This paper examines how musicians from North and South Korea have articulated gestures of reconciliation through the circulation of composed Arirang across the divided peninsula. Recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012, Arirang embodies the Korean affect of han and historically carried collective sentiments under Japanese colonial rule. Since the Korean War, the song has been continually adapted and reinterpreted on both sides. Rather than treating Northern and Southern musical practices separately or framing them within ideological binaries, this study highlights works that cross borders, including performances in the opposing regime, transnational exchanges, and inter-Korean collaborations.

Three case studies illuminate these dynamics: (1) North Korean composer Choi Sung-hwan’s Arirang Fantasy (1976), which premiered in Japan, was later performed in South Korea, and conducted by Lorin Maazel with the New York Philharmonic in Pyongyang; (2) Handol’s Arirang Alone (1989), sung during Cho Yong-pil’s 2005 Pyongyang concert at North Korean request and later performed by a North Korean art troupe at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics; and (3) the 2019 “Arirang Medley” collaboration between South Korean haegeum performer Jeong Gyeo-woon and North Korean so-haegeum performer Bang Dal-hwa.

Through score analysis, performance reviews, and interviews, the paper argues that Arirang functions not only as shared cultural memory but also as a medium of empathetic listening—one that invites gestures of unity by challenging boundaries between tradition and modernity, nationalism and transnationalism. Its transborder trajectories exemplify a “deterritorialized cultural flow,” (A. Appadurai 1996) fostering new affective communities despite enduring political division.

Baleganjur is a traditional Balinese gamelan genre featuring drums, gongs, and cymbals, long used to accompany cremations and other rituals. This paper examines how Korean rhythms influence Balinese contemporary baleganjur composition. Putu Hiranmayena (2022) discussed the cross-cultural resonances of baleganjur with metal music, though scarce musical analysis has been conducted to explain how such aesthetic fusions operate. Additionally, there are other emerging cross-cultural influences in contemporary baleganjur, namely the presence of Korean samulnori rhythms in recent compositions by I Wayan Sudirana, I Wayan Diana, Dewa Gede Wijaya, and myself.

In this paper, I explain how this trend began and how it has developed through a generational approach. Focusing on baleganjur ngarap—a ceremonial cremation processions genre—I analyse works from the four composers and identify distinctive ways that these composers incorporate samulnori rhythms due to their different degrees of exposure to Korean music. To do so, I introduce four Balinese terms––nyuang, ngidih, nyemak, and nuduk––as emic categories for levels of rhythmic transmission.

Through McGraw’s (2013) adaptation of Sperber’s (1996) concept of an “epidemiology of representations,” I argue that these rhythmic ideas spread not only from formal study, but also through mediated processes of listening, imitating, repetition, and embodied practice. As these rhythmic ideas circulate, musical forms change and gradually lose their direct connection to original sources. The analysis shows how Korean rhythmic ideas have been transmitted, transformed, and localized into Balinese musical practice. Rather than threatening tradition, this process is crucial in supporting ongoing creativity in baleganjur.

Beompae, a collective term for Korean Buddhist chant used in specialized rituals, is an oral tradition that has been transmitted since the 9^th century, when it was first introduced from the Tang Dynasty. Comprised of long melismatic phrases, it is often performed solo without any accompaniment. In a recent study, I devised a hybrid notation to transcribe several beompae songs, enabling more effective analysis. It combines the conventional staff notation with digitally generated line notation, thus providing detailed musical information and a visually enhanced representation. I demonstrated its efficacy as an analytical tool by addressing seemingly arbitrary rising pitches in a structural framework. In this paper, I aim to explore the hybrid notational system’s potential beyond serving as an analytical tool for beompae. First, it is well-suited for transcribing various vocal traditions, in which sounding precise pitch is not a priority. It can contribute to cross-cultural comparative analyses of Buddhist traditions, such as Japanese shōmyō and Tibetan dbyang, which have rarely been discussed in ethnomusicology. Second, it offers pedagogical benefits for beompae, as its initial design was mindful of beompae practitioners’ learning method of using line-notated supplements. With close collaboration with active practitioners, I consider various practical and conceptual aspects of the hybrid notational system as possible learning supplements for beompae.

Kim Jun-Geun's genre paintings, produced for Western buyers at Korean open-port cities during the late nineteenth century, constitute an underexplored visual archive of Korean musical life. This paper contends that Kim Jun-Geun's paintings serve as rare and vital ethnomusicological documents of late Chosŏn Korea. Through close visual analysis of samhyun youkgak (traditional six-piece instrumental ensemble), kisaeng (female entertainer) performance, sadangpae itinerant entertainers, and religious and shamanistic ritual music, this paper reconstructs sonic practices, organology, and gendered musical space that written records have largely overlooked.

While these paintings have attracted some scholarly attention, existing studies have examined Kim Jun-Geun's work from art historical, postcolonial, and cross-cultural perspectives; the musical dimensions embedded in these images have remained rarely investigated, particularly in English-language scholarship. This paper addresses that significant gap, offering the first systematic ethnomusicological examination of music, gender, and ritual performance as documented in his visual archive.

Drawing on close visual analysis of specific paintings, this paper reveals how women musicians — kisaeng, sadangpae performers, and ritual specialists — occupied contested performance spaces that Confucian social order sought to suppress, yet Kim Jun-Geun's brush preserved. Beyond performance, this paper also investigates how music intersected with women's daily labor and marriage rituals, illuminating the broader sonic landscape of women's lives across social classes in late Chosŏn Korea. This paper reframes genre painting as primary ethnomusicological sources, advancing methodological conversations about visual evidence in music historiography while recovering silenced women's musical agency in Korean history.