Contemporary Korean Shamanism

While traditional shamanism continues to decline around the world, it is currently undergoing a revival in South Korea. Korean shamanism, also known as Muism ("mu [shaman] religion") is the ethnic religion of Korea and the Koreans. Though Korean shamanism has suffered centuries of ridicule and persecution, it is now acknowledged to be an important repository of Korean culture and indigenous psychology. Shamanism, in modern as well as historical eras, provides many of the same functions for Korean society as does psychological counseling. Its form is flexible and adaptable, integrating modern elements as needed in order to maintain its relevance.
 

Once viewed as an embarrassing superstition, the theatrical religious performances of Korean shamans--who communicate with the dead, divine the future, and become possessed--are going mainstream. Attitudes toward Korean shamanism are changing as shamanic traditions appear in staged rituals, museums, films, and television programs, as well as on the internet.
 

Contemporary Korean Shamanism, a new book by professor Liora Sarfati, explores this vernacular religion and practice, which includes sensory rituals using laden altars, ecstatic dance, and animal sacrifice, within South Korea's highly technologized society, where over 200,000 shamans are listed in professional organizations. Dr. Sarfati reveals how representations of shamanism in national, commercialized, and screen-mediated settings have transformed opinions of these religious practitioners and their rituals.
 

Applying ethnography and folklore research, Contemporary Korean Shamanism: From Ritual to Digital maps this shift in perception about shamanism--from a sign of a backward, undeveloped Korea to a valuable, indigenous cultural asset. Professor Sarfati masterfully demonstrates how and why shamanism in contemporary Korea is not only the most widely dispersed religion, even more widespread than Christianity and Buddhism, but also thrives through the virtual media of a digital society.

New Shamanic Album "Mudang Rock"

Mudang Rock, the revelatory new album from Grammy-winning guitarist Henry Kaiser, uses the rhythms and spirit of Korean Shamanism as the vehicle for an extraordinary voyage into improvisation and collaboration that reaches far beyond boundaries of genre. In Korean spiritual lore, a mudang is a type of shaman who has become possessed by a god, called a momju. Mudang perform fortune telling using their spiritual powers derived from their possession. They preside over a kut (rite) involving song and dance. The highly electric music on this album is a collaboration of four musical luminaries of jazz and experimentalism: Henry Kaiser, Simon Barker, Bill Laswell, and Rudresh Mahanthappa. Kaiser, Barker, and Laswell each have spent more than one-half of their musical lifetimes collaborating with Korean traditional musicians. They invited saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa to join them for this newly energized exploration of the musical unknown. The result is compelling, ecstatic, and very shamanic. Available on Amazon and iTunes.

Dohee Lee: A Modern Day Performance Shaman

Dohee Lee

A composer and virtuoso performer trained at the master level in dance, drumming, singing, and shamanic music, Dohee Lee is forging a new performance form rooted in ancient Korean shamanic practices. Using the artistic tools of immersive post-modern multimedia performance - choreography, interactive electronic sound and installation and instrument design, elaborate costumes, live video manipulation and animation - she recognizes the medicinal power of personal stories and myth and makes rituals in the service of healing individuals and communities. Collaborating and improvising with musicians, spoken word and visual artists and working in site-specific and intricately designed performance spaces, Lee examines cultural memory, trauma, war, nature, human transformation, spiritual practice embedded in daily life. She creates rituals that change our perception of what performance can be.

Shamanism in Ancient Korea

Korean "Buk" Drum

Korean shamanism, also known as Muism "mu [shaman] religion") or Sinism "religion of the shin" is the ethnic religion of Korea and the Koreans. In contemporary Korean language, the shaman-priest or mu is known as a mudang if female or baksu if male, although other names are used. In Korean shamanism, it is thought that there is another world besides that of the living, and in this spirit world there are both good and bad entities who can influence human affairs. The role of the mu is to act as intermediary between Heaven (spirit realm) and Earth (physical realm) through gut (rituals), seeking to resolve problems in the patterns of development of human life. The symbol of interlocking spirals featured on the drum in the photo is the Taegeuk ("Great Pole") -- representing Heaven (blue), Earth (red) and man (yellow), or the divine trinity. Sustained by the Earth and transformed by the Heavens, humanity is the bridge that unites the three realms. The Taegeuk is a Korean form of the ancient Chinese symbol Taiji the "supreme ultimate" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which Yin and Yang originate. Read more.

Sitgimgut, the Art of Cleansing the Soul of the Dead

While traditional shamanism continues to decline around the world, it is currently undergoing a revival in South Korea. Though Korean shamanism has suffered centuries of ridicule and persecution, it is now acknowledged to be an important repository of Korean culture and indigenous psychology. The Sitgimgut ceremony is a shamanic ritual for cleansing a dead person's soul that comes from Jindo, a tiny island off the coast of South Korea. The islands remoteness has helped maintain its musical traditions and rituals in an unusually pure form. Read more.

Korean Neo-Shamanic Drumming Video

The Sonagi Project is a Korean percussion ensemble that has created modern, original music based on traditional shamanic rhythms and chants. The group brings traditional Korean percussion instruments into the twenty-first century by performing traditionally-based yet original repertoire for contemporary audiences. View the video on Vimeo.

Korean Rhythms and Shamanism in Contemporary Music from The Korea Society on Vimeo.

Korean Shamanism as Folk Psychology

Anne Hilty, PhD, is a scholar-practitioner of health psychology from New York, now living on Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. She is researching the seemingly incongruous revival of shamanism in one of the world's most technologically advanced countries. Though Korean shamanism has suffered centuries of ridicule and persecution, it is now acknowledged to be an important repository of Korean culture and indigenous psychology. In a recent article, Hilty emphasizes the importance of Korea's shamanic tradition in defining as well as treating the collective Korean psyche. According to Hilty, "Shamanism, in modern as well as historical eras, provides many of the same functions for Jeju society as does psychological counseling. Its form is flexible and adaptable, integrating modern elements as needed in order to maintain its relevance."  Read Jeju Shamans, Healing Minds and Hearts.  

Why is Music an Essential Part of Life?

The critically acclaimed documentary, "Intangible Asset No. 82" reveals this without implicitly telling us the answer. We discover it through a viewer's participation in Australian jazz drummer Simon Barker's quest to find an elusive Korean shamanic drummer. After hearing a recording, Barker made a commitment to find and learn from the master drummer. Yet despite his official designation as one of South Korea's cultural treasures or "82nd intangible asset," Kim Seok-Chul remained elusive. Barker's seven year journey becomes a rite of passage, as he has meaningful encounters with the engaging and eclectic characters who will eventually lead him to the enigmatic shaman only days before the master's death. To view the trailer visit "Intangible Asset No. 82."