About Talchum & Tal culture

Sociocultural Roles of Talchum Transmission

When travelling all around the world, we sometimes get to find Tal (masks, face masks), Talnori (masked play) and Talchum (masque). Despite varying forms and expressions, we can detect the universality of Tal culture. Along with the cultural universality, Korea's Tal culture has special characteristics. This is because Korea's Talchum has to be recognized as world heritage for the intensive cultural characteristics

Ancient Tal Culture and Artifacts that Began from the Art of Disguise

Even today, Tal culture is the living form in diverse fields of plastic and performing arts, and an important research subject in the cultural history of the times. People who caught fish became independent as fishermen. Prior to using arrows or harpoons made of steel, people had to keep an extremely close distance with animals by using disguise. For this reason, foraging Tal (hunting mask) was made. Religious Tal (god mask), made for the object of worship of each tribe, Eradicating Tal (bixie mask), made to eradicate object of fear, and Requiem Tal (spiritual mask), made to console various souls, also appeared before the Iron Age. Artifacts related with Korea’s Tal culture were found in various regions. Those in the Old Stone Age were found from Danyang and Cheongwon of Chungcheongbuk-do, and Yanggu of Gangwon-do. Artifacts from the New Stone Age were excavaated from Yeongdo of Busan, Osan-ri,

Yangyang of Gangwon-do, and Seopohang, Unggi-gun in North Korea. Artifacts in the Bronze Age were confirmed in large rock drawings in Cheonjeon-ri, and Daegok-ri, Ulju-gun of Gyeongsangnam-do. The drawings in Cheonjeon-ri are of forms of people and Tal in the shape of face. In Daegok-ri are images of dancing people, naked people, hunting people with arrows and two shapes of face. The forms of Tal are similar to that in Cheonjeon-ri, The oldest ones among ancient artifacts are shapes of body and face. It looks as though the ones engraved on trees have decomposed and only the engravings on rocks and bones remain.

Omnipresence of Tal Culture and Korea's Talchum

Tal is used universally all over the world. At the same time, the exisence of Tal is unbound by specific time. The traditional culture leading from the ancient to contemporary times is Tal. Tal exists by transcending time and space in human cultures because people can transform into different forms in Tal. By wearing Tal, people intend to satisfy their shamanistic desires and artistic desires. They wear Tal to satisfy transcending desires through shamanistic method and deviant desires through artistic method. People’s cultures of satisfying desires in Tal are present throughout times and spaces. We can also witness acting in Tal such as dancing, speaking and singing all over the world. A universal culture of the human race throughout all ages and countries would be acting in Tal. In Korea, a representative acting in Tal is Talchum. Korea’s Talchum shares the global universality and it also has unique character. The unique character of Korean Talchum is that it harmonizes dance, gag and songs at the same time. It is also worthwhile to point out the fact that the story of Talchum delivered through dance, gag and song is about the irrationality in the medieval Korean society. The conceptual falsehood and duplicity of religious people, proud and ignorance of noblemen, contradition of male chauvinism and joys and sorrows of ordinary people are expressed in Talchum. These have been the concurrent social problems raised by the people at the time when Korea’s Talchum formed and shaped, resulting in a participatory art that publicized the contemporary critical subjects in a cheerful and fun way.

Contemporary Significance and Roles of Talchum

Fueled by transmission of preservation societies and university clubs, today’s Talchum has become a symbolic and representative traditional culture of Korea. Moreover, it has become a center of local identity. Today, Talchum is being transmitted in regions. This is proven by the title of each Talchum. Each Talchum, Sandaenori, Ogwangdae, Yaryu, Talnori and masque is named by the region. Already, each region is recognized by Talchum for the cultural symbol representing the region. Gags of Talchum are in the local dialect, and Minyo (folk song) transmitted only in the region is sung in the Talchum. The characters also remind of the characters of local people. As such, Talchum is considered cultural symbol and center of pride and identity of each region to local people. Today, the significance and roles of Talchum would be summarized as ‘symbolizing and representing Korean culture and building local identity’, and ‘a good example of participatory art that publicizes issues about universal equality of human beings in a cheerful and fun way’.

"The unique character of Korean Talchum is that it harmonizes dance, gag and songs at the same time. It is also worthwhile to point out the fact that the story of Talchum delivered through dance, gag and song is about the irrationality in the medieval Korean society. "

In addition, the future roles and responsibilities of Korean Talchum would be the harmony between South and North, and the advance guard for peace. Talchum is being transmitted in South and North alike. In particular, Bongsantalchum, Gangnyeongtalchum, Eunyultalchum and Bukcheongsajanoreum are being transmitted all over Korean peninsula. This is the contemporary role of Korean Talchum.

Tal Culture as Intangible Asset

‘Korean Talchum’ was nominated for 2020 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Asset. In the preparation for ‘Korean Tal culture’ to be registered in the future, we expect to reflect international expectations and standards of the time to promote open communication based on mutual understanding and respect between various communities and protect and promote cultural diversity through the application for registration. This is because as UNESCO emphasizes each year, we share the significance of the big picture by protecting and transmitting various cultural assets shared by the human race instead of aiming for the registration