Songs of the shaman1994

Shamanism, commonly regarded as the oldest religion of Korea, is still a force in the modern industrial society of today. Korean shamans, performing their rituals, sing and dance for the gods they worship as, presumably, they have done for centuries. Some of the songs - the muga - are simple invocations and prayers, while others explain the origins of the various gods. These narrative muga are often quite long and may take hours to sing in their entirety.

In this study, after a brief general introduction to Korean shamanism, the ritual uses, the transmission and the style and contents of the songs are examined, so that their place among the other genres of traditional literature may be determined. The muga, as recorded in the twentieth century, turn out to have close links with the...