Though the exceptionally warm weather lately would might suggest otherwise, it is still April, the peak of spring season. Following azaleas and cherry blossoms, tiny green buds are emerging on trees and bushes, and sunlight gives new life to all.

People in the old days used to describe this time of year as a time when green forests and fragrant grasses are better than flowers. Singers used to sing short songs called “danga단가” before their main pansori performances to loosen up their vocal cords.

These days, that danga is often accompanied by a gayageum. Its lyrics describe how the sun sets even slower and magpies fly about more busily as the season progresses. For this week’s Sounds of Korea, we’ll hear master pansori artist Park Gui-hee singing the danga “Nogeumbangcho” accompanied by a gayageum. 

Music 1: “Nogeumbangcho”/ Sung with gayageum by Park Gui-hee

Pansori is basically musical storytelling done in a long, aggrandized manner. This is why danga, sung before the main pansori performance, is comprised of rather simple melodies and beats. If a singer invests too much into singing danga, he or she may not have the energy to do the main performance, or the audience would lose interest in the acts to come. 

Many danga pieces sing of a lonely traveler forsaking their worldly possessions and wandering in nature, or touch on the the futility of obsessing about fame and wealth. “Nogeumbangcho,” the danga we just heard, also sings of the joy of wandering aimlessly on a fine spring day. Setting off on a journey like that is possible because spring is here. 

Now we have an instrumental piece that expresses the vitality of springtime. It’s titled “Spring at a Guard Post,” and is composed by North Korea’s Kong Yong-song공영송. This piece was first performed when tensions between South and North Korea eased a little. The piece represents the hope of many Korean people that spring, or a new beginning, would descend upon the heavily guarded inter-Korean border. 

Here, a string quartet performs “Spring at a Guard Post” together with Lee Yong-gu at the danso, Moon Yang-sook at the gayageum, and Kang Ae-jin at the ajaeng아쟁.

Music 2: “Spring at a Guard Post”/ Written by Kong Yong-song, danso by Lee Yong-gu et al.

“Spring at a Guard Post” was known as a gayageum piece in South Korea, but it was originally written around 1965 as a danso solo piece. Danso, a Korean reed instrument, is small and lightweight and relatively easy to learn. Anyone can play once he or she learns how to make a sound with it, which is why danso is often the first instrument elementary school students learn in traditional Korean music class. 

Before then, danso was not a popular instrument, so much so that it was almost forgotten. Fortunately, however, many young people now know how to play the instrument as it was included in their grade school curriculum. But it’s rather disappointing that there are no good danso pieces to play besides simple folk songs or children’s songs. It would have motivated many young students to keep on studying danso if there were more complex danso pieces  to work towards. Perhaps North Korean musicians, which are more invested in danso music, can teach their Southern counterparts a thing or two. 

The last piece we have for this episode is “Spring Day” performed by the traditional ensemble The Forest. The music piece starts with a cheery haegeum해금 tune adapted from a folk song. The song sings of nostalgic spring memories of one’s mother. Maybe the spring days we’re experiencing now will someday be a nostalgic memory for someone in the future. Anyway, here’s The Forest singing “Spring Day.” 

Music 3: Spring Day/ Performed by The Forest