It often feels like time drags on when you’re waiting for something. Sometimes, even the three minutes needed for a cup of noodles to cook are too long to bear, so you flip open the lid every few seconds to check if the noodles are cooked. So, imagine how time seems to slow down when you’re waiting to see your loved one. 

Today is Korea’s Independence Day when Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation. Korean ancestors must have waited for this day while they suffered under the tormenting rule of the Japanese colonial government. As Japan’s oppression grew harsher, many Koreans would have nearly given up on seeing the hopeful future of being liberated. Although they yearned to be freed, the long wait must have been unbearable for some. Koreans in the early to mid-20th century used to sing traditional songs to comfort themselves living in an occupied country with an uncertain future. One such song was “Ssukdaemeori쑥대머리” or “Disheveled Hair” from pansori Chunhyangga춘향가. Chunghyang sang this song while she was waiting for her love, Lee Mong-ryong이몽룡, to save her from lockup after she refused to become a courtesan for the town magistrate. Her predicament seemed to resemble the Korean people’s situation in which they had to wait in uncertainty to be saved. Let’s listen to Ko Yeong-yeol singing “Disheveled Hair” from pansori Chunhyangga. 

This week’s artist is master singer Kim Jong-jo of the late Joseon Dynasty. We need to talk about his father, Kim Kwan-jun김관준, before talking about Kim Jong-jo. Kim Kwan-jun was a singer from Yonggang용강, Pyeongannam-do평안남도 Province in today’s North Korea. He wrote several songs, among which were “Baebaeng’i Gut배뱅이굿” and “The Song of Patriot Ahn Jung-geun안중근.” Ahn was an independent fighter who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese statesman who led Japan’s annexation of Korea, at Harbin Station in October 1909 and was executed in March of the following year. Kim Kwan-jun’s son, Kim Jong-jo, was an elite who attended Soongsil숭실 Middle School at the time, who wrote a song about the eight most scenic spots in Pyongyang at such a young age. The younger Kim was known to sing his father’s compositions so well that he was nicknamed “Kim Baebaeng’i.” Kim Jong-jo had a unique singing technique and exceptional skills perfectly suited to singing western region folksongs, one of which was “Baebaeng’i Gut.” Despite the Japanese colonial government’s brutal oppression, he inspired the Korean people’s will for independence by singing “The Song of Patriot Ahn Jung-geun안중근” and made people laugh with “Baebaeng’i Gut.” Now let’s listen to Kim Jong-jo singing a passage from “Baebaeng’i Gut” where the shaman priest deceives Baebaeng’s parents.

Every culture has a myth that explains how the earth and mankind were created. In the Bible, God is to have created light and darkness, the earth and the sky, the sun and the moon, and all the creatures and even humankind. The Greeks have the myth of Chaos, a void from which Gaea, the goddess of earth, emerged. Gaea gave birth to Uranus the Sky, who later became her mate. Korea has a similar creation myth which inspired Jeju Island’s shamanistic song “Story of the King of Heaven and Earth.” In the time of chaos, the energy of new beginnings separated heaven and earth, causing mountains to rise from the ground and the stars to light up the sky. The world began when the King of Heaven and Earth created two suns and two moons. The King himself came down to earth and married a wise woman who bore him two sons. The first son was Dabyeolwang대별왕, who ruled over the world of living, and the second son was Sobyeolwang소별왕, who reigned over the underworld. But wanting to take over the living world from his older brother, Sobyeolwang conned Daebyeolwang into giving it up. But Sobyeolwang found it hard to rule over the world of living, so he asked Daebyeolwang to get rid of one sun and one moon, disable the animals’ ability to speak, and separate ghosts and human beings. Despite Daebyeong’s efforts, Sobyeolwang still found it hard to rule over this world, which is why the human world is still so chaotic. Let’s listen to the members of the Jeju Chilmeoridanggut Preservation Society singing “Story of the King of Heaven and Earth.”