''Daechwita'' () is a

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

of Korean traditional music consisting of

military music A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

played by wind and percussion instruments, generally performed while marching or as a static performance.

Instrumentation

Instruments used include '' nabal'' (brass horn), '' nagak'' (seashell horn), and ''

taepyeongso The ''taepyeongso'' (), also called ''hojok'', ''hojeok'' 호적 號笛/wikt:胡, 胡wikt:笛, 笛, ''nallari'', or ''saenap'', wikt:嗩, 嗩wikt:吶, 吶, is a Korean double reed wind instrument in the shawm or oboe family. It is possibly desce ...

'' (shawm), with '' jing'' (gong), ''jabara'' ( cymbals), Ulla (xylophone), and ''yonggo'' (; drum painted with

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

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 Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

'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 A royal family is the immediate family of monarch, monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or emperor, empress, and the term papal family describes the family of ...

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 A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and in other state or special events, with the band playing daechwita and the honor guards carrying out ceremonial duties.

Chwita

''Chwita'' is the name of the military music played in military processions,

military parade A military parade is a formation of military personnels whose movement is restricted by close-order manoeuvering known as Drill team, drilling or marching. Large military parades are today held on major holidays and military events around the ...

s and on such occasions as when the gates to military headquarters were opened or closed.

Popular culture

South Korean rapper Agust D, also known as

Suga Min Yoon-gi (; born March 9, 1993), known professionally by his stage names Suga (; stylized in all caps) and Agust D, is a South Korean rapper, songwriter and record producer. He debuted as a member of the South Korean boy band BTS in June ...

from BTS, released a rap song called ' Daechwita ()' on his second solo mixtape '' D-2'' (2020). The song is heavily inspired by and samples daechwita performed by the National Gugak Center.

References

External links

''Daechwita'' page
Korean traditional music Military music Military of Korea Korean military bands {{music-genre-stub