Every nation state, every people, have founding myths about where they come from. Once nomadic tribes scattered across the world came to together over the millennia, establishing communities, society, and order. This rules-based society may be what separates man from animal. In the days before written records, people passed down their beliefs and experiences verbally. 

These stories eventually became more mystical as time went by, evolving into what we now call myths. These tales may sound unempirical and superstitious from today’s point of view, but the tales reflect a people or society’s past experiences over the generations. 

Today is the 4,351st Gaecheonjeol개천절, or Korea’s National Foundation Day, which commemorates the founding of Gojoseon, the first nation of the Korean people, by Dangun단군.

Music 1: Sujecheon/ Court Music Orchestra of the National Gugak Center

That was “Sujecheon” performed by the Court Music Orchestra of the National Gugak Center. “Sujecheon” means “life is parallel with heaven” and the piece wishes for long life and prosperity. This music originated from the kingdom of Baekje백제, some 1,400 years ago. Most Koreans learn in school another Baekje song titled “Jeongeupsa정읍사” which begins: “Dear moon, rise up high to light the wet spots.” 

A woman living in a village called Jeongeup wrote this song while waiting for her husband to return home. This song survived through the Goryeo고려 and Joseon조선 periods and is now performed at special ceremonies and events. The simple melody from over a thousand years ago has changed considerably in rhythm and meaning, but it is still full of compassion for other human beings, which is perhaps how it has survived through the ages. 

Another who cared deeply about others was King Sejong. During the Joseon era, his creation of the hangeul한글 alphabet was motivated by his compassion for ordinary people, most of whom didn’t know how to read or write. At the time, Korea used exclusively traditional Chinese characters, which in addition to being hard to learn and understand, was ill suited for the Korean language. 

King Sejong is also the composer of “Yeominrak여민락” which means music to be enjoyed by ordinary people. Some may think he just lent his name to a piece written by some other musician, but King Sejong was known to have been musically gifted, and it is likely he wrote the song himself. According to King Sejong’s historical account, he ordered all the local folk songs at the time to be documented, which was a way for him to find out what commoners actually thought about the way the country was run.

King Sejong was also the creator behind ritual music played at Jongmyo Shrine, the oldest extant royal shrine from the Joseon era. It is now designated as by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage. 

The historical record of King Sejong, called Sejong Sillok세종실록, describes how the king personally wrote several pieces of music. An entry made in December of the 31^st year of King Sejong’s reign reads, “The king was so knowledgeable in melody that all new music pieces were written by the king. He wrote music over one evening while tapping the ground with a stick.” Let’s listen briefly to the Jongmyo ritual music performed by the Court Music Orchestra of the National Gugak Center. 

Music 2:  Jongmyo Shrine Ritual Music/ Court Music Orchestra, National Gugak Center

The Jongmyo Shrine ceremonial music is comprised of two main parts - Botaepyeong보태평 which lauds the scholarly virtues of past kings, and Jeongdae’eop정대업, which extols their military achievements. Each part is comprised of eleven music pieces. In the early years of the Joseon Dynasty, music from China was performed at the memorial service for deceased kings and queens enshrined at Jongmyo Shrine. But King Sejong believed that past monarchs would not like hearing Chinese music in the afterlife and sought to provide a purely Korean alternative.

His plan to compose new ritual music was met with fierce opposition from government officials, but his son, King Sejo, carried out his wish and rewrote the ceremonial music to be used in royal memorial services. Let’s wrap up today’s Sounds of Korea with “Gangwondo Arirang” sung by Yido.

Music 3:  Gangwondo Arirang/ Sung by Yido