Over the past few decades, the Korean music scene has transformed from a culturally marginal concern to a globally influential one, covering not only traditional but also modern and popular music forms. This collection of papers makes the case that these three strands of music—gugak, classical/avant-garde, and K-pop—are not only interconnected but also can hardly be separated as the relations between them are continually reconstructed by the institutions, state policies, international circuits, and market logics. Within the country, cultural policy has played a major role in the construction of the idea of “national music”. Besides the Cultural Property Preservation Law (1962) and the Gugak Promotion Act (2023), many different works have been preserved, standardized, and institutionalized through conservatories and national centers. Although this system assures the artistic tradition’s survival, it limits the spontaneity of the music and the creativity of the musicians. However, tradition also serves as a reservoir of composers who merge the local idioms with the universal avant-garde language. On an international level, the spread of Korean music is not an outcome of chance, or only of digital means. Cultural diplomacy during the Cold War period set the base for the export strategies of today that are reflected in the global promotion of K-pop. Korean modernism is not only shaped by composers like Isang Yun and Unsuk Chin but also by their negotiation of global modernism. Besides that, the collaborations between different cultures are equally indicative of the trans-Asian as well as the transatlantic entanglements. Moreover, K-pop misleads the viewer with the bright lights of success: the industry’s achievements are not only the byproducts of fandom and media but also material practices like album collecting through which authenticity is grounded in a digital economy. The book’s two parts chart these national and international changes across the four thematic areas of heritage, aesthetics, diplomacy, and popular culture. The contributions together communicate the idea that contemporary Korean music should not be seen as a linear “from tradition to K-pop”, but a braided field of continuity, contestation, and transformation. The volume, by incorporating ethnomusicology, history, and cultural studies, reflects on Korean music as a place where local traditions and global mobilities meet and thus challenge the existing debates in musicology and cultural studies.

Mapping Korean Music: Tradition, Classical Forms, K-Pop, and More

章节
发表日期：

2026年

查看全文

Madlen Poguntke

摘要

Over the past few decades, the Korean music scene has transformed from a culturally marginal concern to a globally influential one, covering not only traditional but also modern and popular music forms. This collection of papers makes the case that these three strands of music—gugak, classical/avant-garde, and K-pop—are not only interconnected but also can hardly be separated as the relations between them are continually reconstructed by the institutions, state policies, international circuits, and market logics. Within the country, cultural policy has played a major role in the construction of the idea of “national music”. Besides the Cultural Property Preservation Law (1962) and the Gugak Promotion Act (2023), many different works have been preserved, standardized, and institutionalized through conservatories and national centers. Although this system assures the artistic tradition’s survival, it limits the spontaneity of the music and the creativity of the musicians. However, tradition also serves as a reservoir of composers who merge the local idioms with the universal avant-garde language. On an international level, the spread of Korean music is not an outcome of chance, or only of digital means. Cultural diplomacy during the Cold War period set the base for the export strategies of today that are reflected in the global promotion of K-pop. Korean modernism is not only shaped by composers like Isang Yun and Unsuk Chin but also by their negotiation of global modernism. Besides that, the collaborations between different cultures are equally indicative of the trans-Asian as well as the transatlantic entanglements. Moreover, K-pop misleads the viewer with the bright lights of success: the industry’s achievements are not only the byproducts of fandom and media but also material practices like album collecting through which authenticity is grounded in a digital economy. The book’s two parts chart these national and international changes across the four thematic areas of heritage, aesthetics, diplomacy, and popular culture. The contributions together communicate the idea that contemporary Korean music should not be seen as a linear “from tradition to K-pop”, but a braided field of continuity, contestation, and transformation. The volume, by incorporating ethnomusicology, history, and cultural studies, reflects on Korean music as a place where local traditions and global mobilities meet and thus challenge the existing debates in musicology and cultural studies.