Pungmul as protest

Pungmul (Korean: 풍물; Hanja: 風物; also spelled "poongmul") is a Korean folk musical art that has a long history of being used for tradition, community formation, ritual, and expression. Its roots are deeply tied to Korean pre-industrial farming culture. Although pungmul was used in earlier protests, it became widely acknowledged as a method of protest during South Korea's pro-democracy movement in the 1970s. Through the minjung movement that spurred the struggle for democratization and labor rights, pungmul's regular presence at protests signifies a "sonic marker of dissent" and continues to be an active part of contemporary protest culture in South Korea and beyond.

Pungmul, along with other Korean folk arts such as talchum, madang guk, and minyo were important in the minjung movement. It involved a will of the university students and intellectual elites to become and embody the working class, which in the minjung movement was seen as the "ultimate revolutionary subject". students used pungmul during street protests and demonstration, often shouting slogans such as "Revolution!" and "Down with the dictatorship!" along the beats while in violent altercations with police. Other than the sentiment of performing minjung ideology, pungmul was useful in protests due to its loud volume, as it was easily heard over a long distance and in the presence of large crowds and energized the group. Historically, pungmul was used by farmers to set a working rhythm and create a sense of community. This nature of the art, with basic beats easy to learn and the ability to be strapped onto the player for mobility, also made it accessible to protests.

Pungmul was not only a tool to be used in protest, it also provided space for protest within its community. Pungmul was a male-exclusive art when it first emerged. While men performed it for public events and labor efficiency, only the lowest class women such as shamans and kisaengs were considered to play it, due in part to the strong Confucian ideologies in South Korea at the time. In the 1950s to 1970s the first women pungmul groups called emerged, but were still denied the right to play at public events and its performers were considered lower class. Because they were excluded from playing the traditional village ritual performance pieces, they were also free to create entirely new repertoires that explored a more "feminine" performance style with fluid dances and heavy makeup. As the traditional labor performances became more rare and the minjung movement allowed pungmul to be played in less traditional contexts, women were able to use pungmul to emerge into the professional music world.

Pungmul groups were first formed in the United States by politically-minded Korean American activists, and Korean political refugees that had participated in the minjung movement in Korea. Groups formed mainly in major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and the Bay Area including San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland between 1985 and 1989. They mostly formed as branches of a larger Korean organization, in college campuses, and in special interest groups.