South Korea

Korean Boy Bands Dominate

(Take that, Backstreet Boys.)

Over the last few decades, the music of South Korea has evolved into two distinct categories: traditional Korean folk music and K-pop.

Traditional Korean music has been around since prehistoric times. The most ancient of musical forms developed as a means of performing worship of the heaven and earth. During this time, several instruments were introduced to the Koreans from Central Asia, and along with the music, dance rituals began. 

During the medieval period in Korean history, the dynasty brought about the creation of royal music which supported the royal families and aristocratic lifestyles. 

These ancient styles of Korean music provided the basis for the country’s indigenous sounds and also led into the folk music period.

Korean folk music follows a series of rhythms and melodies. The majority of Korean folk music is simple, but some regions, such as the Namdo region, feature heavy and dramatic music. 

Pansori is a type of folk music that relies heavily on percussion and is performed by one musician. The lyrics are written with the intention of telling a story, but the tune and the beats are individualized.

Another form of folk music that relies mostly on percussion is Pungmul, which also includes dancing and singing. This type of music is normally played for a group of people who all join in the dancing.

Besides percussion, some of the instrument groups found in traditional Korean music include strings and woodwind. Some of the string instruments include the zither and a two-string vertical fiddle.

Different types of flutes, oboes, ocarinas and mouth organs fall into the woodwind category. Percussion folk typically uses different types of gongs and chimes.

Popular Korean music, or K-pop, is highly commercialized in Asia and is dominated by large groups of young and talented dancers. In America we would call them boy-bands, but in Korea, the genre is referred to as gayo. 

Many of these gayo performers are young and good-looking with impressive dance skills. The band’s image is just as, if not more important than the musical quality of the songs. Contemporary Korean artists are extremely popular and influential to musicians in Asia and all over the world.

Although musical genres such as rock, hip-hop and rap are prevalent in South Korean culture, the most influential musicians are called idol groups. These are a combination of the gayo groups as well as groups who perform dance and electronic music. 

Many of these groups are all-girl or all-boy even though some are co-ed. Going along with the image portion of these groups, many of the all-boy groups show off their dance skills, while the girl groups tend to show off their good looks. 

Super Junior and Girls’ Generation

Both of these South Korean idol groups have gained extreme recognition not only in their country, but throughout Asia and even the rest of the world. 

Super Junior is a 13-member all boy group that formed in 2005. The group plays mostly pop and dance tracks, with its synchronized dance moves being the highlight of performances.

The group had its major breakthrough with its third album, Sorry, Sorry, in 2009. It became South Korea’s best-selling album of the year, and it launched the group into international stardom. 

After its third Asia-wide tour, the group joined the SMTown Live ’10 Tour where it toured outside of Asia for the first time in cities such as Los Angeles, Paris and New York.

After releasing its fifth studio album, Mr. Simple, Super Junior was crowned “Album King.” This last year, the idol group released its most recent album, Sexy, Free & Single. 

Girls’ Generation is like the all female version of Super Junior. The nine-member group’s main appeal, like many other South Korean idol groups, is its image. The members of Girls' Generation initially appealed to young girls by projecting a pure and conservative image with their identical plain white T-shirts, makeup-free faces and lollipop props during their concerts.

As the group matured in image and sound throughout the years, it experimented with new and less conservative imagery. For their 2012 single “Oh,” Girls’ used the cheerleader image and portrayed their looks as cute and pretty. 

By 2011, the group went into even more mature and sometimes even risqué imagery. Girls’ Generation used choreography to highlight the girls’ legs and did seductive dance moves and sexual motifs in the music videos.

The female idol group has made albums in Korean, Japanese and even one in English. Since 2007, it has put out three Korean albums and are expecting to release a fourth next year.

Looking back at traditional Korean music, this culture of K-pop and idol groups seems far out. If you think about it, however, traditional Korean musicians relied heavily on dancing to accompany their music. The percussion beats that dominated traditional Korean music has seemingly evolved into the dance beats in popular music today.

Super Junior and Girls’ Generation are not the only K-pop and teen idol groups taking over the Asian music scene. In the last decade, these groups have multiplied yearly, focusing on image and dance skills.