Traditional Korean Music

Traditional Korean music includes both the folk and court music styles of the Korean people.Korean music is on Buddhist and native shamanistic beliefs. Buddhist and shamanistic dancing and shamanistic drum music are extant as it is a melodic and dance music called Sinawi.

Traditional Korean music can also be divided into at least four types of genres: courtly, aristocratic, scholarly and religious.

Korean Folk Music
Korean folk music is varied and complex, but all forms maintain a set of rhythms (called Jangdan) and a loosely defined set of melodic modes.
The folk songs of various areas are categorized under Dongbu folk songs, their vocal styles and modes are limited. Therefore, currently scholars are attempting to categorize the Dongbu folk songs further based on different musical features. These songs are mostly simple and bright. The folk songs of other regions are mostly musically simple but the folk songs of the Namdo region, where the famous musical genres pansori and sanjo were created were rich and dramatic. Some Namdo folk songs are used in pansori or developed by professional singers and are included as part of their repertories. Jeju folk songs are sung on the Jeju Island. They are more abundant in number than any other regional folk songs, and approximately 1600 songs are transmitted today. Jeju folk songs are characterized by their simple and unique melodic lines and rich texts.

Court Music
Korean court music is to preserved the date which can be traced to the beginning of the Choson Dynasty in 1392. It is now very rare or except for government-sponsored organizations like The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts.

There are three types of court music.
They are called Aak, is an imported form of Chinese ritual music, and another is a pure Korean form called Hyang-ak and the last one is a combination of Chinese and Korean influences which is called Dang-ak.

Link for traditional songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swPKBQzjZ0Q