Korea: Ritual Music for the Royal Ancestors

In 1964, Jongmyo Jeryeak, the music and dance of the Rite for Royal Ancestors, was designated ‘Korea’s Intangible Cultural Property No 1’. Featuring music written in the 15th century in quasi¬Chinese style (and with extant notations dating back to 1469), it has been performed ever since at the Royal Ancestral Shrine in downtown Seoul. Initially performed seven times annually, decline set in when Korea was a colony of Japan (from 1910 to 1945) and it is now performed once a year on the first Sunday in May. The ritual venerates each king and queen of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) plus earlier ancestors, and music accompanies all but two ritual stages, the core comprising two large suites, each of 11 pieces: ‘Botaepyeong’ (Preserving the Peace) and ‘Jeongdae-eop’ (Founding the Dynasty). There are two alternating ensembles with instruments that include the raucous shawm, a battery of percussion including clay pots and a wooden tiger with a serrated back, scraped rather like a güiro, flutes and zithers, and sets of tuned clapper-less bells and stone chimes.

The music is ethereal, slow and measured, with little dynamic contrast or rhythmic surprise – as befits Confucian propriety. This CD records a staged performance rather than a ritual performance, given at the main stage of the National Gugak Center in 2003. The acoustic, then, is that of a modern auditorium rather than the courtyard of the shrine. The musicians are those who would attend the ritual, but dancers and the Confucian members of the king’s lineage, the Jeonju Yi, who would normally take part in every ritual, are absent. The booklet is well written and lavishly illustrated. To my mind, it is a shame that the opportunity to offer a DVD has been missed, particularly since the CD is packaged in a box the size of a DVD case.