One of my favorite things about Incheon International Airport is that Korean culture sometimes appears where you least expect it.
While passing through Terminal 2, I came across a live traditional performance presented by the Korea Heritage Agency (국가유산진흥원). Instead of another airport advertisement or duty-free shop, travelers were treated to Korean music and dance performed in hanbok.
The performance included traditional instruments such as the gayageum (가야금) and janggu (장구), accompanied by Korean dance. The program display identified the performance as 산조춤 빚.
산조 (sanjo) is a style of traditional Korean instrumental music that typically begins slowly and gradually becomes faster and more energetic. It is usually performed with an instrument accompanied by janggu.
The Korea Heritage Agency’s performing arts group has been promoting Korean traditional music and dance since 1981, with performances combining 가 (song), 무 (dance), and 악 (music).
Seeing it inside a modern international airport makes for an interesting contrast: airplanes, digital screens and moving walkways on one side, and centuries-old Korean sounds and movements on the other.
It is also a nice reminder that your introduction to Korea doesn’t necessarily begin after leaving the airport.
Korean Vocabulary
- 산조 (sanjo) — traditional Korean instrumental music style
- 춤 (chum) — dance
- 공연 (gongyeon) — performance
- 가야금 (gaya-geum) — traditional Korean zither
- 장구 (janggu) — hourglass-shaped Korean drum
- 한복 (hanbok) — traditional Korean clothing
Useful phrase:
전통 공연을 구경했어요. Jeontong gongyeoneul gugyeonghaesseoyo. “I watched a traditional performance.”
