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A foreign Henan Opera has survived, changed, and localised and established its Taiwan identity from Henan Opera to Taiwan Bangzi for more than sixty years in Taiwan, since it was introduced from China to Taiwan under a historical occasion. This paper examines the localising process from Henan Opera to Taiwan Bangzi in Taiwan from four perspectives: social and cultural background, performers, contents of scripts, and textures of music. The time frame is divided into two periods (1947-1987 and 1987-2013) to discuss the processes separately.

Yiwangjik Aakbu is an agency in charge of the Yiwangjik related music during the Japanese colonial era. Yiwangjik is an agency created as a result of Korean Empire court being transferred to a collateral line of Japanese emperor in accordance with royal investiture system. The royal family of Old Joseon, Yiwangga and Yiwangjik, were managed under the affiliation with a state agency of the imperial palace in charge of administrative work of the Japanese royal family. Therefore the music activities of Yiwangjik Aakbu were not voluntary by nature. Among the music activities of Yiwangjik Aakbu, the only overseas performance is the one held in Kyoto, Japan, from January 15 till 25 in 1924. The details were kept in the dark until the data held at Jangseogak was disclosed. Based on the data, the performance contents, purpose and background were explored closely. In the Kyoto performance, Seoilhwajigog, Yeonbaekbokjimu, Manpajeongsikjigog, Yocheonsuniljigog, Chunaengjeon, Seungpyeongmansejigog, Bonghwangeum, Mugo and Jeongsangjigog were played for two days with six pieces on each day. Besides the performance, musical instruments of Joseon and the origin of music were introduced, an indication that the music and dance of Joseon were introduced to Japan. For Yiwangjik Aakbu, a total of twelve musicians including supervisor Kim Yeongje were dispatched. The performance was appreciated by aristocrats, intellectuals, and music and dance-related officials resided in Kyoto area. Jangsaengboyeonjimu was also taught to an instructor of music and dance in Kyoto for two days, and a ceremonial event was held to see the vice-minister of Yiwangjik and chief of ceremony on their way to Tokyo to attend a wedding ceremony off at a train station. In Japan, Jangsaengboyeonjimu was used for choreography of Miyako Odori, and it was performed at the event in 1924. As for the purpose and background of the Kyoto performance, the fact that the following factors were all associated with an event conducted by the Japanese Government-General of Korea was explored: purpose of garye celebration for Japanese Crown Prince Hirohito, the first anniversary of Japanese revival, the 50th anniversary of participation in the World Exposition, and the purpose of new choreography with Miyako Odori based on the music and dance of Joseon for their garye celebration fair.

The Korean-born German composer Isang Yun (1917-1995) has been a highly regarded composer in Germany since he began his compositional career with the premieres of Fünf Stücke for piano and Musik für sieben Instrumente in 1959. Yun’s native country also slowly began to realize his significance as a musician after his death. Nonetheless, Yun’s music remains comparatively little known in the United States. There has been much published about him and his music in Germany and Korea where his music is also frequently performed, but there has been almost no significant literature entirely dedicated to him in English; the exceptions include a small number of dissertations written on Yun in the United States. Yun’s innovative aesthetics and compositional approaches, a by-product of his cross-cultural experiences as a post-colonial diasporic intellectual in Europe, should interest more audiences in the U.S. where, in the words of Jeongmee Kim, “multiple ethnicities intermingle resulting in numerous aesthetic hybrids.” Realistically seen, I’ve had two experiences, and I know the practice of both Asian music and European. I am equally at home in both fields. I’m a man living today, and within me is the Asia of the past combined with the Europe of today. My purpose is not an artificial connection, but I’m naturally convinced of the unity of these two elements. For that reason it’s impossible to categorize my music as either European or Asian. I am exactly in the middle. That’s my world and my independent entity.1 - Isang Yun From his childhood in Japanese-occupied Korea throughout his stay in Germany, Yun was always somewhere between the two cultures, East and West, and through this cultural displacement, he created his very own “hybridity” of ideas. 2 But, the problem here is not to look for traces of Korean or European characteristics in his music but to explain how the tension of the two cultures came to shape Yun’s music.

This study explores the exchanges taken place in the music history of India and Korea that are recorded in Garakgukgi (Records of Gaya Federation) of Samgugyusa (Reminiscences of the Three Kingdoms). It looks into the situations concerning the musical influences which India had given to Korea by examining the articles of Akji (Music Section) in Samgugsagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) and Goryeosa (History of the Goryeo Dynasty). In order to understand these processes, comparative analyses carried out in terms to scales, forms and instruments between the two countries. The purpose of this study is to contribute establishing an independent Korean music culture that has been heavily fallen to western music since the 20th century.