THE CULTURAL LOGIC AND RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS OF SHAMAN MUSIC IN KOREA AND CHINA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY

Abstract

As a universal music form in the world, shamanic music not only retains its religious (divine) nature in the historical construction but also shows different national characteristics with the embedding of specific cultural scene patterns. Citing the perspective of ethnomusicology, the source of religious consciousness of the current shamanic music object form is explained with “music in culture”, and the dynamic construction of shamanic religious elements is mapped with “culture in music”. Based on the geographical proximity and historical and cultural border exchanges between the two countries, its overall music form maintains the “holistic beauty” of religious attributes, takes “drum” as the core instrument, and the music rhythm and melody serve the expression of the lyric’s language signifier and signified symbol. Based on cultural similarities, the specific shamanic music forms of South Korea and China are different from the Western vertical harmony theory. Both pursue linear expression and form their own unique national modal melody characteristics. Korean shamanic music mainly uses rhythmic forms such as “mixed beats”, “changing beats” and “big beats composed of small beats”, while Chinese shamanic music maintains the early 2/4 single beat form that reflects the sounds of nature. As a subset of shamanic culture, shamanic music has derived differentiated expressions of religious ontology and musical object in the dynamic construction of the overall cultural logic of the two countries.