Korean cinema has grown so much in both quantity and quality in recent decades that it’s often hard to distinguish Hollywood imports domestic creations. Korean movies attract millions of viewers and receive worldwide acclaim. 

But the situation was quite different back in the 1990s. Foreign films flooded the market after restrictions on movie imports were lifted, causing huge strain on the Korean movie making industry. “The General’s Son,” for example, saw ticket sales of just 680,000 despite being one of the hottest films of the time. There was one Korean-made film, however, about a young traditional musician that saw sold-out screenings for nearly six months. 

“Seopyeonje서편제” directed by the esteemed Im Kwon-taek임권택, set record-high gross ticket sales with over a million sold in Seoul. This despite the absence of stars on the cast. More importantly, Seopyeonje서편제 inspired many to explore traditional music forms and reignited a conversation about what Korean was and should be. Traditional Korean musicians began to hope they may once again rise to saliency and occupy a place in people’s hearts. 

The first piece you’re going to hear is an original sound track from the movie “Seopyeonje.” It’s taken from the pansori “Simcheongjeon심청전” where the character Simcheong jumps into the sea and her father regains his vision. It will be sung by master singer Ahn Sook-sun. 

Music 1: Seopyeonjeo OST/ Sung by Ahn Sook-sun

The lead actress of “Seopyeonje” was Oh Jung-hae오정해, who was studying under master vocalist Kim So-hee김소희 for her role. But in fact the movie’s finale was actually done by Ahn Sook-sun, who you just heard.

At the time, it was regarded as unsuitable for traditional musicians to appear in movies or play new fusion forms of Korean music. But Oh Jung-hae’s appearance in “Seopyeonje” helped shatter that prejudice, resulting in more versatile gugak musicians and richer Korean music. 

Traditional music is used as original sound tracks in TV dramas as well. One of the most well-known gugak official soundtracks or OST is “Onara오나라” from the historical drama “Daejanggeum대장금,” also known as “Jewel in the Palace.” Another popular gugak TV soundtrack is Kkotbyeol’s꽃별 haegeum performance of “Lovers” featured in the fictional historical drama “The Slave Hunters.” The Korean string instrument’s soulful melodies added much poignancy to the show’s powerful narratives. Here is Kkotbyeol’s performance of “Lovers” as heard on “The Slave Hunters.

Music 2: Lovers/ Haegeum by Kkotbyeol

MC: Other notable historical film narratives include “King and the Clown” and “Chihwaseon.” “King and the Clown” was based on a couple of lines about a clown named Gong-gil공길 from Prince Yeonsangun’s journal. The clown was said to have angered the king by making a satirical play about corrupt government officials and was thus banished to a faraway place. The movie’s last scene was quite memorable, with the clown and his friend executing their final acrobatic move on the rope before plunging to their deaths. 

“Chihwaseon” is a move about the life of famed painter Jang Seung-eop in the late Joseon period. Through the talented yet temperamental and eccentric artist, people came to be interested in him and his paintings. These movies illustrate how one well-made movie or TV can change our culture for the better. We hope to see such works more often so that our cultural lives will be enriched further. The last piece for today’s episode of Sounds of Korea is titled “Suryongeum수룡음.” In the movie, Jang Seung-eop played the danso단소, but in today’s version, Lee Doo-won plays the danso and Sohn Beom-joo the Korean wind instrument saenghwang생황. 

Music 3: Suryongeum/ Danso by Lee Doo-won, saenghwang by Sohn Beom-joo