A long, long time ago a man named Gwanglijago (곽리자고) saw a drunken old man with a bottle of wine crossing the river early one morning. The drunk man was followed by his wife, who was shouting at him to stop and not to go further into the river. But the man kept on wading into the water and finally drowned. The wife grieved for her husband by playing an instrument called the “gonghu (공후)” and singing the following song.

My beloved, don’t cross that water.
But you went into the water and drowned.
What should I do now my husband has departed.

After singing this song, the wife jumped into the river to take her own life. Having seen this sad incident, Gwanglijago returned home to tell his wife Yeo-ok (여옥) about it. She took out her gonghu and sang her own version of the dead woman’s song, bringing everyone listening to the song to tears. This is the story associated with “Gongmudohaga (공무도하가),” the oldest lyric song in Korea. The gonghu mentioned in this song is an ancient instrument, the playing method of which has now been forgotten. But recently a series of attempts have been made to restore the instrument’s playing techniques. Here is a piece that is played with the rediscovered techniques.
Music 1: Morning at Sangwonsa Temple/ Gonghu by Lee Ji-eun, saenghwang by Hong Young-joo
The piece you just heard was “Morning at Sangwonsa Temple”, with the gonghu played by Lee Ji-eun and the saenghwang by Hong Young-joo. The gonghu is a string instrument played by plucking the strings, much like the harp of the West. There used to be a wide range of gonghus, including the sugonghu (수공후), wagonghu (와공후), and sogonghu (소공후). It was often featured in old paintings, indicating that it must have been a popular musical instrument in the old days. Although most of the information about how it was tuned or played was lost many years ago, the instrument itself has survived, enabling a few musicians to refer to old records and rediscover its playing techniques. Another instrument that is being brought back is the bipa (비파), a lute-like string instrument. In the East, there have been several instruments similar to the bipa. In Korea, there was the dangbipa (당비파) and hyangbipa (향비파). The dangbipa was played by plucking the strings with a tool shaped like a spatula or with fingers covered in thimbles. With the hyangbipa, musicians made sounds using a bamboo stick called a “suldae (술대),” which was also used to play the geomungo. This is why, as recently as the 1930s, geomungo (거문고) players knew how to play the hyangbipa as well. It’s unfortunate that the bipa and its playing methods had vanished from people’s memories during the tumultuous Japanese occupational rule. However, several musicians today refer to the lute playing methods of other countries to develop Korea’s own way of playing the bipa. The following piece titled “Chimhyangmu” is the product of such efforts.
Music 2: Chimhyangmu/ Composed by Hwang Byung-ki, bipa by Han Eun-yeong
That was “Chimhyangmu” written by gayageum virtuoso Hwang Byung-ki with Han Eun-yeong on the bipa. It was originally a gayageum piece, but today’s version was performed with a bipa. The last piece we’re going to hear today is a cheolhyeongeum (철현금) performance. The cheolhyeongeum is a string instrument that was invented by tightrope walker Kim Yeong-cheol in the 1940s. He designed the instrument after the western guitar, so cheolhyeongeum is not a traditional instrument in the strictest sense. It is shaped like a square guitar and played with the instrument laid out flat on the floor and plucked with a suldae, much like the geomungo. In playing Korean traditional instruments like the geomungo or gayageum, a technique called “nonghyeon (농현)” to create vibrations is crucial. Vibrations are created when a player plucks a string and then pulls or agitates that same string to generate waves of sound. However, instead of shaking the cheolhyeongeum strings, an instrument called “nongok (농옥)” is rubbed against the strings to create vibrations. Although its history is short, the cheolhyeongeum is well-suited to playing traditional Korean songs and is gaining people’s attention with its mysterious, beautiful sound. This week’s episode of Sounds of Korea ends with Yu Kyung-hwa playing “Sunset” on the cheonhyeongeum.
Music 3: Sunset/ Cheolhyeongeum by Yu Kyung-hwa