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It has been passed more than 70 years since Changjak Gugak (newly composed works based on traditional music) started to emerge in Korean traditional music. Now Changjak Gugak is firmly established as one of the musical genres. However its critical comments have still lingered on the people who are engaged in the music domain. Their main criticism lie in that it is difficult for them to perceive any sense of Korean traditional elements in the Changjak music produced. From an ethnomusicological perspective, tradition paradoxically changes slowly, with changes from one generation to the next not being seen as significant. Even if a tradition undergoes major changes over many generations, it will still be seen as unchanged. Changjak music is a music that was born in response to the stimuli from Western art music introduced to Korea in the early 20th century. It is, thus, inevitable as a mode of the times that Changjak music is vulnerable to be influenced by the idioms of Western music. This phenomenon is not unique and confined to Korea, but it is also in common in Asian countries such as North Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, and so forth. This article is to examine such criticism on Changjak Gugak and as a reaction to this it is to look into it as the view of the music in a Korean culture. I have looked at first a national music (Korean music) and then Changjak Gugak. I have also investigated the perspectives on Changjak Gugak. Having selected the criticized points of these, I have looked at these issues as an ethnomusicological perspective. In examining a number of criticisms on Changjak Gugak, most critics are the people who largely studied Western classical music. Among them most have been taking a great interest in Korean traditional music, and this is also much a concerned matter to the Korean traditional music filed. Korean music has, however, been kept throughout changes. For instance, Sanjo (highly artistic instrumental piece) has a history of a hundred-year, but its music and performance styles have been more than thirty yupas (schools). This was the result in that teachers who instructed and inherited Sanjo encouraged their students to create from its tradition. If they had tried to emphasise on following merely its tradition without its creation, today Sanjo would have remained in only ‘the Kim Changjo Gayago Sanjo’. Everybody would be against it, if they insisted to preserve the ‘tradition’. Changjak Gugak is continuing to transmit such creative processes. The criticisms on Changjak Gugak can be highlighted by these phrases: “To use the staff notation in the Korean music field would be a matter of grave concern”, or “It destructs its purity when the equal temperament is applied to Korean folk music”, or “It is difficult to understand the affect of Korean traditional music due to its excessive commercialization”, and so on. ‘The music in culture’ in ethnomusicology embraces all the music in the world except for Western classical music. From its definition, Korean music contains all the genres such as musics of art, folk, popular that a certain group of people practises. Thus to see the Changjak Gugak domain with the sight of seeing Western classical music is as the same as seeing popular music with the sight of western classical art one. There are different kinds of musics in Changjak music in Korea, and they include art, popular and in-between the two. Before criticizing Changjak music, one should look at first to which such particular music belongs and then make critical comments according to the appropriate criteria. There must be different critical standards according to a case, such as the problem of adapting a functional harmony and the equal temperament, and so on in the Changjak music world. I think such issues can naturally be understood with the change of an appreciative eye. Taking account of Changjak music from the ethnomusicological perspective, it would be necessary to study ethnomusicology in the hope of better understanding the nature of particularity and universality of Changjak Gugak.

This article aims to investigate musical characteristics of Gyeonggiseonsori Santaryeong by analysing its types focusing on singing styles. Gyeonggiseonsori Santaryeong is a representative ipchang (singing in a standing position) and is a male singing practiced around the areas of Seoul and Gyeonggi. Researches on traditional folk vocal music have exclusively been focused on pansori (epic song) of Honam regions, southern areas of Korea, or the Gyeonggi and Seodo folk songs of Gyeongseo provinces, whereas Gyeonggiseonsori that is a representative entertaining troupe performing in the areas of Gyeonggi and Seoul has scarcely been regarded as an academic subject. Thus this study looks mainly into types of a singing style and functions of symbols used in order to analyse its features. The results of this study can be delineated as two aspects: First, there are seven types of singing styles: sokcheong, pyeong-mok (‘mok’ = a throat), ddeoneun-mok, joreum-mok, deolmi-mok, chineun-mok and nulleojuneun-mok. Sokcheong means a high and clearly articulated vocal sound that produces thinly, and it is used in a higher note in deolmi-mok, or a sudden leaping progression of a melody. Pyeong-mok is a vocal sound that produces without trembling a note and vibrates thinly at the end part of a pitch behind a long sustained note. Ddeoneun-mok is a sound by shaking a note, and there are two types producing with a fine vibration and a wide one and the latter is similar to a seodo sound. Joreum-mok is also called ‘joeuneun-mok’ or joeuneunmok by lifting while pressing on a throat, and it is used in closely tightening it when a melody ascends to a note above the minor third or the perfect fourth. Deolmi-mok is a characteristic feature of a singing style in Gyeonggiseonsori. It is a vocal sound that returns to the original note after lifting briefly and softly a note above the minor third or perfect fourth by using the sokcheong and is used in a melodic phrasing that parallels to the joreum-mok in a case of Apsantaryeong. Chineun-mok has three types of forms: (i) a hitting mok like rolling a note briefly above the major second at a certain note; (ii) a hitting mok as if it gives an accent, it hits the throat after vibrating finely; (iii) after hitting above the minor third note slightly at a certain note, the throat that returns to the original note and after hitting the note above the major second and descending the minor third from the original note. This is an identical form with a melodic progression of menari tori (its mode is equivalent to the western ‘la mode’). Nulleojuneunmok is a kind of pyeong-mok and refers to a sound that vibrates widely at the end of a long sustained note and to make a glissando like producing a toeseong (making a sound by gliding down from a high note to a lower one) by pressing a note. It is frequently used in a melody that goes down to a note after executing the melodies of the joreum-mok and deolmimok in Apsantaryeong. Second, the musical symbols used in Gyeonggiseonsori Santaryeong have six types. “ ”is a symbol that vibrates finely; “c” means to roll or hit softly a certain note; “s” is to stop after producing a very short note; “l” is a sound of deolmi-mok; “n” denotes to vibrate the end of a note in a chopping way; “~~~~” for shaking a note and pulling down like rendering a toeseong; “,” is to lift like executing a chuseong (making a sound by pushing up a note) a certain note to the major third.

This research aims to explain the differences in the performance style of the shadow puppet theatre performances of Nartasabda and Purbo Asmoro and to analyze the messages or values contained in their performances. A qualitative method is used with an approach based on the dramaturgy of Javanese shadow puppet theatre. The object of the research is the stories Karna Tandhing and Dewaruci performed by Nartasabda and Brubuh Ngalengka and Rama Gandrung performed by Purbo Asmoro. These two puppeteers, or dalang, were well-known in different eras. Nartasabda was popular between 1969 and 1986 and had a unique performance style. Purbo Asmoro is a young dalang in a new generation of performers who has been popular since 1994 and has a different style of performance from most other dalang. Nartasabda’s performance style is always relevant to his era and displays a highly creative dramatization of characters as well as creativity in the musical accompaniment and the use of humour in every scene. Purbo Asmoro’s performance style is based on traditional Surakarta style but with new developments such as the use of abridged storylines (garap pakeliran padat), janturan and pocapan narration, new shorter arrangements of musical compositions or gendhing and sulukan, the use of thematic movements or sabetan, the avoidance of language which contains clichés, and the use of flashbacks. Each dalang has his own special characteristics. Nartasabda presents a highly skilful dramatization of characters and a dynamic treatment of the music, while Purbo Asmoro combines the use of garap pakeliran padat with an all-night performance style to create a new style of performance. It is hoped that the results of the research will be useful for other researchers to carry out a more in-depth study and also for audiences to understand the creativity and treatment of the two dalang so as to enrich their spiritual experience. The benefits of this research include the discovery of the values or messages contained in the four stories, such as values of heroism, religious humanitarianism, and patriotism, all of which can be internalized and used as a means for educating the character of the audience.

Reading and listening to literary texts sung in macapat songs are means of constructing meanings among readers and listeners. When interpreting texts these people negotiate thoughts with the contents of texts. Using basic understanding from society they orient themselves on contents of texts to get proper values in the community. They do not keep meanings that they have from community, nor do they follow the contents of songs, rather they create new meanings that transform their beliefs and thoughts into new substances. In this process they highlight precepts, revise concepts, alter norms, and change world-views. In another word, when listening to songs people do not maintain stable meanings throughout times but they change the fluid matters that are changing with environments and contexts. In doing so, these elite people want to elicit wisdom to get fresh guides for their lives and the betterment of society.

The endeavours used by Ki Anom Suroto to create a lively and humorous atmosphere in order to entertain the audience include: (1) maximizing the role of the classical verse (tembang) sung by the female vocalists (pesindhen) and male vocalists (penggerong), accompanied by music of the gamelan, played by the musicians (pengrawit); (2) every utterance contained in the various tembang and the dialogue of the panakawan (clown servants) deviates from the maxim of cooperation and the maxim of politeness; and (3) maximizing the role of the panakawan characters based on their individual shape or character (wanda), both in their speech (verbal language) and the way in which they dance (nonverbal language). The combination of verbal language (speech) and nonverbal language (visual elements), supported by the rhythms of the gamelan and the voices of the pesindhen and penggerong are able to create a pragmatic force which attracts the attention of and entertains the audience, in particular members of the audience with a similar cultural background. The verbal language which is written in the various lyrics of the tembang and the speech in the dialogue of the panakawan with the pesindhen, pengrawit, and guest artists, is manifested in various different kinds of speech acts, such as: assertives, verdictives, directives, and phatics. Of the four kinds of speech acts, the most dominant kind is assertives. In addition, an observation of the response or evaluation of observers and members of the audience to the presentation of the tembang in the gara-gara scene as performed by Ki Anom Suroto shows that: observers/audiences regard his humour as well-mannered and full of advice and social criticism which is presented in a polite way. His humour has a high quality and manages to retain the classical values that are found in the art of classical Surakarta style shadow puppet theatre (wayang kulit purwa).