The National Gugak Center has released some 2,800 sound sources of traditional Korean music sung by celebrated master singers online for free.

Over the past year, the state-funded center dedicated to traditional Korean music has been working on developing sound sources of traditional Korean music on its Musical Instrument Digital Interface platform, also known as MIDI.

In September, the NGC released 407 sound sources of notes performed on traditional Korean instruments, along with 2,226 sound sources of short melodies, ranging in length from 4 to 25 seconds. The sound sources garnered a total of some 13,000 downloads since their release through February.

For the latest batch of source release, pansori greats Ahn Sook-sun and Lee Chun-hee who are Intangible Cultural Property title holders, and troupe members at the National Gugak Center and National Theater of Korea participated in the recording.

“The sound source includes unique and familiar gugak sounds, which can be used to create more contents,” Seo In-hwa, an official at the center said.
Later in the year, the NGC will host a contest using the sound sources. The sound sources are available through the center’s website at www.gugak.go.kr/digitaleum.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)