Gangneung Nongak is a leading farmers’ music handed down in areas east of Taebaek Mountain Range in Gangwon-do. Also called nongsa puri (explanation of the farming process) music, the music is presumed to have been naturally made with the start of farming. A Gangneung Nongak troupe is composed of people carrying farming tools, swaenap (conical wooden oboe), kkwaenggwari (small gongs), jing (large gongs), buk (drums), janggo (hourglass-shaped drum), sogo (small drums), and beopgo (Buddhist drum), and mudong (dancing boys). Performers wear white jacket and trousers, with their bodies decorated with bands in three colors (red, blue, and yellow); dancing boys wear colorful clothes. Gangneung Nongak is performed on the following occasions: jisin bapgi (“earth spirit treading”); geollip nongak [geollippae (fund-raising troupe)’s performance]; gimmaegi nongak (performance for planting rice seedlings and weeding); jilmeokgi (party for farm laborers); geollipgut (geollippae’s shamanic performance); madanggut (courtyard ritual), etc. The foregoing events are also held in other regions, but the following are performed only in Gangneung with the accompaniment of Gangneung Nongak: dalmajigut (rite to the first full-moon), hwaetbul nori (torch play), notdari bapgi (one selected among a group of young women, who treads on their waists as they lie down), gimmaegi nongak, jilmeolki, and gil nori nongak (road performance). Gangneung Nongak plays an important role as an event that provides consolation in the hard life of farmers and helps villagers build friendship with each other.