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Arirang

Na Woon-gyu, whose 1926 film Arirang made the Seoul version of the song the best known. Photographer unknown, before 1938, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Arirang itself has no single author.

Arirang

17 traced influences · 7 sources

dig Arirang

What it took directly

  1. documentedthe standard Seoul Arirang (bonjo arirang) took from Na Woon-gyu's 1926 film Arirang, which used it as its theme song"It was made greatly popular by its use as the theme song of Korea's influential early feature film "Arirang" (1926) directed by and starring Na Wun-gyu." Yonhap, in The Korea Times (December 6, 2012). Atkins (2007) also calls it the film that sparked the modern Arirang craze, and notes that recent scholarship disputes how nationalist the film itself was
  2. documentedthe theme of Na Woon-gyu's Arirang took from a folk ballad Na had overheard students singing years earlier"adaptation of the folk ballad he had overheard students singing some years before." E. Taylor Atkins, "The Dual Career of 'Arirang'", Journal of Asian Studies (August 2007)
  3. documentedthe earliest known recording of Arirang (Washington, 1896) took from Korean students in the US, among them Ahn Jeong-sik and Lee Hee-cheol, recorded on wax cylinders by the anthropologist Alice C. Fletcher"The first known recording of “Arirang” was made in Washington in 1896 by US anthropologist Alice C. Fletcher, who recorded the “Arirang” song by three Korean students studying in the US." Yoon Min-sik, The Korea Herald (September 27, 2017). Robert C. Provine, who studied Fletcher's notes, says the cylinders' history is still uncertain
  4. documentedthe 1896 Arirang cylinders took from the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition, if Franz Boas recorded them there before they passed to John Comfort Fillmore and then to Fletcher"then the cylinders were actually made at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 by the anthropologist Franz Boas" Robert C. Provine (University of Maryland), "Alice Fletcher's Notes on the Earliest Recordings of Korean Music" (2007), as his own unproven hypothesis
  5. documentedthe first printed Arirangs in Japanese (Shinobu Junpei, 1901) and Korean (Yi Sang-jun, 1914) took from Homer B. Hulbert's 1896 transcription"transcription was the basis for the first “Arirangs” printed in Japanese and Korean" E. Taylor Atkins, "The Dual Career of 'Arirang'", Journal of Asian Studies (August 2007)
  6. documentedJapan's first Arirang record (Nippon Victor, July 1931) took from the theme of Na Woon-gyu's 1926 film"hit the stores in July 1931, and it bore a strong melodic resemblance to the popular theme from Na’s 1926 movie." E. Taylor Atkins, "The Dual Career of 'Arirang'", Journal of Asian Studies (August 2007)

What it learned to do

  1. documentedArirang learned from everyone who sings it: anyone may add new verses"Everyone can create new lyrics, adding to the song’s regional, historical and genre variations, and cultural diversity." UNESCO, Representative List entry for the Republic of Korea (inscribed 2012)
  2. documentedArirang in North Korea learned from parents, neighbours and schools"Children learn the songs from their parents and neighbours, in school and other settings." UNESCO, Representative List entry for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (inscribed 2014)
  3. documentedArirang's many versions learned from the open structure of Korean folk song, which invites new variations"The lyrics and melody of traditional Korean folk songs have an open structure, so everyone can create new variations befitting their own tastes" Kim Yeoung-wun, professor of traditional Korean music at Hanyang University, to Yonhap, in The Korea Times (December 6, 2012)
  4. inferredNa Woon-gyu's Arirang comes from the popular Arirang that Hulbert heard everywhere in Seoul in the 1890s"To the average Korean this one song holds the same place in music that rice does in his food—all else is mere appendage." inferred: Hulbert documents the song's reach in 1896 and Atkins says Na adapted a ballad he heard students sing; no source traces Na's tune back to the one Hulbert heard

The tradition it sits in

  1. inferredthe standard Seoul Arirang comes from the older version (kujo arirang) Hulbert transcribed in 1896"Hulbert’s version (figure 1) differs slightly from the better-known “standard Arirang” (bonjo arirang) that emerged in the late 1920s in Seoul" inferred: Atkins says Hulbert's older version differs slightly from the standard Arirang of the late 1920s; he does not say one descends from the other
  2. documentedArirang comes from the popular (ha ch'i) singing style, as opposed to the classical si jo"The first and most conspicuous of this class is that popular ditty of seven hundred and eighty-two verses, more or less, which goes under the euphonious title of A-ra-rung." Homer B. Hulbert, American missionary and educator in Seoul, "Korean Vocal Music", The Korean Repository (February 1896)
  3. documentedArirang comes from Jeongseon Arirang of Gangwon Province, which experts call its original form""Jeongseon Arirang" from Gangwon Province, which experts say has the most lyrical melody and words of all variations, is known to be the original form of "Arirang."" Yonhap, in The Korea Times (December 6, 2012)
  4. documentedArirang comes from about sixty regional versions, with some 3,600 variants between them"Experts estimate the total number of folk songs carrying the title ‘Arirang’ at some 3,600 variations belonging to about sixty versions." UNESCO, Representative List entry for the Republic of Korea (inscribed 2012)
  5. documentedArirang comes from a song the leading theory ties to the 1860s, when commoners were brought to Seoul to rebuild Gyeongbok Palace under the regent Heungseon Daewongun"The leading theory dates back to the era when Heungseon Daewongun (1820-1898), father of the penultimate Joseon monarch Gojong, acted as regent while the king was still too young to rule in the 1860s." Yonhap, in The Korea Times (December 6, 2012). The leading theory among several; the article lists others

Where the whole form comes from

  1. documentedArirang comes from ordinary Koreans, adding to it over generations"Arirang is a popular form of Korean folk song and the outcome of collective contributions made by ordinary Koreans throughout generations." UNESCO, Representative List entry for the Republic of Korea (inscribed 2012)
  2. documentedArirang comes from an origin no one has pinned down, though Korean scholars have long studied it"But little is known about the exact origin and history of the song although it has been the subject of study by many Korean scholars." Yonhap, in The Korea Times (December 6, 2012)

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