It is necessary to find out the true value of Dong-Hak music containing the thought of Dong-Hak which is called one of the original Korea thoughts.
Choi Je-Uh(Su-Un), on the basis of nationalism, founded a religion having accepted the thoughts of all...
It is necessary to find out the true value of Dong-Hak music containing the thought of Dong-Hak which is called one of the original Korea thoughts.
Choi Je-Uh(Su-Un), on the basis of nationalism, founded a religion having accepted the thoughts of all religions of Korea that was Dong-Hak,a religion intended for rural peole. Its basic ideas are In-Nae-Cheon(Meaning "Man is Heaven"), Gaebuk (Meaning "Creating the new world"), and the original national thought.
Religion is closely connected with music. Therefore, Su-Un created Ju-mun and Gum-Ga, when he founded the religion, and wrote Yongdam-Yusa to spread the dogma of Dong-Hak. These songs were the miscellaneous kind expressing civilized ideas and were first Dong-Hak music, at the same time, a national music emphasizing the rejection of the foreign powers.
Ju-Mun and Gum-Ga were sung by being recited without notes, and its rhythem was free, had fixed tune, and had the chacteristic of repeating on and on, and they were sung in fast or slow tempo, in accordance with singers‘ mood. Yongdam Yusa edabled people to understand its difficult dogma easily, and, since it had 3·4 or 4·4 syllable meter, it could be recited metrically, Moreover, because of its chacteristic of, what we call, a scripture, people read it frequently in the period of Korean civilization, and at the same time, it was regard as a kind of art consisting of poetry and music. During the Dong-Hak Revolution,"Saeya Saeya Parang Saeya"(a kind of requiem) and many folk songs representing the fortune of the times were produced, which reflecting the phases of the times.
From the age of "Hyun-Do" beginning in 1905, Dong-Hak music began to change into the church music and according to its changing aspect, the following periods canbe divided; "the Dawning Period" was from the age of "Hyun-Do“in 1905 to the time when the first "Cheon-Duk Song" was established in 1931.
During this period when the "New Cultural Movement"was spreading,"The Cheon-Do Gyo Monthly News" was published and the religious music was announced. The Dong-Hak music was called Tyun-Duk Song, Cheon- Jong Sinak, Cheon AK, Cheon Duk Song, and so on. In the church, the official songs were composed and sung by some groups, whereas outside the church, the folk songs or the new folk songs inspiring national consciousness emerged through the nationalism movement.
"The Established Period" was from 1931 to the Liberation of Korea. During this period, the Cheon-Duk Song was officially published by the Centeral Church of Cheon-Do Gyo. Lee Don-Hwa (Ya-Roi) extracted words form Yongdam-Yusa and asked composer Hong Nan-Pa to compose songs on the staff notation and the composer completed 12 songs. In these songs a pentatonic scale was frequently used in order to inspire original nationalism, and they were composed in the style of hymns, and eight songs announced in the Dawning Period were added, so the first "Cheon-duk Song" consisting of 20 songs was published. Beside, "The popular religious songs" had originated form the ordinary believers or ganization and had been sung till the Liberation but, owing to the division of Korean Peninsula, of them have been forgotten.
"The Developing Period" is from the Liberation of Korea to the present. During this period, the Centural Church of Cheon-Do Gyo went on publishing the enlarged editions of the Cheon-Duk song and distributing them on a large scale as a ,means of spreading its dogma. In 1974, through the supplementary work, the new edition of it was published. As a result of it, the Dong-Hak music was collected again and a lot of songs were composed through collecting the words written on the basis of the dogma and religious faith, These songs were recorded in the chapter of the "Hymn Praise" and has greatly been developed.
We can say the Dong-Hak music, overcoming many difficulties, has been changed through these courses. The continuous discovery of the Dong-Hak music should be made and the theoretical and systematic study should be carried out incessantly, for it, occupying an area of the modem Korea Music, has been descended continuously.