Imsil Pilbong Nongak (Farmers’ Performance of Pilbong, Imsil)

Imsil Pilbong Nongak is a form of farmers' band music handed down in Pilbong-ri, belonging to the Honam Jwado (Left Honam) Nongak tradition. Pilbong village had long preserved a simple form of nongak, limited to Dangsan-gut and Madangbapgi, but it is said to have reached its present high level of skill after around 1920, when the village invited Bak Hak-sam, a sangsoe (the leader of the troupe, the most skilled player of the kkwaenggwari), and learned his style of nongak. The performers of Pilbong Nongak wear white trousers and jackets with a navy waistcoat and three-coloured sashes; only the soejabi (players of the kkwaenggwari or jing) wear the sangmo (a nongak hat fitted with fur or a string streamer), while the others wear conical paper hats (goggal). The band is made up of the farmers' banner, yonggi (a ceremonial vessel), yeonggi (command flags), a long metal horn, the samul (kkwaenggwari, jing, buk and janggu), beopgo, and japsaek (costumed characters such as the great hunter, changbu (a male clown), a yangban, jorijung (a monk carrying a winnowing basket), a farmhand carrying only a gong-mallet, a young bride, and hwadong and mudong, young boy dancers). The types of nongak performed include Maegut on New Year's Eve; Madangbapgi at the start of the year, in which the band plays music from house to house; Dangsanje-gut, performed when holding a village rite at the dangsan (village guardian shrine); Boreumgut and Nodigut, played on stepping stones; Geolgunggut; Mungut; Duregut performed during the farming season; Gigut; and Pangut. Among these, Pangut is the most artistically accomplished. The Yeongsan rhythms performed in the closing section (dwitgut) are highly subdivided and relatively slow, comprising Gajin Yeongsan, Dadeuraegi Yeongsan (in which the sangsoe demonstrates his bupo, a feather headdress ornament), Mijigi Yeongsan, Jaenomgi Yeongsan (in which the sangsoe demonstrates his gong technique), and Gunyeong Nori Yeongsan (similar to individual solo play). Imsil Pilbong Nongak has clearly articulated soegarak (kkwaenggwari rhythms, the leading element of nongak), giving its music a vigorous and spirited character, and it places greater value on collective harmony and unity than on individual technique.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Imsil, Jeonbuk

Designation

National Intangible Heritage · 국가무형유산