Daechwita

Daechwita
Daechwita musicians performing for the changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul.
Korean name
Hangul
대취타
Hanja
Revised RomanizationDaechwita
McCune–ReischauerTaech'wit'a
Daechwita musicians playing yonggo (dragon drums) in a Seoul street parade.

Daechwita (Korean: 대취타; lit. Great Blowing and Hitting) is a genre of Korean traditional music consisting of military music played by wind and percussion instruments, generally performed while marching or as a static performance.

Instrumentation

Traditional Band and Traditional Honor Guards in the official welcome ceremony for Philippines President Benigno Aquino III at Cheong Wa Dae (2013)

Instruments used include nabal (brass horn), nagak (seashell horn), and taepyeongso (shawm), with jing (gong), jabara (cymbals), Ulla (xylophone), and yonggo (용고; 龍鼓; drum painted with dragon designs and played with hard mallets).

This style of Korean military music is often used in the reenactment of the Guard Changing Ceremony at Seoul's Gyeongbokgung Palace, as well as in Deoksugung Palace. Special daechwitas today is under the service of the Ministry of National Defense Traditional Band and the Traditional Guard Unit, 3rd Infantry Division, Republic of Korea Army, and are the only ones that also has the Ulla (small tuned gongs), Pungmul-buk and Galgo in its instrumentation.

This is the same case for traditional Korean bands outside the homeland, which also have a pungmul marching percussion battery (with kkwaenggwari, janggu and pungmul-buk drums) at the rear with distinguishing uniforms between the two ensembles. Few modern bands based in schools sport bass drums together with the kwaennggwari, galgo and janggu, as well as the daegeum flute, as part of their instrumentation.

Uniforms in the band are in royal gold or red and white, as these were connected in the Imperial period to the Imperial family and the armed forces of the Korean Empire. Most bandsmen in ensembles today wear the royal gold full dress.

The Bandmaster of the ensemble, called a deungchae, carries a long baton to direct the ensemble during performances.

Today, the Ministry of National Defense Traditional Band and Traditional Honor Guards participate in official welcome ceremonies for foreign heads of state and in other state or special events, with the band playing daechwita and the honor guards carrying out ceremonial duties.[1][2]

Chwi-ta

Daechwita performance in Osaka, Japan

Chwi-ta (or choi-ta) is the name of the military music played in military processions, military parades and on such occasions as when the gates to military headquarters were opened or closed.

South Korean rapper Agust D, also known as Suga from BTS, released a rap song called 'Daechwita (대취타)' on his second solo mixtape D-2 (2020).[3] The song is heavily inspired by and samples daechwita performed by the National Gugak Center.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ "국가무형문화재 제46호 '피리정악 및 대취타'". 일요신문 (in Korean). 8 June 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  2. ^ "트럼프 대통령 공식 환영식 -"President Moon. Thank you!"". 주미국 대한민국 대사관. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
  3. ^ "BTS 슈가, 믹스테이프 'D-2' 깜짝 공개…타이틀곡 '대취타'". Yonhap News Agency.
  4. ^ "대취타(Daechwita) Lyrics". Genius.com.
  5. ^ "Agust D '대취타' (Daechwita)". Archived from the original on 2020-05-22.
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