NGC publishes English e-book on gugak instruments

The National Gugak Center recently published the second edition of English-language e-book “Traditional Korean Instruments: A Practical Guide for Composers,” aiming to introduce gugak, traditional Korean music, instruments to foreign composers.

The first edition of the guide, containing information about gayageum, geomungo, daegeum, piri, haegeum and ajaeng, was published in 2018. The new e-book, written by gugak musicians and scholars, was published in Korean last year. An English-language version of the work was recently published.

“Traditional Korean Instruments: A Practical Guide for Composers 2” provides information on seven traditional Korean instruments which are often used for gugak orchestral music: danso, sogeum, saenghwang, taepyeongso, yanggeum, cheolhyeongeum and janggu.

The NGC hopes to encourage foreign composers who are not familiar with gugak to learn more about gugak instruments and compose new contemporary works with the traditional instruments.

“I hope this e-book can be used as a practical guide introducing gugak instruments to foreign composers, helping gugak establish its place in the global music scene,” Lim Jae-won, head of National Gugak Center, said.

The e-book can be accessed on the center’s website at www.gugak.go.kr/eng in PDF format for free. Video and audio files can be downloaded as well.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)