Response essay about Korea music

2-3 pages.  12-pt font, double spaced.

 

Killick, in his article for the Nov. 15 class, discusses ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ streams of Korean traditional music practice in contemporary South Korea. One is the realm of state canonization of musical practice, which has involved, for the most part, making music resistant to change, and expunging blatantly modern content from the repertoire. The ‘unofficial’ tradition may be thought of as more flexible and responsive to the conditions of South Korean life. Referring to this article and the Nov. 15 lecture, notes, and listening examples, describe the motives of each. Pay particular attention to the different place of improvisationand personal style in each, and demonstrate the significance of these differences. What is the outcome of a fixed version of 'tradition' like that of the state? What paradoxes does this attitude towards the past produce?

The listening examples, by the way, are all versions of the "Ballad of the Entertainer." One example is of the 'official' tradition, a performance by the National Gugak (National Music) Center. The other two examples are colloquial versions of the song as performed by Kim Sundeok and Yun Sunman, which are rife with modern content but intensely traditional in mode of performance.

I've updated the Korea PowerPoint slide to include the lyrics to Kim Sundeok's version of "Ballad of the Entertainer," which will give you more info for writing the essay. Lyrics to the Yun Sunman song are already in the powerpoint for that day. The 'official one' just has poetical, 19th century lyrics, 'cleansed' of modern content, that is the most important thing to know--you don't need to know what they mean. The essay is largely based on the first Korea lecture, which was about the social utility of Korean folk music's flexibility--it is flexible in order to allow people to use it to respond to the conditions of their life. It went through a radical 'fixing' in the halls of national culture, discussed in the Killick, who distinguishes between 'official' and 'unofficial' strains of traditional music performance.

You may cite Killick as (Author: page number [Killick: 809]), but provide full citations for other sources. Late work will not be accepted.