Response essay about Korea music

Unit 3, Korea

Prelude: outline of (some of) Korean History and Aesthetics

668 CE - 935 Unified Silla

918-1392 Goryeo

1392-1910 Joseon (current name of NK)

1897-1910 Korean Empire, "Dae-Han-Je-Guk" (Great Korean Empire)

1910-45 Japanese colonial era 1919 Sam-il (3.1) Movement, Declaration of a Provisional Goverment in Shanghai, DRK ("Dae- Han-Min-Guk") (Democratic Republic of Korea)

1945 National division into Republic of K (S) and DPRK 1945-8 American occupation of South Korea

1950-3 6.25 War (Korean War)

1987 Direct election system installed in South Korea

Key points covered:

1. Accrual of religions—shamanism, Buddhism, Confucianism 2. Fealty relation (sadae) to Chinese Emperor 3. (a) relative stability until 1910 (b) turbulent modernity 4. Importance of regional traditions

central

northwestern stylistic area

southwestern

jeju

eastern

Shamanism , folk styles

Overarching aesthetic principles

1. Flexibility (allows for) Personal style Response to social world Improvisation “The changing same”: traditions of change

2. “Rough Beauty” (Stylized naturalness)

3. “Living Tones”: pitch bending timbral, dynamic variety

4. Transformation Sorrow to joy Isolation to collectivity Paralysis to competence Illness to health, etc.

“Jindo arirang” (SW folk song)

Ari-arirang Sseu-di sseu-dirang

Arari gana ne~he

Arirang hmm hmm hmm

Arari ga nan-ne

3.1—folk song

Tosok and tongsok minyo (local and popular folk songs)

Tosok minyo (local folksongs)

Work Vending Lullabies (jajangga) Mourning (cry--song) Self-narration/spieling (speech--song)

Shinsae taryeong (Ballad of Woe) Heunggeul sori Sijip sali

Song, language, crying, laughter

Origins of tongsok minyo (widespread folk songs): NOT COVERED

Folk work song

Play song

Shamanist song

Professionalized folk song

Popularization

Radio, namsadang, pansorikkun, gisaeng’s (courtesan’s) role in popularization

Versions and multiple traditions

“Changbu Taryeong” (Ballad of the Entertainer [Spirit])

Shamanist song Þ Þ Þ Þ (multiple versions)

ß

popular folk songÞ Þ Þ (multiple versions)

ß ß

professionalized folk song Þ Þ Þ Þ (fewer, but still versions)

Personal stylistic variation (ex: refrain of “Changbu Taryeong” [Ballad of the Entertainer])

아니~ Ani~

아니노지는못하리라. A--ni no-ji-neun mot-a-ri-ra!

아니~디디디, 아디디당당당다~ Ani~dididi, a dididang dang dang da~

아니노지는못하리라. A--ni no-ji-neun mot-a-ri-ra!

얼씨구나좋다참말로좋네 Ul-shi-gu-na jot-ta, cham-mal-lo jot-ne

아니노지는못하리라. A--ni no-ji-neun mot-a-ri-ra!

Yun Sunman Kim Sundeok

Kim Sundeok “Ballad of the Entertainer” (倡夫打令): “Liberation Song” (解放歌)

(Refrain) Oh, we’ve got to have fun while we can.

August fifteenth was our land’s liberation day Every house flew the flag; on every street people shouting “만세, 만세” (萬歲, 萬歲) !! Hooray, hooray! Hooray for independence, our land is free! Don’t trust the Americans or be suckered by the Soviets; Hasten the reunion of our North and South, build up our land— I want to live for a trillion years!”

“I want to live for a trillion years!”

Yun Sunman’s

“Ballad of the Entertainer” (倡夫打令): “Liberation Song” (解放歌)

“Song of the War” (戰爭歌)etc.

Oh, we’ve got to have fun while we can.

I was taken as “military supplies” for ten years and didn’t know if I could get back.

At liberation on the 15th of August 1941 (sic) I took a ferry to Busan

And on the way up to Seoul I took the Gyeongbu line. ...When I came back to Seoul...

The flag was flying here and there, And from every house, came the sound

“만세, 만세” (萬歲, 萬歲) !!, and it was so wonderful...

(continued)

Then why did this wretched 6.25 war (the Korean War) happen? …I/we took the big kids by the hand, carrying the little ones piggyback,

put our aged mother in front and walked behind on the railroad track The bombs exploded over our heads and sudden showers poured down

Our stomachs caved in, the children cried for food We took shelter in a shack in Busan Harbor

The shack leaked and water flowed like the Han River There wasn’t even a single thing to eat

Tears flowed and became the water of the Han River and we didn’t know how we could live

Went back to Seoul and they built railroad tracks They built subway stations, they built expressways

Oh, as I live on

5 1 m3-2 4

(Folk version of gyemyeonjo melodic mode, Southwestern Korea)

1 m3-2

crying

gok (musical crying)

“Ballad of Woe”

Folksong full scale, octaves, etc.

Song and transformation in everyday life

*The procession from crying to singing is a procession from social paralysis to social competence, From uncontrollable emotion to disciplined emotion, And sometimes from grief to joy

The National Gugak (national music) Center

founded 1951 for elite genres

Folk song begins to be admitted in 70s

• The canonization of traditional music and folk singing

• Standardization

• Western music notation

• ‘classicization’ (borrowing from elite genres in the search for status)