with the drummers.

Pungmul was added to the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list as "Joseonjok Nongak" by China in 2009 and South Korea in November 2014.^[2]