It’s September already. It’s still hot but it is also true that autumn is just around the corner. It seems time has gone by too quickly when the year seemed to have begun not too long ago. This would be a good time to share a glass or two of good wine with people you love. Koreans in the old days used to sing a song at such an occasion and the blanket term for such songs was “gwonjuga권주가” or a wine-offering song. The lyrics include a toast and a prayer for a long, healthy life. The first piece for today’s Sounds of Korea is one of the wine-offering songs titled “A Thousand Years.” Based on a sijo poem of the same name, the song wishes for a thousand years of health and contentment. It would have been difficult to refuse drinking when someone sings you a song like this. Here’s Lee Jun-ah singing “A Thousand Years.”

A Thousand Years/ Sung by Lee Jun-ah

There are pansori songs associated with the act of offering wine. In pansori “Heungboga,” the greedy Nolbo who went to see his younger brother Heungbo, who suddenly became rich. Heungbo’s wife prepares a big meal for the nasty older brother, who demands his sister-in-law to sing him a wine-offering song, which was very rude of Nolbo because singing a wine-offering song was something only gisaeng기생 or female entertainers used to do. Feeling gravely insulted, Heung-bo’s wife leaves the room in outrage. In pansori “Chunhyangga춘향가,” Lee Mong-ryong이몽룡, who became a royal secret inspector, disguises himself as a beggar and attends the town magistrate’s birthday party to demand a wine-offering song. The town magistrate and other officials don’t like having a stranger in shabby clothes at the party, but they can’t kick him out since it is considered very rude to boot out a guest even an uninvited one. Brazenly, the disguised Lee Mong-ryong demands to hear a wine-offering song and a gisaeng begrudgingly obliges him with the request. Perhaps she was thinking ruefully how far she had fallen to accommodate a beggar’s demand. The wine-offering song she sang there went, “If you take this glass, you will live in that state for ten million years.” The song was more like a curse, damning Lee Mong-ryong to go on begging for thousands of years. Upon hearing the song, Lee Mong-ryong says he cannot drink this wine by himself, that it must be shared by everyone, and splashes the wine all over other guests. Let’s listen to pansori master Oh Jung-sook singing this passage from pansori “Chunhyangga.”

Wine-offering passage from Chunhyangga/ Sung by Oh Jung-sook, drum by Kim Cheong-man

“Jangjinjusa장진주사” is a wine-offering song written by Jeong Cheol정철, a well-known scholar of the mid-Joseon period. 

Let’s have a glass of wine. Let’s have another glass of wine.

Let’s pick a flower for every glass and make a mountain out of them.

Let’s drink forever and ever.

The song invokes an image of a group of gentlemen enjoying good wine and entertainment in a flowery garden. The lyrics go on to say, “Who would drink with me after I’m dead. It’s too late for regrets when a monkey whistles on top of my grave.” The song practically champions the idea of enjoying the moment. The next wine-offering song is a mix of lyrics from different songs, including “Jangjinjusa.” This would be a perfect song for one of those days when you crave for alcohol. Here’s Gasaengi singing “Wine-offering Song.” 

Wine-offering Song/ Sung by Gasaengi