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이 논문은 고려 말 음악문화를 실제적으로 담당했으나 주목받지 못했던 악공 · 기녀의 위상 및 역할을 고찰하여 그 의미를 밝힌 글이다. 악공과 기녀는 고려시대의 신분제도상 최하층으로서 사회적인 지위와 대우의 측면에서는 소수자라고 할 수 있다. 그러나 악기를 연주하고 가무를 연행하는 악(樂)의 수행 측면에서는 고려 말 궁중의 음악문화의 주체적인 역할을 담당했다고 볼 수 있다. 그들의 역할은 궁중 의례나 사신 접대 등 왕실의 행사에만 머물지 않고 사대부 귀족층이 주관하는 민간 연회에까지 미쳤으므로, 소속은 하층의 신분이지만 상층문화의 담당층으로 보아야 할 여지가 많다. 이들의 역할은 고려 말에서 조선 초에 이르는 격변기에, 전 왕조의 음악을 혁파하고 새 왕조에 적합한 새로운 음악을 창안하고자 했지만 이전의 음악과 춤 · 노래를 완전히 제거할 수 없던 상황이기에 더욱 의미가 크다. 고려 말 악공과 기녀의 활동 양상은 대악서 관현방 및 교방 등 왕실 음악기관을 중심으로 활발하게 펼쳐졌다. 악공과 기녀는 실제로 음악을 연주하고 공연을 베풀었을 뿐만 아니라, 문인들과의 교류를 통해 때로는 궁중의 소용에 맞도록 음악을 편집하고 개작하기도 했으며, 때로는 민간의 음악을 궁중에 전파하고, 역으로 궁중의 음악을 민간의 연희 공간에 전해주는 긴요하고도 다양한 역할을 담당했던 것으로 파악된다.

This article examined the characteristics and significance of Kisaeng(妓生, a female entertainer who played in the palace)/Akkong(樂工, court musician) from the perspective of a minority group. The word ‘minority’ in this sense does not only carry a sense in number but also refers to groups subjected to social discrimination and exclusion. In this regard, Kisaeng/Akkong in Goryeo Dynasty era can be categorized as a minority group. The essential character of the minorities that are excluded from the power lays in their acts to create new values that is free from the regulation of the majority and in their strength to resist against the power of it. But Kisaeng/Akkong in Goryeo Dynasty era were in the boundary of the power of majority, especially court and literati class. Even though they were lowest class of the Goryeo society, they were not just minority like the other minority group as the three aspects like these. 1) They served the performance in the royal banquet. Kisaeng danced and sang a song for the king while Akkong played the various instruments. Sometimes Kisaeng also played the various instruments. 2) Especially Kisaeng exchanged the poems with the high ranking government officials. They presented the poems to the special Kisaeng or Kisaeng sang songs that they created instead of Kisaeng. There are lots of that kind of poems that existed in Goryeo Dynasty era. 3) Kisaeng/Akkong in Goryeo Dynasty era were usually showed the performance in the court, but sometimes they played in their native village or the government official's private places. They played more various repertories of their performance. Probably they played the song and dance “there”, which they played in the court, vice versa they played the same song and dance “in the court”, which they played in the village and the private places. Consequently, the song and dance in the village were carried to the court, and those in the court were conveyed to the village. Kisaeng/Akkong in Goryeo Dynasty era can be categorized as a minority group, but they have the characteristics that they were on the boundary line between the lowest social class and the highest role of the performer in the court. This kind of status gives them the significance that they could exchange the songs, dances, emotions and the cultures between the totally different class and society.