Korean seonbi, or scholars of the old, often planted royal foxglove trees in their gardens. The lumber was useful when a family had to make quality wardrobes and chests for their daughter’s wedding. But the trees were revered because the sacred bird the phoenix supposedly only liked royal foxglove trees. Xun Zi, a philosopher of ancient China, wrote that when a king’s politics makes people enjoy life and dread death, phoenixes flock to royal foxglove trees. We can deduce from this claim that people planted royal foxglove trees to wish for a prosperous and peaceful time.

Eollak / Sung by Lee Dong-gyu

The music piece you just heard is entitled “Eollak” and was sung by Lee Dong-gyu. In Korea phoenix is called “bonghwang봉황.” This is a combination of “bong” referring to a male phoenix and “hwang” a female. Its appearance is described in ancient documents as having the head of a chicken, the beak of a swallow, the neck of a snake, the body of a dragon, the wings of a kirin기린, which is an imaginary animal of auspice, and the tail of a fish. Interestingly, each body part of the phoenix has a special meaning – the torso means benevolence, the wings justice, the back courtesy, the head virtue, and the abdomen faith. Bonghwang is never known to live in a flock or feed on millet even when starving. This magical bird allegedly eats only the fruit of bamboo trees and never hurts a living insect or a plant. It never makes a noise when flying and never gets caught in a man-made net. Its song supposedly resembles the sound of a musical instrument, specifically that of a saenghwang생황, an Oriental reed instrument consisting of many pipes of different lengths. Although we can never verify this claim, for phoenix is just an imaginary creature, ancient people must have wanted the phoenix to have a mysterious and beautiful voice that befitted its noble status. Here’s a piece performed with a saenghwang. It’s called “Seodongyo서동요” with Kim Hyo-young at the saenghwang, Lee Aram at the danso, and Jeong Ji-young at the gayageum.

Seodongyo/ Kim Hyo-young at the saenghwang, Lee Aram at the danso, and Jeong Ji-young at the gayageum

Since the phoenix was a noble, mystical beast, it was often used as a decoration motif for objects used by the nobles. The phoenix was embroidered on the dresses and beddings of royal families. Korean women used to fasten their hair with long ornamental hairpins and the ones with a phoenix decoration were the most luxurious head pieces worn only by queens and princesses. The phoenix is featured in many different elements of Korean music as well. For instance, there is a musical instrument called “bongso봉소,” which looks a lot like the pan flute of the west. The name “bongso,” meaning the wings of a phoenix, is derived from a row of 16 different-sized bamboo pipes stringed together side by side to resemble the wings of a phoenix. There was also a song entitled “Bonghwangeum,” which was composed when the Joseon Dynasty was founded. The song praised the culture and institutions of Joseon and prayed for the stability of the court. In fact, King Sejong the Great, the creator of Korean alphabet Hangeul, wrote a song called “Yongbieocheonga용비어천가,” which celebrated the virtues of the dynasty, and the music and dance that go with the song are called “Bongraeeui봉래의.” Included in this piece are such music compositions as “Yeominnak,” which means “the music enjoyed together with the people” and “Chihwapyeong치화평,” which sings of the king’s resolve to rule with benevolence. As indicated from these music pieces, Koreans in the old days were desperately waiting for peace and prosperity believed to be delivered by the phoenix. Perhaps such fervent belief demonstrates how difficult life was for ordinary Koreans of the old. Today’s show will conclude with North Korea’s Kumgangsan Opera Company performing “The Milky Way and the Phoenix.”

The Milky Way and the Phoenix / Kumgangsan Opera Company