Welcome to “Sounds of Korea” on KBS WORLD Radio. This traditional music program invites you to deepen your understanding about Korean traditional music by taking a closer look at various music-related topics every week. Today, we’ll learn about willow trees featured in ancient Korean songs and poems. I’m your host ________. Please stay tuned, I’ll be back shortly.

Willow trees can be seen all year in Korea, but they are most noticeable in spring. Slender branches leisurely sway in the light breeze and green buds sprout in unison to herald the arrival of spring. There is an old Korean poem which likened willow branches to threads and a cuckoo bird to a shuttle in a loom.

The willow branches have become threads and the cuckoo a shuttle.
My anxieties are woven over the 90 days of spring.
Whoever said the days are more beautiful with green leaves than with flowers?

The sight of the bird flying in and out of the willow branches must have resembled a shuttle flying through the interlaced threads. Let’s listen to this poem set to a tune. This piece is called “Willow Is” sung by Jo Soon-ja.

Music 1: 여창가곡 “버들은”/ 조순자 노래
Willow Is/ Sung by Jo Soon-ja

Ancient Koreans considered the willow tree as a symbol of parting. When the frozen rivers begin to thaw in the spring, people would start gearing up for long trips. Those left behind would see the travelers off at the river docks and the riversides are where willow trees grow in abundance. The Chinese character meaning the willow has the same pronunciation as the Chinese letter that means to stay. So people of the old days gave broken-off willow branches to their loved ones to beg them to stay. If you plant a willow branch it will grow into a willow tree before long. A female entertainer named Hongnang홍랑 during the Joseon Dynasty wrote the following poem to her beloved seonbi Choi Gyeong-chang최경창.

I put this broken willow branch in your hand.
Plant it just outside the window of your bedroom and look at it often.
If new leaves sprout after a rainy night, think of them as me.

A three-way junction in the middle of a town called Cheonan was a transportation hub with much traffic even in the old days. The intersection was also famous for the willow tree that had stood there for a long time. There is even a Korean folk song about that willow.

Music 2: 천안삼거리/ 노래 솔리스츠
Cheonan Three-way Intersection/ Sung by Solists

That song was titled “Cheonan Three-way Intersection” and sung by a cappella group called Soloists. The city of Luoyang in Henan Province, China is famed for its history as the ancient capital of many Chinese dynasties. The city of a 3,000-year history is not only known for its numerous historical relics, but also for its annual peony festival held every April. There is a Korean court music piece titled “The Spring of Luoyang,” which originated from a Chinese poem during the Goryeo period. In the poem about a departed lover, there is a passage about how the light willow cotton drifting in the wind reminds a woman of her long-absent lover and her wavering heart. It’s heartbreaking to wait for someone, but sometimes it’s happier to have someone to long for. Let’s wrap up this week’s Sounds of Korea episode with “The Spring of Luoyang” performed by KBS Traditional Music Orchestra.

Music 3: 낙양춘/ KBS 국악관현악단
The Spring of Luoyang/ Performed byKBS Traditional Music Orchestra

That’s all for this episode of “Sounds of Korea.” Thank you for joining me. This has been ______. Good-bye.