A TRADITION OF APPROPRIATION OF CULTURE FOR POLITICAL GAIN:

MUSIC IN KOREA

by

Alyssa Victoria Mae Wall

A Senior Honors Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The University of Utah

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Honors Degree in Bachelor of Arts

In

History

Approved: ______________________________ Wesley Sasaki-Uemura Thesis Faculty Supervisor

_____________________________ Isabel Moreira Chair, Department of History

_______________________________ Matthew Basso Honors Faculty Advisor

_____________________________ Sylvia D. Torti, PhD Dean, Honors College

May 2016

ii

ABSTRACT

Although appropriation of music by political organizations and individuals is a

practice in no way unique to Korea, analysis of the phenomenon on the peninsula provides

valuable insight its strength in real-world political arenas. This project provides an analysis

of the appropriation of music for political means in Korea, including discussion of the

historical roots that infuse music in Korea with intrinsic political value, the use of

appropriated music in the development of nationalist consciousness during the period of

occupation by the Empire of Japan from 1910 to 1945, and the continued practice of

appropriation of music in the modern Republic of Korea (South) and Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea (North).

Appropriation of music by various political entities on the Korean peninsula mirrors

the development of nationalism in that area. As the international community placed

increasing value on the importance of nationalism, Korean nationalists and politicians used

the rhetoric of shared traditions and ethnicity as a means of creating a politically charged

public. Music was, and remains to this day, an important catalyst for nationalist rhetoric

among the largely homogenous Korean citizenry.

Music also plays an often overlooked, but invaluable role in understanding modern

political incentives and devices in the divided Koreas. However, in order to fully

comprehend the meaning of appropriated music today, one must understand the context

from which the phenomena emerged. This project attempts to provide that context, and to

facilitate further discussion on the use of appropriated music as a political tool.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ii

INTRODUCTION 1

SOLIDIFICATION OF COMMUNITY THROUGH MUSIC: CHOSŎN 4

GROWING CULTURAL NATIONALISM: THE OCCUPATION 11

ARIRANG 14

THE MARCH 1ST MOVEMENT: AEGUKGA 20

THE POSTWAR KOREAS: DPRK, ROK, AND MUSIC 24

CONCLUSION 30

WORKS CITED 33

1

INTRODUCTION

A popular television music program in South Korea, Immortal Songs 2, celebrates

holidays related to South Korean independence through performances of patriotic,

nationalistically-charged songs. Although many of the performed songs originate in the

post-Korean War period of reconstruction, performances of traditional Korean music,

kugak,1 accompany them and acquire a distinctive South Korean nationalist message. The

audience waves Korean flags and sings along, and the performer often prefaces their

performance with an explanation of the history of the selected tune.

Son Woo, a singer who featured on the February 21, 2015 broadcast of Immortal

Songs 2, a special focusing on minyo, a genre of kugak music that roughly translates to

folk music, prefaced her performance of the song “Blue Bird” with a brief explanation of

its origins, focusing on the anti-Japanese subtext of the lyrics.2 However, the true origin

and meaning of “Blue Bird” in its historical context remains a debated issue. Contrary to

Son Woo’s explanation, some scholars interpret the song as possibly anti-Chinese in

origin, particularly considering the importance of the song during the Tonghak Peasant

1 Korean words are Romanized according to the MR system of Romanization, unless left in a familiar adhoc or RR form. Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own. Also, citations of articles published in Korean retain author name pattern of surname-forename, following Korean linguistic tradition. For all other authors, the standard Chicago citation rules apply. In the body of this argument, all names follow the forename-surname pattern. 2 Son Woo 선우, Interview in “[HIT] Pulhuŭi myŏngkok - Sŏnu, p'okpalchŏkimyŏnsŏto ch'ŏngahan koŭm… saeya saeya p'alangsaeya 20150221.”불후의 명곡 – 선우, 폭발적이면서도 청아한 고음… ‘새야 새야 파랑새야’ [Immortal Songs II – Son Woo, an explosive and clear tone, ‘Blue Bird’] YouTube video, 1:05, from a performance televised by KBS on February 21, 2015, posted by “KBSKpop,” February 21, 2015, accessed March 30, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONu10j6fUMI.

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Rebellion of 1894.3 Son Woo’s interpretation of “Blue Bird” represents her contemporary

political context and the use of minyo by the South Korean government as a symbol of its

long-held post-colonial anti-Japanese nationalism – a fundamental basis of its legitimacy.

“Blue Bird” is only one example of many. Throughout modern Korean history,

various political entities and movements sought legitimization and popular support

through the use of music, often using kugak or other traditional musical styles which

conjure a sense of long-shared Korean history. By encouraging association with a

collective national identity in layperson audiences through appropriated traditional music

and musical techniques, political entities charged the public with nationalist fervor based

on a notion of shared culture and facilitated the growth of cultural nationalism on the

peninsula.

The current governments of North and South Korea continue this tradition. They

alter the origin and meaning of various forms of kugak and other forms of traditional

music as a means of presenting their political message as one deeply rooted in history and

thus deserving support by the general population. Today, Korean traditional music

represents “Korean indigeneity, identity, folk spirit, popular spirit, global presence, and

national pride… [and facilitates assertion of the] authority and authorship of

Koreanness.”4 This modern appraisal of the value of kugak epitomizes the ultimate goal

of those appropriating traditional music with political intent – the creation of a unified

3Kim Dohyeong, “Tonghakminyo p’alangsaenolae yŏnku” 동학민요 파랑새노래 연구 [A Study on Blue Bird Song, the Folk Song of Donghak Peasant Revolution], Han’gugŏnŏmunhak한국언어문학 67, (2008): 225-245. 4 Chan E. Park, “Reclaiming Korea from “Korean Performance Tradition”: A Critique of the Contemporization of Kugak,” Korea Studies 35 (2011): 39.

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public with shared common identity willingly supportive of the political agenda. Cultural

nationalism in the divided Koreas, fueled partially by use of traditional music, has, to a

large extent, already succeeded in creating hyper-nationalist citizens. However, an

examination of political movements beginning in the late nineteenth century reveals how

the growth of nationalism and shared identity based on culture and through the medium

of music began on the Korean peninsula long before the post-Korean War period.

Cultural nationalism, or nationalism centered on shared language, music, folk art,

or other distinctive attributes of a community,5 emerged distinctly as a defining element

of individual and national Korean identity6 during, and in the wake of, the thirty-five year

occupation by the Empire of Japan in the early twentieth century. However, the historical

roots of music as a unifier of the Korean public stretch back through the Chosŏn

Dynasty,7 which lasted over 500 years until its destruction by the Empire of Japan in

1910. An examination of the appropriation of traditional music by different political

entities throughout Korean history reveals the efficacy of cultural nationalism through

music in the Korean political sphere. Focus on the development of the concept of

community during the Chosŏn period, the nationalist rhetoric in songs of the Japanese

occupation, and continued appropriation of music for political purposes in the post-war

era reveals the significant role of music in Korean identity and national politics, both

historically and today.

5 Encyclopedia of Nationalism: Ledaers, Movements, and Concepts, s.v. "Cultural Nationalism,” accessed February 25, 2016, http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/estnational/cultural_nationalism/0. 6 Syngman Rhee, Japan Inside Out: The Challenge of Today, (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1941). 7 Shin Yong-Ha, “Social History of Ture Community and Nongak Music (I),” Korea Journal 25, no. 3 (March, 1985): 4.

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Analysis of nationalist political movements and their appropriation of traditional

Korean music during the Japanese Colonial Period provides clear evidence of the concept

of cultural nationalism through music as a useful political strategy on the peninsula.

However, fully understanding the significance of music as a medium to the development

of political legitimacy through cultural nationalist rhetoric requires understanding the

background of music and Korean identity. Significantly, the post-war governments of the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North) and the Republic of Korea (South) use

traditional music, as the nationalist movements during the Japanese occupation did, as a

means of creating unified identity and solidifying popular support. Therefore, study of

appropriated traditional music and the stylistic elements thereof as a political tool

requires analysis of not only the nationalist movements of the Japanese Colonial Period,

but also an examination of the political use of music before and after colonization.

SOLIDIFICATION OF COMMUNITY THROUGH MUSIC: CHOSŎN

The Yi Dynasty administered the Korean peninsula throughout the Chosŏn

Period, from 1392 until annexation by the Empire of Japan in 1910. During that time,

sharp class divisions stratified Korean society. The historical division of Korean society

facilitated the development of many different forms of kugak, including the upper class

chŏng’ak (“correct music”) and lower class minsogak (“folk music”).8 The social

structure of the Chosŏn Period also enabled the development of a unique form of

8 Chan E. Park, “Reclaiming Korea,” 31.

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collectivized farming, ture, and its accompanying form of kugak, nongak.9 Through ture

and nongak, traces of collective activity encouraged by music emerge. The tradition

established by ture and nongak later contributed to the success of other movements

seeking unity and support from the Korean public through music.

Ture communities operated as joint labor teams in the Chosŏn Period, and

developed their own culture and status. Farmers cooperated and worked together,

favoring the community over the individual. Fragmentary records from the Chosŏn

Period reveal the widespread popularity of ture initiatives among farmers across the

peninsula. However, due to the contemporary government’s focus on the activities of the

upper class, exact numbers of ture and their participants are unavailable.10 Nevertheless,

ture activities cultivated a number of developments, including the introduction of mutual

entertainment, efficient labor practices, mutual help, action-driven leadership and

responsibility,11 as well as the concept of finding strength and significance in numbers.

Members of the elite yangban class historically received displays of respect from the

lower classes. However, when a yangban member encountered a turegi (the symbolic

banner of a ture) they, instead, dismounted from their steed and paid their respects. If

they did not do so, they were punished by the ture for disregarding the value of farmers.12

In that way, the Neo-Confucian values of Chosŏn society, wherein each level of society

performed an important and respectable role, empowered participants in the ture. The

9 Shin Yong-Ha, “Social History of Ture Community and Nongak Music (II),” Korea Journal 25, no. 4 (April, 1985): 4-18. 10 Shin Yong-Ha, “Social History of the Ture Community (I),” 8. 11 Shin Yong-Ha, “Social History of the Ture Community (II),” 10-11. 12 Shin Yong-Ha, “Social History of the Ture Community (I),” 12.

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Neo-Confucian concept of reciprocity established that in exchange for farming the land

and providing food, farmers earned protection and recognition for their effors from

yangban. The social position of yangban members, often Neo-Confucian scholars

themselves, and considered most deeply connected to Neo-Confucianism, created a moral

obligation for those in the class to recognize the value of the ture and its members.

This action from members of the yangban class gains particular significance in

discussions of group identity and the foundation of layperson nationalism when one

considers that peasants, through collective action in a ture community, gained status in

Chosŏn society. Community action therefore became a layperson tradition through which

the suppressed members of society found political strength. Unified action in the ture

contributed to feelings of mutual reliance and belonging to a group outside of immediate

family or kinship ties – a preface to the development of nationalism.

Moreover, music of the ture, nongak, played a significant role in establishing the

collective consciousness of the group, providing them with inspiration and encouraging

endurance in the face of hardship.13 Inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible

Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the Republic of Korea, and still practiced as a folk-art

today, UNESCO officially recognizes nongak as an art form that “helps to enhance

solidarity and cooperation in the community and establishes a sense of shared identity

among community members.”14 The specific performance style of nongak varies by

13 Ibid., 12. 14 “Nongak, community band music, dance and rituals in the Republic of Korea,” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, accessed May 28, 2016, http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/en/RL/nongak-community-band-music-dance-and-rituals-in-the-republic-of-korea-00717

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regional area, but generally includes a percussion ensemble, use of wind instruments,

dancing, parading, drama, and acrobatics15 by a large group of performers, often

including the audience. Nongak developed from group labor music. It provided rhythm to

the labor, provided farmers with a sense of pride and pleasure about their work, and

supplied free entertainment for both workers and community members.16

Through records of ture and nongak of the Chosŏn Period, early tradition of

solidarity encouraged through music in Korean society emerge. Although not

appropriated, but rather created, by the ture, nongak represents a Korean tradition of

encouraging solidarity and participation of the individual in a community through folk

music. Community-based appreciation of shared musical performances in Chosŏn

naturally extended to politically encouraged cultural nationalism through appreciation of

traditional music, specifically kugak genres like nongak or minyo, during and after the

occupation by Japan.

Nationalism in Korea stems from individual identification with a larger

community that shares cultural, historical, and ethnic background. As the nineteenth

century drew to a close and increased international competition over Korean trading

rights grew, the domestic political climate on the peninsula began circulating around the

establishment of a “nation” and individuals began identifying with larger “imagined”

communities. The Tonghak, or Eastern (Korean) Learning school of thought comprised

one such nationalist community.

15 Ibid.. 16 Shin Yong-Ha, “Social History of the Ture Community (II),” 6.

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In order to understand the meaning of “community” in a nationalist context,

Benedict Anderson’s theory on nationhood proves valuable. In his influential book

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, Anderson

asserts that nationalism and the concept of a nation relies upon the individual within a

community’s understanding of mutual “communion” with all other community members

in spite of the fact that members of a nation will never personally know all of their

fellow-members.17 Therefore, the development of a community occurs through the minds

of the individuals, and is “imagined.” Although, following Anderson’s definition, mutual

communion in Korea through language, culture, and music largely emerged during the

Japanese occupation, early indications of growing national awareness and sentiment

emerge in the pre-occupation period through ture, but perhaps more distinctly through the

Tonghak Rebellion of the 1890s.

Many peasants of the Chosŏn Period feared the Westernizing changes rapidly

occurring within Korea in the latter half of the nineteenth century. During this time,

Catholicism entered Korean religious consciousness – declaring equality in the eyes of

God, a precedent unheard of and condemned by the powerholders in the Neo-Confucian

Chosŏn social and political system.18 Despite prohibitions on the spread of the religion,

Catholicism’s egalitarian message impacted scholars on the peninsula. Che-u Ch’oe, in

the 1850s, led the beginning of the Tonghak movement. He incorporated the effect of

17 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, rev. ed (New York, London: Verso, 2006 ©1983), 20. 18 Won Sul Lee, “Korean Culture and Worldview,” in An Introduction to Korean Culture, ed. John H. Koo and Andrew C. Nahm (New Jersey: Hollym International Corp., 1997), 214.

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Catholicism’s message of equality and increased public animosity towards international

interference with domestic policy and the introduction of Western technology and politics

in his message of rekindling and affirmating Eastern Learning and tradition, with a new

emphasis on the equality of all men. Significantly, Ch’oe promulgated his anti-yangban,

egalitarian messages to the illiterate peasants of Chosŏn through relatable, easily

transmittable means - including pansori – a form of traditional opera included in the

kugak repertoire.19

After Ch’oe’s execution, the Tonghak movement continued its rapid growth.

Then, in 1894, peasants in the Ch’ungch’ŏng and Chŏlla provinces reacted violently

against their local administrators and threatened the central government – which called to

China for assistance.20 During the Tonghak Rebellion early traces of the significance of

appropriation of traditional music emerged, along with the integration of pansori in the

early stages of the movement, with use of the minyo song “Blue Bird” as a means of

conveying myriad messages to participants in the Rebellion.

As mentioned above, scholars today disagree on the exact origins and meanings

of “Blue Bird.” Much like other forms of folk music, or minyo, lyrics and melody of the

song differ according to geographic region.21 A section of the lyrics of the representative

19 Bruce Cumings, Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, ©2005, 1997), 116. 20 John Kie-chiang Oh, “Political Tradition and Contemporary Politics and Government,” in An Introduction to Korean Culture, ed. John H. Koo and Andrew C. Nahm (New Jersey: Hollym International Corp., 1997), 228. 21 Like the folk song “Arirang,” “Blue Bird” also has myriad different versions. Versions differ by regional vernacular, style, and slightly altered lyrics. However, unlike “Arirang,” one specific version of “Blue Bird,” the one discussed in this paper, is considered representative by scholars.

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version,22 in both Romanized and original form, as well as a literal translation of the

meaning, are as follows;

Saeya saeya p’aransaeya

Noktubade anji mara

Noktukkodi ttŏrŏjimyŏn

Ch’ŏngp’ojangsu ulgo

kanda

새야 새야 파랑새야

녹두밭에 앉지 마라

녹두꽃이 떨어지면

청포장수 울고 간다 23

Birds, birds, blue birds,

Do not disturb the green-

bean fields.

The farmers will cry

If the flowers are dropped

and lost.24

Although most scholars agree that “Blue Bird” symbolizes the struggles of the

Tonghak Rebellion of 1894, they disagree over the symbolic meaning of the blue bird,

p’arangsaeya, itself. Like the singer Son Woo, 25 many believe that the blue bird

symbolizes the blue jackets worn by intruding Japanese soldiers, and that the fields

represent Korean lands and citizens.26 However, other scholars argue that the meaning of

the song relates instead to Tonghak animosity towards the Qing soldiers, the blue birds,

invited by the Korean king Kojong as a means of quelling the resistance.27 In either case,

“Blue Bird” remains a song calling for liberation from oppression. Following the arrival

of soldiers from Qing China, Japan sent its own troops to the peninsula, sparking the

22 Kim Dohyeong, “Tonghakminyo p’alangsaenolae yŏnku,” 226. 23 Son Woo “[HIT] Pulhuŭi myŏngkok,” 2:07-2:53. 24 “Blue Bird (새야 새야 파랑새야),” The Sejong Cultural Society, accessed February 27, 2016, http://www.sejongculturalsociety.org/composition/current/music/parangsae.php. 25 Son Woo, “[HIT] Pulhuŭi myŏngkok.” 26 “Kugak sajŏn: saeya saeya” 국악사전: 새야 새야 [Dictionary of Korean Traditional Music: Blue Bird], National Gugak Center, accessed February 27, 2016, https://www.gugak.go.kr/site/program/board/basicboard/view?boardtypeid=6&menuid=001003001002&boardid=877. 27 Kim Dohyeong, “Tonghakminyo p’alangsaenolae yŏnku,” 227.

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Sino-Japanese War (1894-5) which occurred primarily on Korean land and resulted in

Japanese victory.

For the sake of this study “Blue Bird” represents the continued trend of music as a

catalyst for public approval and unified participation in, or solidarity with, political

movements. As with nongak, the use of minyo and “Blue Bird” encouraged layperson

solidarity with a larger community – the Tonghak rebels. By calling upon the lower

classes, specifically Korean farmers, “Blue Bird” invited cultural nationalism in the

audience, and the Tonghak rebels used this nationalism as a means of pushing their

reformist agenda. Although the government of Chosŏn suppressed the movement, it

nevertheless provides another example of the precedent for use of music in establishing

political legitimacy and strength in Korean culture and government.

GROWING CULTURAL NATIONALISM: THE OCCUPATION

Following the collapse of the Yi Dynasty in Chosŏn, the Empire of Japan

formally annexed the Korean peninsula in 1910, replacing the Korean leadership with the

Government-General of Chosen28 (GGC) which operated under direct Japanese authority.

In doing so, the Japanese Government asserted that through annexation and assimilation

they consolidated “the foundation of the [Japanese] Empire and [assured] lasting peace

for the Far East.”29 They couched their invasion in Western European terms, as a means

28 Here, the Government-General of Chosen retains its original 1910 Romanization. 29 Government-General of Chosen (GGC), Results of Three Years’ Administration of Chosen (Seoul: Government-General of Chosen, 1914), 1.

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of securing international validity, comparing their imposed colonial government to Great

Britain’s in India.30

Scholars divide the period of Korean occupation into three sections. The Military

Period, from 1910-1919, the Cultural Period, which spanned from 1919-1930 and which

was a reaction to the failed March 1st Movement for independence on the peninsula in

1919, and the Wartime Period of 1930 to liberation in 1945. Throughout the occupation

the asserted intentions of the General-Government of Chosen remained the same,

although the visible strictness of the administration varied. From the outset, the Japanese

government claimed that Japan and Korea’s close geographic proximity and racial

similarities, accompanied by Japanese successes at Western-influenced modernization

and Korea’s supposed failure, inherently burdened Japan with the responsibility of

“lead[ing]” Korea to “civilization.”31 However, distinctive and apparent contradictions

within official and actual policy clarify that reality did not echo Japan’s rhetoric.

Despite their asserted intentions to “endow [the people of Korea] with an

administration conducted on a liberal and cultural line,”32 the Government-General of

Chosen pursued the replacement of traditional Korean culture with Japanese customs,

seeking complete control through absolute assimilation, during both the Military and

Wartime periods. In doing so, they not only oppressed culture that they worried might

30 Government-General of Chosen (GGC), Thriving Chosen: A Survey of Twenty-Five Years’ Administration, ed. Foreign Affairs Section (Taisho Shashin Kogeisho, 1935). 31 Government-General of Chosen, Results of Three Years, 17. 32 Government-General of Chosen (GGC), The New Administration in Chosen (Seoul: Government-General of Chosen, 1921), 3.

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lead to dissent, but simultaneously catalogued and recorded the very things they

eliminated from the public sphere as a method of placating the people.33

The GGC included Korean traditional music in their catalogues and distributed it

throughout Japan, attempting to negate the nationalistic power of such music in Korea.34

The appropriation of Korean traditional music by the occupying foreign power, Japan,

reveals the extent of its importance both in establishing and suppressing nationalist

sentiment. However, throughout the period of the Japanese occupation, which lasted until

the end of World War II in 1945, traditional music acted as a clear incentive for

identification with nationalist causes, both domestic and abroad, among ethnically

Korean people.

During the Japanese occupation period in Korea, Japanese and American

companies produced Korean records for the first time.35 Scholar Roald Maliangkay

argues that Korean traditional music records represented, not a direct attempt at cultural

hegemony, but rather an attempt at allowing traditional musicians’ participation in the

development of the new medium for the monetary benefit of the Japanese record

company executives.36 Maliangkay also asserts that the Japanese “found use [for

spreading Korean traditional music within Korea] in staging it in ways that supported

33 E. Taylor Atkins, Primitive Selves: Koreana in the Japanese Colonial Gaze, 1910-1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010). 34 E. Taylor Atkins, “The Dual Career of “Arirang”: The Korean Resistance Anthem that Became a Japanese Pop Hit,” The Journal of Asian Studies 66, no. 3 (Aug. 2007), 645. 35 Roald Maliangkay, “Their Masters’ Voice: Korean Traditional Music SPs (Standard Play Records) under Japanese Colonial Rule,” The World of Music 49, no. 3 (2007). 36 Ibid., 68.

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[Japanese] sense of superiority, or… reminded the audience of the arrogant hedonism of

Korea’s former aristocracy.”37

GGC fear that nationalist messages could foster change in behavior and possibly

lead to widespread revolt in the colony, particularly during the strict Wartime Period,

resulted in censorship of songbooks, recordings, and even education policies concerning

traditional Korean music.38 Along with censorship, the GGC appropriated Korean

traditional music, as a means of implying their benevolent and culturally sensitive

policies, in two ways – by stripping it of its Korean exclusivity and by cataloguing folk

songs, including one of the representative folk songs of Korea – “Arirang”.

ARIRANG

The folk song “Arirang” currently resides on the Representative List of the

Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for both the Democratic People’s Republic of

Korea39 and the Republic of Korea.40 Over 3,600 variations on approximately 60

different, and often geographically-based, versions of the song exist.41 Its implications

and meanings vary, from singing about a lost lover to a lost country. In almost all

37 Ibid., 61. 38 Jeong Ha Kim, “Rethinking Colonialism: Korean Primary School Music Education during the Japanese Colonial Rule of Korea, 1910-1945,” Journal of Historical Research in Music Education 36, no. 1 (2014): 34. 39 “Arirang folk song in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, accessed April 17, 2015, http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00011&RL=00914 40 “Arirang, lyrical folk song in the Republic of Korea,” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, accessed April 17, 2015, http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00011&RL=00445 41 “Arirang, lyrical folk song in the Republic of Korea.”

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versions of the folk song, the chorus remains the same, identifying versions as variations

and not entirely different songs. During the occupation by Japan, Korean nationalists

carried anonymously produced anti-Japanese versions of the song across the peninsula

and throughout the Korean diaspora. As the current Republic of Korea’s government

states, a portion of the song’s importance is its flexibility,42 a quality that enabled

appropriation and use of the folk song by various nationalist movements and individuals.

Although the exact origins of the folk song remain unclear to scholars, the most

popular version of the tune, “Bonjo Arirang,” (“본조 아리랑” [Original Melody

Arirang]),43 also known as Gyeonggi Arirang for its historical origins in the Gyeonggi

province, emerged during the Japanese Occupation. In 1926, during the more lenient

Cultural Period wherein the government authorized Korean language publications and

broadcasts, a director named Un’gyu Na directed a film entitled Arirang. In the film, a

Korean citizen fights the corrupt and violent Japanese authorities. The film concludes

with the Japanese police dragging the young nationalist over the fictional Arirang hill and

back to imprisonment. During the final scene of the film “Bonjo Arirang” plays,

expressing the sorrow and suffering of the characters, echoing the struggles felt by

contemporary Koreans. Although the GGC banned the film almost immediately for its

explicitly anti-imperialist message, and by 1950 the remaining recordings disappeared,

“Bonjo Arirang” left a distinct impression on the audience, the subjugated people of

42 “UNESCO Heritage in Korea,” Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Global Communication and Contents Division, accessed April 17, 2015, http://www.korea.net/AboutKorea/Culture-and-the-Arts/UNESCO-Treasures-in-Korea#none 43 Translated by Innam You, March 29, 2016.

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Korea. By presenting a relatable nationalist message alongside a familiar, recognizable

folksong, both the movie and “Bonjo Arirang” became symbols of the Korean desire for

independence.

In an effort to suppress and coopt the song, the GGC produced their own versions

of “Arirang” with pro-GGC messages. They also prohibited the sale of potentially

subversive songbooks, and generally investigated folk songs across the peninsula.44

As a particular method of appropriating and denationalizing “Arirang,” people

and companies in Japan started cataloguing and releasing variations of the folk song for

the entire Japanese Empire, effectively making “Arirang” “the most familiar song in the

Japanese Empire.”45 By stripping “Arirang” of its Korean heritage and meaning, the

GGC pursued the denationalization of the folk song. One example of a Japanese version

of “Arirang” promoted for use in the peninsula, published in Choson, a monthly

magazine, claimed “Our country can secure my home. / I can lie down after I secure a

home. / With mind we value ourselves, let’s love our country and home.”46 In this pro-

GGC version of “Arirang” the government calls for the support of the ethnic Korean

population through appropriating and altering the folk song, encouraging citizens to love

and secure their homeland and, by implication, the government administering it. One

cannot overlook the significance of the specific linguistic cues incorporated into the

lyrics. The interplay between “our” and “my” implies the incorporation and absorption of

44 Shi-Op Kim, “Arirang, Modern Korean Folk Song,” Korea Journal 28, no. 7 (1988): 16. 45 Atkins, “The Dual Career of “Arirang””, 645. 46 “Pisangshi Arirang,” Choson, May, 1930. From Shi-Op Kim, “Arirang, Modern Korea Folk Song,” Korea Journal 28, no. 7 (1988): 13.

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the Korean individual, “I,” into the group “our” and “we,” which symbolize the

government and society ruled by the Empire of Japan. The very language of the lyrics

and message of the song encourages individual sacrifice for the group – in this case, the

submission of the individual to the GGC-administered structure.

Despite the effort to depoliticize and denationalize “Arirang” the folk song

continued to function as a channel through which the Korean people felt and expressed

their solidarity, common history, and belief in the value of their culture. To this day, the

popularity of “Arirang” reveals the song as a symbol of nationalism in Korea. The

Japanese colonial reaction to “Arirang” supports assertions of its significance. As they

attempted diversion from the nationalistic roots of the song by popularizing pro-GGC

versions, the government revealed its deep concerns about music and its widely

influential capabilities that defied censorship. Moreover, it attempted appropriation of the

nationalistic music it felt undermined or challenged GGC legitimacy.

However, as the Japanese-controlled GGC attempted appropriation of “Arirang”

for their own goals, the folk song simultaneously gained life and spread throughout

nationalist movements and the Korean population, sparking the growth of cultural

nationalism on a domestic and international scale.

Kim San, a pseudonym for a Korean Communist Party member who spent the

occupation period defying and fighting the Japanese in China and Manchuria, explicitly

refers to “Arirang” and recounts one of its distinctly anti-Japanese pro-nationalistic

versions in his autobiography, published originally in 1941. The lyrics, subtly subversive

18

and referencing specifically the communist dissenters in diaspora and the acquisition of

Korean land, measured in “li,” by the GGC, include the following;

Many stars in the deep sky –

Many crimes in the life of man.

Ariran, Ariran, Arari O!

…

Oh, twenty million countrymen –

where are you now?

Alive are only three thousand li

of mountains and rivers.47

In this version of “Arirang,” San calls upon his fellow Koreans to come to action

and laments the crimes committed against them. He asserts that “Alive are only three

thousand li of mountains and rivers,” implying that the Korean people are no longer truly

alive if they fail to resist the GGC. He continues his discussion of the poignancy of

“Arirang” throughout his text. He honors the tragedy of the song and declares it the

“favorite song of all Koreans for three hundred years.”48 During the 1920s as “Bonjo

Arirang” rose to fame, domestic artists also embedded radically nationalistic messages

into their versions of the folk song. “Arirang,” in its multiple variations and thanks to its

widespread familiarity throughout the peninsula both before and after the release of the

film, enabled layperson expression and transmission of experience despite censorship,

47 Kim San and Nym Wales, Song of Ariran: A Korean Communist in the Chinese Revolution (San Francisco: Ramparts Press, 1972 ©1941): 56. 48 Ibid., 58.

19

purely through word of mouth. “Arirang” fueled national spirit throughout Korea, Shi-Op

Kim argues, when Japanese aggression and censorship policies intensified.49

The preservation of these subversive versions of “Arirang,” despite GGC attempts

at censorship, reveals their importance in Korean public and ethnic identity and

consciousness. At a time when the GGC attempted to appropriate and depoliticize the

folk song, cultural nationalism enabled use of the song’s familiar tune by political

movements and by nationalistic individuals when appealing to the public – both

domestically and abroad.

Poets during the occupation used “Arirang,” as well as other minyo melodies,

following the tradition of the Tonghak Rebels and “Blue Bird”, as a medium for

expressing themes of collective suffering and national resistance. A genre of poetry,

kayosi (literally song-poem) allowed poets a medium through which they reached the

ethnic Korean population’s sense of collective ethnic unity, and enabled calls for change

or resistance. One kayosi, Arirang Kogae, written in 1929 by Kim Dongwan, refers

indirectly to the Korean public as a tree with latent blossoms in the following verse;

Kkodi an p’indago chugŭn

namulkka

Ppurinŭn saranne kkot p’igetchi

Arirang arirang arariyo

Arirang kogaerŭl ŏsŏ nŏmja

49 Kim, “Arirang,” 8. 50 Kim Dongwan, “Arirang Kogae” 아리랑 고개 [Arirang Hill], Chosŏnkigwang 조선기광 (February 1929) From I Dongsun Minjoksiŭi chŏngsinsa 민족시의정신사 [Intellectual history of the people’s poetry] (Ch’angjakkwabip’yŏngsa, 1996): 222.

꽃이 – 안 핀다고 죽은 나물까

뿌리는 살았네 꽃 피겠지

아리랑 아리랑 아라리요

아리랑 고개를 어서 넘자 50

If a tree’s flowers do not bloom, is

it dead?

If the roots are alive, it will bloom

Arirang, arirang, arariyo

Let’s quickly cross Arirang Hill

20

Appropriation of a familiar popular tune made dissident texts like Arirang Kogae

accessible to a wide audience of Koreans, and the subversive messages they spread

constituted a hidden transcript, by James Scott’s definition,51 of the text. Although not

overtly nationalist or provocative, the lyrics and connotations of such poetry appealed to

the Korean public. In Arirang Kogae, the author alludes to the indestructability of Korean

culture by asserting that the unseen flowers on the tree, a symbol of Korea, “will bloom.”

Traditional music in Korea allowed Koreans a channel through which they could

“express the violent social changes they had undergone and their acute experiences”52

and find hope through their own melodies. These songs and poems enabled Koreans to

not only acquire a sense of community through suffering, but also one of cultural

nationalism – a necessity for participants in independence movements during the

occupation. As diasporic political bodies and nationalist individuals appropriated the

medium as a vehicle for their ideology, domestic movements followed suit in creating

feelings of solidarity on the peninsula.

THE MARCH 1ST MOVEMENT: AEGUKGA

Just before the release of Un’gyu Na’s Arirang, an independence movement

called the March 1st Movement swept through the occupied peninsula. On March 1,

1919, approximately two million Korean protestors joined a group of scholars in Seoul

51 James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008). 52 Kim, “Arirang,” 8.

21

and throughout Korea in calling for independence from the Japanese.53 The GGC

responded violently to the movement and imprisoned and executed the leaders,

strengthening Japanese hold on the government. Exact numbers of those killed and

imprisoned vary, with Japanese officials reporting 553 killed and over 12,000 arrested

and Korean nationalists claiming 7,500 killed and 45,000 participants incarcerated.54 The

huge number of participants in the nation-wide movement resulted in slight policy

reforms by the government, ushering in the Cultural Period that ended in 1930.

However, for the sake of this essay, the implications of the March 1st Movement

and the language of their Declaration of Independence carry more importance than their

actual consequences. The March 1st Movement’s Declaration used nationalistic language

and specific references to Korea’s long history as unifying rhetoric for the larger Korean

community. The document’s signature date is the “4,242 Year since the Founding of the

Korean Nation, the Third Month,”55 indirectly signaling the transformation of the

separate histories of the Three Kingdoms, the Goryeo Dynasty, and the Yi Dynasty into

one collective Korean history. As Benedict Anderson suggests, this collective idea of

unity with the history of a collective group of people, the imagined nation, epitomizes

nationalism. Not only that, the Declaration also discussed the “national essence”56 of

Korea and condemned Japan for its denigration of former Korean accomplishments and

53 Andrew C. Nahm, “History,” in An Introduction to Korean Culture, ed. John H. Koo and Andrew C. Nahm (New Jersey: Hollym International Corp., 1997), 82. 54 Cumings, Korea’s Place, 155. 55 Han-Kyo Kim, “The Declaration of Independence, March 1, 1919: A New Translation,” Korean Studies 13, no. 1 (1989): 1-4. 56 Ibid., 3.

22

ancestry.57 Use of specific music, the “Aegugka,” marks the March 1st Movement as

another appropriating political entity, and another symbol of the continuing tradition and

strength of music in establishing national identity during the occupation period.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the leaders of the March 1st

Movement, along with promoting nationalism concerning ancestry, also referred

explicitly to the Japanese perspective on the crudeness and unimportance of Korean

traditional culture. The signers reminded Koreans to reflect upon the denial of “the

opportunities to contribute [Korean] creative vitality to the development of world

culture…”58 By referencing the damage done to relatable and familiar popular culture the

leaders of the movement broadened the demographic to which their nationalistic message

appealed. Moreover, Korean culture naturally includes music, and the importance of

music in the movement appeared from the first moments of the protests.

On the first of March, 1919, Koreans from practically every stage of life paraded

the streets singing the “Aegukga” as their anthem59 until the GGC’s militaristic police

force brutally suppressed the resistance. Through this action, the Korean public strongly

displayed their resistance to Japanese rule and exhibited a consciousness unified partially

through singing the “Aegukga.” The “Aegukga” also served as the anthem for the

Provisional Government (in exile) of the Republic of Korea, revealing awareness, even in

diaspora, of solidarity.

57 Ibid., 2. 58 Ibid.. 59 Carlton Waldo Kendall, The Truth About Korea (San Francisco: The National Korea Association, 1919): 30.

23

The “Aegugka” does not technically fall into the categories of kugak or minyo.

However, the pre-colonial origins of the lyrics, as well as its significance during the

March 1st Movement in creating feelings of unified cultural consciousness in the

occupied peninsula, along with its continued use as the anthem of the Republic of Korea,

validate its presence in this argument. The “Aegugka” was one of the first records

released containing Korean music. Although slightly different than the version sung at

the March 1st Movement or currently used as the national anthem of South Korea,

scholars cannot overlook the significance of the 1896 record release.60 At a time just

before dissolution, when the government sought legitimization and support from its

people, the introduction of a national anthem ideally would have led to enough national

fervor to maintain independence.

Although that reality did not come true for the Koreans participating in the

reconstruction efforts of the late nineteenth century, the singing of the “Aegugka” by

protestors in 1919 reveals related intentions of the March 1st Movement leaders. The

leaders called to an historical past of independence and freedom from Japanese colonial

cultural oppression through use of the song, reminding those listening to and participating

in the protests of their long combined history through the music. Interestingly, the version

of the “Aegukga” sung by protestors in 1919 was set to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne,”61

perhaps a reference to the perceived importance of Western culture in modernization,

particularly as the movement appealed to Europe and the USA for international

60 Maliangkay, “Their Masters’ Voice,” 55. 61 Kendall, The Truth About Korea, 30.

24

recognition of Korea as an independent nation. Significantly, after liberation, a Korean

composer, Eak-tai Ahn, rewrote the melody of what is now the national anthem of the

Republic of Korea.

The end of the occupation period in 1945, instead of bringing peace and unity,

illuminated deep political rifts and culminated in the Korean War of 1950-1953 between

Northern communists and Southern democratic forces. However, the end of a unified

Korean peninsula did not signify the end to the use of music as a means of promoting

nationalism and insisting the legitimacy of the government. The tradition of building

community through cultural nationalism by means of music continued in the postwar

period, and remains an important reality of life in the Koreas today.

THE POSTWAR KOREAS: DPRK, ROK, AND MUSIC

During the Colonial Period, a genre of music entitled panilgayo (反日歌謠 [anti-

Japanese songs]) emerged in the Korean cultural sphere.62 These songs, not appropriated

by but nevertheless used by nationalist movements, do not gain relevance in this

argument until the postwar period. Panilgayo melodies have strong military rhythms, use

large brass instrument and percussion sections, and typically have a chorus of singers

who recite the lyrics in perfect unison. During the postwar period, panilgayo develops

special significance in the discussion of political appropriation of music. Both the

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea preserved panilgayo

62 Kim Dŏkkyun, “Uri kyŏreŭi hangilgayo yŏn’gu” 우리 겨레의 抗日歌謠 硏究 [A Study of Resistant Songs toward Japanese Colony], Journal of the Society for Korean Historico-Musicology 20, no. 1 (1998), 575.

25

by different names. In the north, panilgayo became hyŏngmyŏnggayo (革命歌謠

[revolutionary songs]) and in the south, tongnipkun’ga (獨立軍歌 [independence

songs]).63 The distinctly political rhetoric surrounding even the titles of the genre of

music reveal the incentives of the post-war governments. In the north, where the

government sought legitimacy through overthrowing both the occupation forces and

creating a completely revolutionary social structure, anti-Japanese songs became hymns

of the revolution. In the south, where the government prioritized independence from the

colonizing forces and the creation of democracy, the exact same music became

tongnipkun’ga.

Throughout the almost seventy years following the end of the occupation and the

Korean War, governments in the north and south have promoted strong nationalist

policies. Unfortunately, due to current global political climate, many of the policies

which may impact music or even the basic details of cultural values in North Korea

remain hidden from scholars.64 However, use of folk songs in large, internationally

visible displays of nationalist fervor, such as the Arirang Festival, or mass games, shows

the continued use of traditional music by the North Korean government as a means of

expressing North Korean nationalist consciousness. The format of the mass games, which

involves thousands of synchronized participants, both implies and literally displays the

unity of the citizens of the country, a thought reinforced by incorporation of “Arirang.”

63 Ibid.. 64 Cumings, Korea’s Place, 139.

26

North Korean music continues to follow the military-march, large-group format

of hyŏngmyŏnggayo. A 2004 documentary on young gymnasts practicing for the mass

games, A State of Mind,65 includes many scenes of musical performance. Thousands of

voices singing together, marching and dancing in unison, accompanied by

hyŏngmyŏnggayo and minyo, reveal the continued appropriation of music by North Korea

to promote their agenda of nationalism and self-reliance.

In South Korea, political history rife with different types of leaders, from dictators

to liberal reformists, provides countless opportunities for continued study of

appropriation of music as a means of promoting the legitimacy of a regime. For the

purpose of this argument, though, focus on modern South Korean politics and the use of

traditional music through programs like Immortal Songs 2 proves most accessible and

useful.

One specific performance, a duet by Sohee Song and Kyung-min Hong, on the

2014 March 1 Special of Immortal Songs 2,66 highlights the attributes of traditional

Korean music that keep it relevant in discussions of the methods of expression of Korean

national consciousness in society today. The performance opens with piano and a

traditional Korean instrument, the haegeum, playing the introduction for the explicitly

nationalistic “Holo Arirang.” (홀로 아리랑 [Arirang Alone]) Kyung-min Hong

65 A State of Mind, DVD, directed by Daniel Gordon (2004; USA, Kino International). 66 Sohee Song and Kyung-min Hong, “[HIT] Hong Kyung-min&Song Sohee (haegŭm: Kim Yuna) – holo arirang purhuŭi myŏnggok 2.20140301” [HIT] 홍경민&송소희(해금: 김유나) - 홀로 아리랑 불후의 명곡 2.20140301 [Immortal Songs II – Hong Kyung-min and Song Sohee – Holo Arirang] YouTube video, 4:25, from a performance televised by KBS on March 3, 2013, posted by "KBSKpop," March 1, 2014, accessed March 30, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNb9mFzY7b4&index=3&list=PL0D9_gt3-vxyA-cAEgF-D0xC59qZ8epEi

27

proceeds to sing using hints of sigimsae, a Korean form of vocal ornamentation,67

comparable in sound to a western trill. As the video progresses, Sohee Song, a young

traditionally-trained singer, emerges and picks up the chorus with heavy pansori

technique, successfully inviting the audience to participate in the song as culturally

informed Korean listeners, and they sing along from their seats. Without the rich

historical tradition and cultural specificity of the music performed, the duet performance

on March 1, 2014 would have lacked impact. Also, without the Korean tradition of music

as a means of political expression, the music may have lacked the distinct nationalist

feeling or the ability to unify the audience. Moreover, audience involvement in the

performance reminds both viewers and participants of the March 1st Movement’s mass

demonstrations – the very event the performance celebrates.

Although regimes following the war, including Park Chung-hee’s dictatorship,

attempted unification of the public through recognition of national traditional culture,68

public desire to forge a new national identity based not entirely on loathing North

Koreans, but instead on celebrating Korean uniqueness and ethnicity through traditional

music and culture only emerged after the democracy movements of the 1980s.69

Domestically, traditional music as expressed through film and television shows

developed into a significant and explicit symbol and embodiment of solidarity and

national pride in South Korea. The 1993 film Sopyonje uses the story of a family of

67 Heekyung Lee, "Reconsidering Traditional Vocal Practices in Contemporary Korean Music," in Vocal Music and Contemporary Identities: Unlimited Voices in East Asia and the West, ed. Christian Utz et al. (Florence: Taylor and Francis, 2013), 138. 68 Ibid., 134. 69 Ibid., 136.

28

traditional musicians as a medium for expressing the sorrow incited by being wronged, or

han, present in contemporary and historical Korean culture.70 By highlighting the unique

Koreanness embodied by han and expressed through traditional music, specifically

pansori, Sopyonje calls upon Koreans to remember their suffering and reinforce their

national identity.71 Use of the pansori musical style calls to a distinct South Korean

domestic nationalism centered around the concept of collective han.

The performance on Immortal Songs 2 calls to the same feelings of nationalism

and unity among the Korean audience. Children sing and sway in the background, the

audience members hold flags, sing along to the lyrics, and are visibly affected by the

performance. During another broadcast of Immortal Songs 2, one of the performers

discusses her belief that only ethnic Koreans can express the authentic feelings and fervor

embodied by traditional music.72 Through audience participation, as well as the singer’s

statement, one sees the success of the integration of traditional music and national/ethnic

self-awareness. As seen in Sopyonje and also in the audience reaction to the performance

of “Holo Arirang,” interaction in the form of participation with the melody and singer

70 Sopyonje서편제, DVD, directed by Im Kwon-taek (1993; Seoul, Spectrum DVD, 2005). 71 Michael Robinson, “Contemporary Cultural Production in South Korea: Vanishing Meta-Narratives of Nation,” in New Korean Cinema, ed. Chi-Yun Shin et al. (New York: New York University Press, 2005), 27. 72 Sohyang소향 (김소향), Interview in “[HIT] Pulhuŭi myŏngok – Sohyang, pudŭrŏpko kangnyŏrhage… holo arirang yŏlch’ang. 20150221" 불후의 명곡 - 소향, 부드럽고 강렬하게…‘홀로 아리랑’ 열창. [Immortal Songs II – Sohyang, intense and meaningful, a passionately sung “Holo Arirang”] YouTube video, 7:41, from a performance televised by KBS on February 21, 2015, posted by "KBSKpop," February 21, 2015, accessed March 30, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tkxtm8Zzb0&index=2&list=PL0D9_gt3-vxyA-cAEgF-D0xC59qZ8epEi

29

continues to constitute a vital aspect of nationalist Korean music as perceived by South

Korean nationals today.

Along with promoting nationalistic memories of the Independence Movement of

March 1, 1919, the song chosen highlights a contemporary political issue – the dispute

over Dokdo Island with Japan. Although “Holo Arirang” functions primarily as a

traditional folk song, pushing domestic nationalism, the reference to Dokdo,73 both in the

lyrics and the actual setting of the stage, which has a giant display of a photo of Dokdo,

politicizes the performance on an international scale. The lyrics of the song, in which the

singers ask if Dokdo has slept well through the night, appeal to a sympathetic feeling of

protectiveness for the island and enforce the national concept of ownership over the

territory.

For an audience member with no attachments to Korea or Japan, the performance

appears straightforwardly traditional and nationalistic. However, for a viewer with an

understanding of the sociohistorical context of the performance, the music and stage

carry a clear political message and distinct sociopolitical implications. These implications

and messages appropriate traditional music as a medium to appeal to the domestic

Korean audience, calling on specifically Korean themes and methods of message

transmission. The target audience of traditional music, including pansori, allows

entrance of nationalist South Korean themes – such as han, group participation and

solidarity, and political rhetoric, to the public space. Ultimately, performances such as

73 The disputed ownership of the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands by Korea or Japan is currently a major point of international contention. Both nations claim ownership of the territory – and have put major nationalistic importance on maintaining their claims.

30

those on Immortal Songs 2 and the release of films like Sopyonje, reveal the success of

the current South Korean government in their appropriation of music as a means of

unifying their citizens and cultivating cultural nationalism.

CONCLUSION

Music on the Korean peninsula has for centuries provided a medium for

expression of group solidarity and unity among ethnic Koreans. Beginning in the Chŏson

period with ture joint farming initiatives and their accompanying nongak melodies,

Korean political movements and individuals developed, and appropriated, music as a

means of building their legitimacy and garnering support among the illiterate peasant,

and later civilian, class. The tradition of building feelings of solidarity through cultural

nationalism by means of appropriated music finds expression in multiple Korean political

movements and government policies. Moreover, the tradition of music as a political tool

extends beyond the peninsula. Myriad organizations and movements around the world

developed their own music as an expression of internal solidarity. Examples include, but

are not limited to, the former USSR’s music, African slave songs in the Americas, and

European classical music, such as the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky that celebrated

military victories of a nation. Further research into such examples would undoubtedly

provide interesting insight into the successes of music as a political tool universally, and

also further inform its application in Korea. For the sake of this paper, understanding the

notable success of political appropriation of music on the Korean peninsula requires an

31

examination of this tradition and its expression throughout different periods of Korean

history.

Increasing international challenges during the later years of the Yi Dynasty in

Chŏson introduced many changes to Korean society. Christian messages of equality,

growing feelings of nationalism and identification with an ethnic group, and xenophobic

reactions to industrialization and other forms of Western technology paved the way for

widespread cultural nationalism on the peninsula. Appropriated traditional music acted as

a catalyst for cultural nationalist sentiment among ethnic Koreans both inside and outside

Korea – beginning with the Tonghak Rebellion’s use of pansori style music and the

minyo song “Blue Bird.”

Following the collapse of the Yi Dynasty and annexation by Japan, Japanese

policies of suppression and censorship of music reveal the importance of traditional

music. The banning of “Arirang,” the “Aegugka,” and other traditional songs implies that

the Japanese government understood the potential capability of such music as a catalyst

for unified rebellion. Moreover, Imperial Japan itself appropriated “Arirang” as a means

of stripping it of its Koreanness and nationalist implications. However, GGC suppression

and appropriation of music during the period of the Japanese occupation did not lead to

decreased feelings of cultural nationalism among ethnic Koreans. Instead, political

movements, such as the March 1st Movement of 1919, latched onto minyo and other

forms of traditional music as they appealed to their fellow Koreans for support.

Following liberation from the Japanese and division after the Korean War, the

32

governments of both North and South Korea continue appropriating traditional music as

they assert their legitimacy and unify their citizens through cultural nationalism.

Continued research of the music of North and South Korea may reveal continuing

patterns of appropriation of music for political incentives. In today’s Republic of Korea,

for example, research about continuing appropriation of nongak and kugak may reveal

significant insights into the political motives behind government decisions. Also, analysis

of available DPRK music may reveal some of the methods by which they assert their

authority, and perhaps assist in facilitating more accurate international understanding of

DPRK policies.

Ultimately, Korea provides an excellent case study for the use of music in the

political sphere. Korean political movements and individuals throughout the complicated

twentieth century and the formation of the two current nations reminded the Korean

people of their unified and autonomous history through the appropriation and political

application of music. The cultural nationalism that developed among ethnic Koreans then

served, and serves, as the foundation for the political ideology and governments

envisioned by Korean nationalists. Traditional music, appropriated by these political

bodies as a means of strengthening their basis of support, emerged from a history of

collective action and contributed to the establishment of cultural nationalism on the

peninsula.

33

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Sohyang소향 (김소향). Interview in “[HIT] Pulhuŭi myŏngok – Sohyang, pudŭrŏpko kangnyŏrhage… holo arirang yŏlch’ang. 20150221" 불후의 명곡 - 소향, 부드럽고 강렬하게…‘홀로 아리랑’ 열창. [Immortal Songs II – Sohyang, intense and meaningful, a passionately sung “Holo Arirang”] YouTube video, 7:41, from a performance televised by KBS on February 21, 2015, posted by "KBSKpop," February 21, 2015. Accessed March 30, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tkxtm8Zzb0&index=2&list=PL0D9_gt3-vxyA-cAEgF-D0xC59qZ8epEi

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Name of Candidate: Alyssa Victoria Mae Wall

Birth date: April 18, 1994

Birth place: Lander, Wyoming

Address: 2762 E. Parleys Way SLC, UT, 84109