By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
What was it like to close and open the year in the Joseon Kingdom? The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (NCKTPA) will offer ``Taepyeongjiak ? The Sound of Heaven, Music of King Sejong’’ as a year-end performance on Dec. 18 and 19.
The traditional performance is a re-enactment of ``hoeryeyeon,’’ a banquet for court officials held in 1433 during the 15th year of King Sejong’s rule.
The ``hoeryeyeon’’ was a banquet that provided a chance to enhance the relationship between the sovereign and his subjects through heart-to-heart discussions, and was originally held in the last and first month of the year.
It can be comparable to the modern workplace’s opening and closing ceremonies for the New Year.
Based on documents describing ``hoeryeyeon,’’ about 130 NCKTPA dancers and musicians will reproduce the feast with a modern touch.
For this performance, detailed historical evidence from royal documents was thoroughly investigated, and the banquet was updated to reduce the gap between the present and past.
According to the NCKTPA, the feast was the result of a nine-year musical research and experiment, which was conducted from 1424-1432. In the Joseon period, music was regarded as one way to realize the ideal Confucian world.
The ceremonial event shows that the kingdom improved court music and developed unique instruments as part of its political and cultural efforts.
The performance directed by Kim Suk-man offers graceful and elegant costumes, dynamic dances and the refined musical style of the early Joseon period, which are still unknown to many modern people.
The show is revised from its original order in the records of the Joseon Kingom for better understanding of the ceremony. In the show, retainers report to King Sejong, presenting newly created dances and music, and they then review and discuss the performances.
The center will develop this performance as a national brand show by next year. Their previous performances include ``Jongmyojeryeak,’’ music for the Jongmyo royal ancestral Confucian memorial ceremony, and ``Gungjungyeolnyeak,’’ a royal court banquet music performance.
``The show attempts to condense the original event into a 70-minute performance by intensifying the reinterpreted costumes, music and rituals to better reduce the cultural gap resulting from the time and space difference,’’ said Kim in a press release.
``The performance will be a good chance to see traditional music, dances, songs and royal rituals on stage, which were re-created from the early Joseon period in a culturally-savvy era,’’ Lee Young-wu, a senior official at the center, said.
Tickets cost 10,000 won to 20,000 won. For more information, call (02) 580-3300 or visit www.ncktpa.go.kr.