Pioneer in Korean Musicology Research Professor Song Bangsong Passes Away

Published Over 200 Papers... Systematizing Korean Musicology Through Continuous Literature Research

Song Bang-song, Honorary Professor at Korea National University of Arts, passed away on the 19th due to a long illness. He was 79 years old.

The deceased was a gugak scholar who laid the foundation for the study of Korean music history. Born in Jaeryeong, Hwanghae Province, he graduated from Seoul National University’s Department of Korean Music and majored in Korean music theory at the same graduate school. After earning a Ph.D. in musicology from Wesleyan University in the United States, he served as an assistant professor at McGill University’s School of Music in Canada starting in 1975. He was appointed as the youngest director of the National Gugak Center in 1978 and returned to Korea. He later served as a professor in the Department of Korean Music at Yeungnam University and as a professor and honorary professor in the Department of Korean Arts at Korea National University of Arts.

He published over 200 academic papers. His major works include "A General History of Korean Music" (1984), "Index of Joseon Dynasty Music Records" (1991), "Study on Modern Korean Music History" (2003), "Biographies of Joseon Musicians" (2010), "Great Dictionary of Korean Music" (2012), and "An Overview of the Artistic World of Master Han Seong-jun" (2014). In 1988, he founded the Korean Music History Society and published the "Journal of Korean Music History" twice a year. Earlier this year, he also published his autobiography, "The Academic Life of Musicologist Ilhae (一海)." Through relentless research of historical documents, he systematized Korean musicology and contributed to its academic development. He is especially recognized for systematically analyzing the Uigwe (royal protocols) of the late Joseon period, laying the groundwork for research on court dances.

In 2007, he donated over 10,000 pieces of gugak materials he had collected throughout his life to the National Library of Korea. In recognition of his lifelong dedication to Korean music history research, he received numerous awards including the Presidential Citation, the Nankye Gugak Award (1978), the KBS Gugak Award for Publishing (1998), the Nankye Musicology Award (1999), and the Han Seong-jun Arts Award (2020). He is survived by his wife Song Kyung-hwan, son Sang-won, and daughter Hye-won. The funeral is being held at Samsung Seoul Hospital Funeral Hall, Room 2, with the funeral procession scheduled for 5:15 a.m. on the 21st.

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