고려 말 악공 · 기녀의 위상과 음악사적 의의

Abstract

This article examined the characteristics and significance of Kisaeng(妓生, a female entertainer who played in the palace)/Akkong(樂工, court musician) from the perspective of a minority group. The word ‘minority’ in this sense does not only carry a sense in number but also refers to groups subjected to social discrimination and exclusion. In this regard, Kisaeng/Akkong in Goryeo Dynasty era can be categorized as a minority group. The essential character of the minorities that are excluded from the power lays in their acts to create new values that is free from the regulation of the majority and in their strength to resist against the power of it. But Kisaeng/Akkong in Goryeo Dynasty era were in the boundary of the power of majority, especially court and literati class. Even though they were lowest class of the Goryeo society, they were not just minority like the other minority group as the three aspects like these. 1) They served the performance in the royal banquet. Kisaeng danced and sang a song for the king while Akkong played the various instruments. Sometimes Kisaeng also played the various instruments. 2) Especially Kisaeng exchanged the poems with the high ranking government officials. They presented the poems to the special Kisaeng or Kisaeng sang songs that they created instead of Kisaeng. There are lots of that kind of poems that existed in Goryeo Dynasty era. 3) Kisaeng/Akkong in Goryeo Dynasty era were usually showed the performance in the court, but sometimes they played in their native village or the government official's private places. They played more various repertories of their performance. Probably they played the song and dance “there”, which they played in the court, vice versa they played the same song and dance “in the court”, which they played in the village and the private places. Consequently, the song and dance in the village were carried to the court, and those in the court were conveyed to the village. Kisaeng/Akkong in Goryeo Dynasty era can be categorized as a minority group, but they have the characteristics that they were on the boundary line between the lowest social class and the highest role of the performer in the court. This kind of status gives them the significance that they could exchange the songs, dances, emotions and the cultures between the totally different class and society.