Mahan, Qurmash

Oriental ballad is a South Korean ballad style that emerged in the late 1990s and blends mainstream Korean pop ballad writing with timbral, melodic, and ornamental elements associated with traditional Korean music. The genre typically emphasizes emotional vocal delivery, lyrical sentiment, and slow to mid-tempo song structures, while incorporating features such as pentatonic or modal melodic contours, Korean traditional instrumental colors, and a heightened sense of historical or cultural atmosphere. Although it is still fundamentally a modern ballad form, oriental ballad distinguishes itself through its evocation of Korean musical heritage. The result is a style that feels dramatic, nostalgic, refined, and often deeply melancholic.