National Gugak Center, Daegum Player Kim Hoejin Wins Presidential Award at the 41st 'Onnara Gugak Competition'

Kim Hoe-jin, who won the grand prize at the 41st National Gugak Center Onnara Gugak Competition, is playing the daegeum. (Photo by National Gugak Center)

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The National Gugak Center announced on the 12th that it successfully concluded the 41st Onnara Gugak Competition and Awards Ceremony.

In the grand prize competition, Kim Hoejin (a senior at Seoul National University) performed ‘Seoyongseok-ryu Daegum Sanjo’ on the daegum and received the prestigious grand prize, the Presidential Award. Kim said, "This was my fourth challenge at the Onnara Gugak Competition," adding, "I am grateful to my teachers and family who supported me, and I will work harder to become a great performer."

The Prime Minister's Award for Excellence was awarded to Park Seongbin (a sophomore at Seoul National University) for his performance of ‘Sangryeongsan’ from Pyeongjo Jesang on the piri.

In the grand prize competition, the first-place winners of 11 categories?gayageum, geomungo, daegum, piri, haegeum, ajaeng, jeongga, pansori, minyo & gayageum byeongchang, composition, and percussion?who had passed the preliminaries and finals held from March 30 to April 22, competed against each other. A total of 132 judges, including holders of national intangible cultural assets in the gugak field, professors, performers, and composers, participated in judging the preliminaries, finals, and grand prize competition.

Despite the ongoing spread of COVID-19 as last year, the competition was held under strict quarantine measures. During the preliminaries, 29 outdoor tents were installed in the plaza of the National Gugak Center to ensure the safety of contestants in the waiting rooms, and the competition venue was disinfected each time the contestant group changed.

A total of 421 people registered for the competition, and 323 participated in the preliminaries. Six contestants who passed the preliminaries in each category competed in the finals, resulting in 33 awardees, including the grand prize winner of the Presidential Award and the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence.

Jo Sunja (holder of the national intangible cultural asset for Gagok) and chairperson of the judging panel encouraged, "Do not be swayed by today's results; continue to strive and become even better than your teachers," and urged, "Always make efforts to refine your performance."

The Onnara Gugak Competition began in 1981 with the 1st National Gugak Competition held at the National Theater in Jangchung-dong and has since become a gateway for talented gugak performers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.