Tag Archives: Korean

Korean Folksong 3: choo-eun baram

1) 

Original: 

날 부르는 바람이 왜 이렇게 차가운 걸까?

차가운데 나에게 희망을 주는 것이다

날 부르는 바람이 날 어디로 인도하는 걸까?

이 차가움을 견디고 따라 갈 것이다

Romanization/Transliteration: 

Nal boo-reuh-neun ba-ram-ee wae ee-ruh-kae cha-ga-oon-gul-kka?

cha-ga-oon-dae na-ae-gae hee-mang-eul joo-neun-guh-shee-dah.

nal boo-reun-neun ba-ram-ee nal uh-di-loh indoh-ha-neun gul-kka?

ee cha-ga-oom-eul gyun-di-go dda-rah gal-guh-shee-dah.

Full Translation: 

Oh wind who’s calling me, why are you so cold? 

Despite the cold, you also give me hope.

Oh wind who’s calling me, where are you leading me?

I will endure the chill of your breeze, and follow you. 

2) My Korean grandmother introduced this folk song, called “cold wind,” to me because it was a song that she learned during middle school, but came to have great meaning to her after she immigrated to America in her late 20s. She said her decision to come to America made her scared, but she was willing to endure this fear for the possibility of a future as a nurse in the US. 

3) This performance was actually done by my grandmother and mother together. My grandmother sang the lyrics, and my mother, being a pianist, improvised an accompaniment along with the melody. It was a set of four Korean folk songs that they performed in front of me and the rest of our family. 

4) I connect this folk song to the Korean concept of ‘Han.’ Han is an emotion that connotes an accumulation of Koreans’ suffering over time. It is a very dynamic emotion that has a fierce color that could almost signal the energy and birth of new possibilities. I think the song my grandma sang connects to this concept because although it invokes the necessity of suffering along a certain road, it also signals that there should be hope that despite this suffering a worthwhile outcome could arise. 

Korean Folksong 4: Fate’s Appearance

1) 

Original: 

빛나는 그대를 보면 볼수록 태양이 어두워진다

청국의 가장 아름다운 천사들도 평범해 보여지게 하는 그대가 

어디에서 온 걸까? 

다른 세계 – 가능

다른 세월 – 가능

이 세계 – 확실히 불가능

우리의 출신이 세상 차이니 낯선데 뭔가 인연인 듯이 익숙하다

Romanization / Transliteration: 

Bit-na-neun geu-dae-reul bo-myun bol-soo-rok tae-yang-ee eoh-doo-wuh-jin-da

chung-kook-eh ga-jang ah-reum-da-oon chun-sah-deul-do pyung-bum-hae bo-yuh-ji-gae ha-neun geu-dae ga eoh-di-ae-suh on-gul-kka?

da-reun seh-gye – ga-neung

da-reun seh-woul – ga-neung

Ee-seh-gye – hawk-shil-hee bool-ga-neung

Oo-ree-eh chool-sheen-ee sae-sang cha-i-ni nat-sun-dae mwon-ga in-yun-in deu-si eek-sook-ha-da

Full Translation: 

The more I see you shine, the darker the sun gets. 

Where did you, who can make even heaven’s most beautiful angels appear ordinary, come from? 

A different world is possible

A different time is possible

But you being from the same world is without a doubt impossible

Since our origins are so different, you seem strange, but something, as if it’s fate, is familiar

2) My Korean grandmother introduced this folk song, called “인연의 나타남” (fate’s appearance) to me because it was a song that she learned during highschool, and it came to have great meaning for her when she met my grandfather. She said the song is about a very idealistic love, and she told me that she hopes people don’t yet give up on the idea that such a love could possibly exist. 

3) This performance was actually done by my grandmother and mother together. My grandmother sang the lyrics, and my mother, being a pianist, improvised an accompaniment along with the melody. It was a set of four Korean folk songs that they performed in front of me and the rest of our family. 

4) This song is centered around the idea of two lovers who are of completely different backgrounds. The subject of the folk song is a person who appears almost perfect, so perfect that assuming a relationship with that person seems near impossible. However, the concept of fate, Inyun, in Korean plays a big role in the song’s theme. It suggests that no matter how infeasible this relationship seems, if fate wills its manifestation then it will come to be. This song also leads me to compare Inyun with the concept of Akyun, which depicts a relationship that is also subject to fate, but is instead bound to be ill-fated. Comparing these two concepts, it becomes clear that Korean tradition attributes both miracles and tragedies to the idea of fate. 

Gumiho

1) Original Performance:

“Well there is this mythical creature called a nine-tail fox.. In Korean it’s Gumiho. They are very beautiful and roamed the forests of Korea… the voice too… very charming. One night the Gumiho entered Korea’s Royal Palace, and became a servant of the royal court. It was through this that she hoped to get close to the king. Finally, she had a task which required her to bring food to the king’s chamber. The king was immediately entranced. Then all of a sudden, her fox tail came out, she lunged toward the king… and tore out his heart and liver. She brought them back to her forest and ate.”

2) I heard this tale from my Korean mother. She said she heard this folktale during Korean school when she was a child. She claimed that she frankly doesn’t enjoy the story itself, and thinks it’s quite gruesome. However, she told me that she shared it because she believes it has an important lesson – that one shouldn’t blindly trust the outer appearances of others. 

3) My mom is a devout Christian, so I imagine most of the folklore I could gather from her would be fairly pure in principle. With this in mind, after visiting home and eating dinner with her, I told her of my project. However, I made it clear that I wanted to hear the “scariest” piece of folklore that she could recall from her childhood. 

4) This story is derived from the character of the Gumiho, a nine-tail fox which is seen in ancient Korean literature, and has appeared in various stories and even now TV shows up to today. The core folk concept that has been continually transmitted seems to be the two-sidedness of its nature. A beautiful, seemingly harmless being is secretly a brutal killer. In Korean there’s also a common expression that I have heard multiple people (from all ages and genders) use, being  “she looks like a fox.” This is always said with a negative connotation with the intention of instilling a sense of weariness within the listener. This could very well be derived from the idea of the Gumiho and the dangers associated with its character. 

Annotation: 

To read other version of this tale, read Sung-Ae Lee’s article, “Lures and Horrors of Alterity: Adapting Korean Tales of Fox Spirits.”

Lee, Sung-Ae. “Lures and Horrors of Alterity: Adapting Korean Tales of Fox Spirits.” International Research in Children’s Literature, vol. 4, no. 2, 17 Dec. 2011, pp. 135–150., https://doi.org/10.3366/ircl.2011.0022.

red fan blue fan

1) “There was a woodcutter who came upon two magical fans… a red fan and a blue fan. Upon fanning his nose with the red fan, his nose grew double in size. He panicked! However, he then fanned his nose with the blue fan, and his nose shrunk! With these newfound magical devices, he devised a plan to get rich. He went to the local village noble’s house and fanned his nose without looking. The noble was panicking, believing he had an incurable disease, and called the entire village, offering a huge sum of money for whoever could cure him. The woodcutter brought the blue fan, cured him, and was given money that would last his children’s children. Because of his new wealth however, he quit woodcutting and became extremely bored. So he decided to use the red fan indefinitely to see how high his nose could grow. It made a dent in the floor of heaven! Angered by this occurrence, God snipped his nose and the woodcutter lived the rest of his life in pain…”  

2) This folktale was told to me and my grandparents by my mother. She first heard it at church when she was young. She said she wanted me to hear it because she doesn’t want me to live a life that is marked by greed. 

3) I had initially asked my grandparents for folktales, but they directed the responsibility onto my mother. They said they were curious as to what she knew because she has spent a lot of time growing up in America while being Korean. 

4) This folktale has large ties to the idea of Karma. Buddhism was the original major religious system in Korea, so it makes sense that its influence would be manifest in multiple forms. The ideas of karma and incarnation are quite grave, however, and since this folktale is a children’s story, it seems to have been packaged in a way that includes comedy and is more digestible for children. 

Tofu

1) After a Korean exits prison, a white block of tofu, nothing else, is the first thing that they are supposed to eat. By doing this, they have a better chance to live a life of purity from that point after. 

2) My Korean mother told me about the “folk item / food” that is tofu because she said she wants me to know that even if I make a grave mistake, I will always have a chance at redemption if I assume the right mentality. 

3) My Korean mother told me this when I was eating dinner with my family. I asked if there are any Korean foods that have a traditional / folk significance, and after a moment of thinking she came up with the above example.

4) This practice started in the prisons of the Joseon dynasty, but is now seen in modern-day Korean noir films. Perhaps tied to its longevity is the fact that tofu is already such a staple food for Koreans. Also, in prison they only give inmates bean rice for food (no tofu). Tofu is also made from beans, but it is an elevated form of bean to the one included in rice in prisons.