The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Yoo In-chon, from now on referred to as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), together with the National Gugak Center (Director Kim Young-un), will release 13 single albums from the ‘National Gugak Center Game Sound Series’, which recreate famous game music into Korean traditional music, from May 9 to 24.
Before the album’s release, the National Gugak Center held a ‘pre-listening session’ for game company officials at the NCSoft Comprehensive Game Demonstration Room on May 3 to showcase the music, and a high response was received.
This album includes ‘Lies of P’, ‘Skull, Mountain Butterfly’, ‘Maple Story’, ‘Tales Weaver’, ‘Epic Seven’, ‘Lost Ark’, ‘Everyone’s Marble’, ‘Guardian Tales’; it contains songs that recreate the theme songs and background music of 13 famous games, including ‘Blade & Soul’, ‘Lineage’, ‘Aion’, and ‘Black Desert’, into Korean traditional music. By fusing the sounds of Korean traditional instruments with computer music with melodies and rhythms familiar to game users, Korean traditional music for everyday life was realized.
In particular, many talented musicians participated in the production of this album. Kim Jin-hwan (music producer), Yang Seung-hwan (Korean traditional music composer), Lee Ji-su (film music director), and Noh Eun-bi (Youtuber Eunzel) arranged and wrote the songs on the album, while Lee Solomon (famous singer) and Park Jin-hee (National Gugak Center member/member) Jeong Ga), Lee Joo-eun (National Gugak Center/Pansori), vocal music significant students at National Gugak Middle School, Lee Tae-wook (Soran Band/Guitar), and Kim Ki-wook (BTS Band/Bass) were in charge of singing and playing.
This album’s 13 albums will be released sequentially starting May 9*. They are on the National Gugak Center’s Gugak Archive Portal (archive.gugak.go.kr) and significant domestic and international music platforms.
A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism policy manager said, “I hope that Korean traditional music will become closer to the youth (MZ) generation by changing familiar game music into Korean traditional music.” He added, “The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue collaborating with various industries and popularizing Korean traditional music as part of everyday life.” “I will do my best to do it,” he said.