By Bernard Rowan
When I played the clarinet in high school, the concert band often performed a Korean folk song. This was long before I thought anything about Korea, made lifelong Korean friends, understood the Korean struggle for democracy, or visited Korea. But the song remained with me, as its different form of harmony imprinted on my memory. I later learned the song's proper title.
Arirang is a microcosm of Korea, and it's often called THE Korean song ― even though it's not the national anthem. For anyone who studies Korean musicology, Arirang represents Korean people and culture. I'd like to share some thoughts about this song.
UNESCO has named Arirang an intangible cultural heritage. North and South Korea claim and celebrate it. The song exists in many regional variants but has several common features: what I shall term the refrain, "Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo…" and several further lines of lyrics about walking far, leaving a dear one and having sore feet.
We can find several versions of Arirang to listen to online, with YouTube and other websites. If one adds "dance" to the song's name, it's easy to find how many different interpretations of the song accompany fan dance performances.
The song bears romantic interpretations, as a story about the return of a lover to his love. The song may also stand as an allegory of any separation of loved ones, such as family or friends. Korea preserves and extends many forms of "folk culture", and this song ranks among them.
To my mind, a fundamental theme of love and attachment is longing ― a longing based on an affinity that stands in jeopardy. Arirang doesn't suggest that separation is fundamental or permanent. I do think the song leaves open optimistic or pessimistic interpretations.
However, I've learned Arirang also functioned as a song of protest and resistance during the period of Japanese colonization and occupation. During the Korean War, it met the longing and expressed the hopes of separated Korean families ― as it still does now. E. Taylor Atkins has written a scholarly article about this subject. It didn't surprise me the song was a "pop hit" in Japan during the same period. Dominant powers seize cultural symbols to create new (even perverted) forms of loyalty and affinity.
Arirang symbolizes Korean unity and can imagine reunification. It also tells me about powers overcoming competition and rivalry that interfere with basic humanity!
I like Lee Seung-yul's explanation of the word Arirang, including his analysis of the word in Chinese characters to mean: "to find my true self, to control it, and to lead it to enlightenment to enjoy happiness with it." That's fitting for the CEO of Arirang TV! It's also a precis of many value streams, including Confucianism.
To catch some sense of the song's reflection of Korean life and culture, I liked the explanation on a website titled "Censorship and Government Regulation of Music." It associated the song with rituals or normal life moments from learning multiplication to funerals and crying children.
Long before "hallyu" existed as a term, Arirang stood as a basis for people outside to learn about Korea. People all over the world have published, printed, and spread the song. Hyesoo Yoo and Sangmi Kang created a pedagogy for teaching Arirang in a 2017 research article. What I like though is many have learned the song without knowing they've done so, just like me. Arirang is a gift that represents the gift of Korean civilization to her people and to the world. The song tells us, if we listen, that love may part only to return, to return if we let it. May we never forget Arirang's gift to us all. It's the gift of a song with no known author and with no known limit!
Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.
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Arirang is a microcosm of Korea, and it's often called THE Korean song ― even though it's not the national anthem. For anyone who studies Korean musicology, Arirang represents Korean people and culture. I'd like to share some thoughts about this song.
UNESCO has named Arirang an intangible cultural heritage. North and South Korea claim and celebrate it. The song exists in many regional variants but has several common features: what I shall term the refrain, "Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo…" and several further lines of lyrics about walking far, leaving a dear one and having sore feet.
We can find several versions of Arirang to listen to online, with YouTube and other websites. If one adds "dance" to the song's name, it's easy to find how many different interpretations of the song accompany fan dance performances.
The song bears romantic interpretations, as a story about the return of a lover to his love. The song may also stand as an allegory of any separation of loved ones, such as family or friends. Korea preserves and extends many forms of "folk culture", and this song ranks among them.
To my mind, a fundamental theme of love and attachment is longing ― a longing based on an affinity that stands in jeopardy. Arirang doesn't suggest that separation is fundamental or permanent. I do think the song leaves open optimistic or pessimistic interpretations.
However, I've learned Arirang also functioned as a song of protest and resistance during the period of Japanese colonization and occupation. During the Korean War, it met the longing and expressed the hopes of separated Korean families ― as it still does now. E. Taylor Atkins has written a scholarly article about this subject. It didn't surprise me the song was a "pop hit" in Japan during the same period. Dominant powers seize cultural symbols to create new (even perverted) forms of loyalty and affinity.
Arirang symbolizes Korean unity and can imagine reunification. It also tells me about powers overcoming competition and rivalry that interfere with basic humanity!
I like Lee Seung-yul's explanation of the word Arirang, including his analysis of the word in Chinese characters to mean: "to find my true self, to control it, and to lead it to enlightenment to enjoy happiness with it." That's fitting for the CEO of Arirang TV! It's also a precis of many value streams, including Confucianism.
To catch some sense of the song's reflection of Korean life and culture, I liked the explanation on a website titled "Censorship and Government Regulation of Music." It associated the song with rituals or normal life moments from learning multiplication to funerals and crying children.
Long before "hallyu" existed as a term, Arirang stood as a basis for people outside to learn about Korea. People all over the world have published, printed, and spread the song. Hyesoo Yoo and Sangmi Kang created a pedagogy for teaching Arirang in a 2017 research article. What I like though is many have learned the song without knowing they've done so, just like me. Arirang is a gift that represents the gift of Korean civilization to her people and to the world. The song tells us, if we listen, that love may part only to return, to return if we let it. May we never forget Arirang's gift to us all. It's the gift of a song with no known author and with no known limit!
Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.
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