Lee Myung-hoon, a "daegeum," or traditional bamboo flute player, and a member of the National Gugak Center's Contemporary Gugak Orchestra, performs game music during a listening session at Gugak Museum in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of National Gugak Center

Iconic game soundtracks from popular games — League of Legends, Night Crows and PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS — are set to receive a traditional Korean music makeover, aiming to broaden the appeal of "gugak," or traditional Korean music.

According to the National Gugak Center (NGC), Wednesday, these gugak versions will be released as three singles, one per day from Wednesday to Friday as part of the center's Game Sound Series, to make gugak more accessible and appealing to a wider audience, particularly younger generations who are familiar with popular video games.

Music director Kim Jin-hwan and Lee Ji-soo, a musicology professor at Seoul National University, arranged the tracks, while members of the NGC's Court Music Orchestra and Contemporary Gugak Orchestra played the works.

"These songs were previewed to gaming industry officials at a prelistening session held at the NGC's Gugak Museum on Tuesday, receiving a positive response," the NGC said.

"The songs effectively incorporate traditional music elements such as 'sigimsae' (ornamental notes in Korean traditional music) and 'jangdan' (rhythmic patterns), highlighting the unique characteristics of gugak instruments. They have created music that is both familiar and appealing to gamers."

The cover image for Krafton's version of the soundtrack to the game PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, performed in "gugak," or traditional Korean music style. Courtesy of National Gugak Center

The NGC has been striving to make gugak more appealing to a wider range of age groups. For instance, members of the NGC-run orchestras performed gugak versions of game music at the opening of the Korea Game Awards last month, which was well-received.

In addition to the NGC's initiatives, the National Orchestra of Korea (NOK), a state-run orchestra that creates new traditional music based on gugak instruments, also held a concert featuring game music in November.

The two-day concert, titled "Music Odyssey: The Great Merchant," featured soundtracks from the Korean game The Great Merchant. The orchestra not only performed the music but also organized a composition competition where five gugak composers had to create music for different game soundtracks.

This concert was the NOK's third collaboration with the game industry. In 2021 and 2022, they performed music from the mobile game Cookie Run: Kingdom, and last year, they collaborated with Crazyracing Kartrider to play the game's music using gugak instruments.