Dongnae Gomu

Dongnae Gomu is a drum dance handed down in Dongnae-gu, Busan. It was originally performed by gisaeng (female entertainers) attached to the Gyobangcheong, the office that oversaw court music in the early Goryeo period, but during the Joseon dynasty it was transmitted through the gyobang (entertainers' training office) of the Dongnae garrison, and came to be called Dongnae Gomu in keeping with the character of the region. According to the "Akji" (Treatise on Music) chapter of the Goryeosa, the origin of the drum dance lies in an episode from the reign of King Chungnyeol of Goryeo (r. 1274–1308), when a nobleman named Yi Hon, then living in exile, made a drum from a raft that had drifted in from the sea. In Dongnae Gomu, a large drum is placed at the centre, and four dancers dance while striking the drum in time to Jan-yeongsan, Yeombul-dodeuri and Taryeong-gunak, movements drawn from the Yeongsanhoesang suite of court music; four other dancers join the dance while singing the refrain "jihwaja," a traditional exclamation of joy. The dance movements include meorisawi, burimsawi, matchumsawi, yeopsiri, pyeongsawi, palsusawi, sangdaemu, bukchumsawi, paljasawi and insaetae. Influenced by the court tradition, the movements are delicate and refined, while the structure of the dance is simple yet varied and splendid. Dongnae Gomu is valuable for belonging to neither the court jeongjae (dance performed at royal banquets) nor purely folk dance, but to an intermediate genre — one type of gyobangmu, the dance of the entertainers' training offices. It is currently being preserved and passed on by the Busan Folk Art Preservation Association.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Dongnae-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Intangible Heritage · 시도무형유산