Observations placeholder
Mudang spiritual experiences – Inspiration, improvisation and modification of a song to chase ghosts away according to the kind of ghosts
Identifier
027167
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Korean Shamanism – Muism – Dr Kim Tae-kon
Kim Sokch'ul, the husband of Kim Yuson, is undoubtedly an able improviser. In June 1982, his team performed in unusual surroundings, the Unesco Building in downtown Seoul, for an audience that consisted of students and professors. Without hesitation he adapted his prayers to suit the occasion.
When asked if he had prepared this beforehand, he denied it saying that the words 'Just came up." Such evidence from the lips of the mudang themselves, should always be tested against other evidence before it can be accepted as proof of genuine improvisation, but in combination with the results of an examination of other muga by Kim Sokch'ul it seems acceptable.
Improvisations in the form of adaptations to the situation in which the kut is held, are at any rate quite common. In many songs, at the beginning the name of the locality and the time of the year are mentioned, and these things are, of course, different on each occasion. Also, a fifty-five year old mudang from Kyongsang Province told a researcher that she modified a song to chase ghosts away according to the kind of ghosts against whom it was directed.