Sinawi

Sinawi was developed especially in the areas south of Hangang (river). The reason for the development of sinawi, associated with shaman rites, in these areas is that shamans of the north and the south of Hangang have different characteristics.

In the north, many of the shamans are Gangsinmu, who becomes a shaman by being possessed by a god or spirit. So they do not have long training for being a shaman and do not have entertaining skills that can be matchable to shamans in the south.

To the contrary, shamans in the south are mostly Seseupmu, who inherits the right to be a shaman through the family lines. Female inherited shamans called "Danggol" in the south learn dancing and singing in their young years and acquire excellent skills over time. Sinawi, music once used in shaman rites in southern areas of the country, rose to the current level of art.
 
Therefore, the music of sinawi is divided into three areas: One is for the southern part of Gyeonggi-do (province); The other is for Chungcheong-do and the northern part of Jeolla-do; And the last is for the sourthern part of Jeolla-do. The common rhythms of those three regions are deongdeokgungi, jungmori, and jungjungmori. They also have their own unique rhythms by region. In terms of these unique rhythms, sinawi can be categorized into Dosalpurigwon, Salpurigwon, and Dongsalpurigwon. In particular, Jeollabuk-do has Salpurigwon. Other rhythms of anjeun ban, sinim, and oejanggo are uniquely used in the performance in Jeollabuk-do.

Sinawi can be divided into the prototype sinawi performed improvisationally and the staged performance of sinawi. The instrumental performance of sinawi is made mainly with percussion and wind instruments.

Janggo in sinawi leads rhythms just like in other sanjo pieces. So, janggo can not be omitted in sinawi. When two or more instruments of one kind join, jing, besides janggo, is also added, deepening the shamanistic atmosphere. Jeotdae and piri are usually used for wind instruments. When sinawi is performed with jeotdae and piri, Sinawi-cheong is used with different ways of handling the instruments, and the tone of sinawicheong can be low or high.

The reason for these changes in the tones of the instruments in sinawi is that sinawi is shaman music and played improvisationally, on the spot of the shaman ritual, as an accompaniment to the shamans song and dance.

Sinawi sanjo can be explained as consonance in dissonance and harmony in disharmony. Sinawi is created improvisationally on the site. Therefore, there is no such thing as two or more of the same musical score of sinawi existing. It is on-the-spot music.
 

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