Episode 241. Tell It to the World: Korea
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Last month Oxford University Press published my dear friend David Savran’s Tell It to the World, a monumental study on transnationalism and the Broadway-style musical. The book focuses on two specific markets: South Korea and Germany. To help David get the word out about his book, over the next few weeks I am featuring two different episodes of Countermelody in which David and I discuss the themes and concerns of the book, as well as playing short musical examples to illustrate those points. Today’s episode focuses on South Korea and the influx of US-influenced musical styles to the country from the 1920s through to KPOP. We hear examples of the American influence on Korean popular music, from the first Korean singer to record Western-style music in the 1920s, the tragic Yun Sim-deok, through to the breezier (and occasionally psychedelic) musical stylings of such 60s pop groups as The Kim Sisters and He5, through to the folk-pop of the intense Kim Kwang-Seok and the innovative yet tradition-infused music of fusion groups Ensemble Sinawi and Jambinai. David also explains how Seoul became a center for musicals in Asia, with American musicals like Dreamgirls adapted for a specifically Korean audience, while also discussing a number of popular Korean musicals, most of them with Korean themes: Hero, The Days, Frankenstein, and Seopyeonje. This last work is based on a popular 1993 film; and both works, film and musical, spearheaded the resurgence of interest in the tradition of pansori, a uniquely Korean brand of dramatic solo theatrical performance dating back to the 18th century. Finally, and inevitably, there is a discussion of how KPOP has “infiltrated” the Korean musical, particularly with the brief appearance on Broadway of the musical KPOP.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Henry Krieger, Tom Eyen: Dreamgirls Title Song [sung in Korean] (Korean production, directed by Robert Longbottom). Hong Ji-min, Park Eun-mi, Kim So-hyang (2008 Korean Musical Awards performance)
Oh Sang-joon, Han A-reum: Cutting off the Ring Finger (Hero [영웅]). Sung Hwa Chung (2009)
Oh Sang-joon, Han A-reum: Song of a Great Man (Hero). Sung Hwa Chung (2009)
Ion Ivanovici (adapted), Yun Sim-deok: Hymn of Death [사의 찬미 – 이정표]. Yun Sim-deok (1926)
Kimchi Kkakdugi [김치깍두기] The Kim Sisters [Kim Sook-ja (Sue), Kim Ai-ja (Aija), Kim Min-ja (Mia)] (1970)
Jeon Min-seop, Ji Ji-gil: Meadow [초원]. He5 (1969)
Kim Kwang-Seok: On this Road [거리에서]. Kim Kwang-Seok (live 1993)
Baek Chang-woo: Oh, My People [내 사람이여] (The Days [(그날들)]). Ji Chang-wook (2013)
Kim Kwang-Seok: Although I Loved You (The Days [사랑했지만]). Oh Jeong-hyuk (2013)
The moment of creation (above) and the final confrontation (below)
Oh Sang-joon, Wang Yongbum: The Wounded (Frankenstein [프랑켄슈타인]). Han Jisang (2014)
Cold Rain. Ensemble Sinawi [Kim Hae-sook, Lee Jae-hwa, Kim Young-gil, Ahn Sung-woo, Yu Kyung-hwa] (from Cadenza for the Soul, 2017)
For Everything that You Lost. Jambinai [Kim Bo-mi, Lee Il-woo, Sim Eun-yong, Yu Byeong-koo. Choi Jae-hyuk] (from Hermitage, 2016) [click on the link to see the related video on YouTube]
Yun Il-sang, book by Cho Kwang-hwa [after Yi Chung-jun and Im Kwon-taek]: The Freedom of Being Alone (Seopyeonje [서편제]), Lee Ja-ram (2010)
Yun Il-sang: Time Please Pass (Seopyeonje). Lim Tae-kyung, Lee Ja-ram (2010)
Traditional Korean pansori, adapted Yun Il-sang: Simcheongga (Seopyeonje). Lee Ja-ram (2010)
Helen Park, Max Vernon, book by Jason Kim: This Is My Korea (KPOP). RTMIS [Min, Bohyung, Kate Mina Lin, Amy Keum, Julia Abueva]; F8 [Jiho Hang, John Li, Joshua Lee, Kevin Woo, Abraham Lim, Eddy Lee, James Kho, Zachary Noah Piser] (2022)
