Aak
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other meanings, see AAK.
Aak is a genre of Korean court music. It is an imported form of Chinese ritual music. Aak is often labled as "elegant music" in contrast with other traditional Korean music. Aak started out as the music played during the Korean "Jongmyo Shrine's Jerye Ceremony", and then became used during other occasions as Korean court music, often with lyrics praising the current ruler.
Aak was brought to Korea in 1116, and very popular for a time before dying out. It was revived in 1430, based on a reconstruction of older melodies. The music is now highly specialized, and uses just two different surviving melodies, and is played only at certain very rare concerts, such as the Sacrifice to Confucius in Seoul.
Aak is one of three types of Korean court music; the other two are dangak and hyangak. Aak is similar to dangak in that both are rarely played and both have Chinese influences.
See also
External links
- Korean ritual music
- A Study of Musical Instruments in Korean Traditional Music (The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Korea, 1998]