HAROLD COURLANO[R, C[N[RAL [OITOR INIHODU~IION AND NOI[~ OJ KJUN~ HO rahk Covel desgon by Ronald Clyne
, ~ C» ==-== :' C ::::J FOLKWA YS RECORDS FE 4424 ~, C C.., -- s;::: :- C I:) : C I:) ~..,.,---, a, a, :'., () : 1) <: 1'1 z l> : 111 z () 1'1 1) ;,:;: Archval Property Smthsonan Insttuton Offce of the As88tant Secretary tor Publc Servce The Courtesan's Lament Ballad of Chok Byuk Dancng Grls' Song Requem fol' Ancestors' Shrne Ten Thou~ands 'Yayes Calm Song of Etel'nal Sprng Sx-Letter Lm's Fannel"s Song Boundary and Sud'ac(' Musc wth \Yol'(ls
ETHNIC FOLKWAYS LIBRARY FE 4424 Copyrght 1961 Folkways Records and Servce Corp., 71 W. 47th St., N. Y., N. Y. K REA hlk & Classcal MlSc Introducton and notes on the recordngs by KYUNG HO PARK The cultural smlar ty between Korea and Chna s an nevtable result of ther geographcal and poltcal relatonshps. Yet whle Korean cvlzaton bears a notceable Chnese trend n ts background, t has for thousands of years mantaned a strong ndvdualty of ts own, qute dfferent from that of Chnese. Were t an accepted truth that musc s a form of art most senstve to the socal clmate, Korean musc would be an excellent specmen. The unfortunate poltcal and socal hstory of the Korean people has nfected ther musc wth melancholy, nostalga and angush, whch are often found seasoned wth satrcal humor. Love s also a popular theme n Korean folk musc. But t s love too often frustrated by elders or greedy rulers, so the songs are lkely to be an appeal to tears rather than to rapture. There are also songs of farmers, the brghtest of all Korean folk songs, whch deal wth tol, hope and thanksgvng. And there s the nevtable song of the young wfe whose lfe s mserably nfrnged by her tyranncal mother-n-law. The classc musc of Korea s represented by what s generally known as ah ahk, lterally meanng "neat musc." The performance of ah ahk has been, and stll s to a great extent, strctly lmted to court and relgous occasons, such as Confucan rtuals. Ah ahk s performed n orchestra, sometmes wth voce. The orchestra comprses all the conventonal nstruments of three types -- strng, wnd, and percusson. They are made of the chef "elements" of nature - - wood,.. The Lee Palace Orchestra
stone, metal, etc. -- so that the full orchestra symbolcally represents the sound of nature. Some of the nstruments, such as kyung or sang whang, are thousands of years old, and no one has been allowed to change ther for m. The theory of musc s chefly based on phlosophy rather than artstry or scence. The ntrcate subjects of poltcs, relgon, sex, the unverse, color the fve elements of nature (wood, fre, earth, metal and water), the four seasons, and the anmal kngdom are nterwoven to form the underlyng theory of classcal musc. The muscan must strve to evoke a sprtual effect from every sound he makes. Even today, Korean musc s mostly confned to the professonal muscans or dancng grls. YOOK JA PAK EE -- NAM DOH CHAP GA (SIX-LETTER LINES -- SOUTHERN POPULAR SONG): Ths s one of the most popular of Southern Korean folk songs. It was composed durng the Lee dynasty, about fve hundred years ago. It says that there s not much dfference between lfe and death, or between young and old, and that poston n lfe s not Sgnfcant. Ths type of song s usually accompaned by the chang go drum, shaped lke an hourglass. A vllage farmer wth famly. CHANG POO TA RYONG (THE COURTESAN9S LAMENT): Ths s a popular song of the south tellng of the btter lfe of a daughter-n-law who escapes from the house of her n-laws and becomes a prosttute, whch she prefers to lvng wth the cruel mothern-law. The voce s accompaned by flute and chang go. SHIN TAN GA -- CHOK BYUK POO (NEW SHORT SONG -- A BALLAD OF CHOK BYUK): Tan ga s a knd of country song or ballad, usually dealng wth stores of Chnese hstory. Ths partcular song s about Chok Byuk, a famous battle ground. It was wr tten by the Chnese poet Sho Dong Pa, durng the Tang dynasty. The poetry descrbes the beauty of the landscape and nature: "Look at ths unverse! The water flows on wthout stop. Also the moon s now a full moon but sooner or later she should be a half-moon, and then dsappear some day soon, and come out someday, agan and agan. The unverse s gong on endless and forever The fresh breeze and the brght moon wll be a song to my ears and a landscape to my eyes ". School durng wartme - Eum pyung CHA JIN NONG POO GA (FARMER'S SONG): Ths s an excerpt from the story of Choon Hyang, an opera wrtten by an unknown composer on the subject of absolute chastty, the hghest vrtue of womanhood. It dates from the Lee dynasty. The song tells somethng about the lfe of the farmer, hs sowng and hs harvestng, and n ts natural settng t s sung by the farmers as they work n the felds. It expresses a joyful and optmstc vew of human lfe., SIDE I NOA RAI KA RAK: Ths s a folk song sung n the area of Seoul on socal occasons by the gsangs (dancng grls). The a c.companyng nstrument s a flute. SIDE II Harvest festval KEI MYON -- CHUNG AHK (BOUNDARY AND SURFACE -- RIGHT MUSIC): Chung ahk s a sort of musc standardzed many centures ago. Its form was prescrbed by the Yong San Who San, the conference on the sacred mountan. It s beleved that the musc was mported nto Korea about eght hundred years ago by way of Chna. Ke myon s Buddhst relgous musc. I 2 Dry dtch fshng WOO CHO -- CHUNG AHK (IN THE KEY OF WOO -- koong, sang, kag, ch, woo, musc s mostly wrtten n the pentatonc scale: Koong, Sang, Kag, Ch, Woo. Ths pece s presumably n the key of woo. 3 Farmers' festval
CHANG CHOON POOL LO CHI KOG - AH AHK (SONG OF ETERNAL SPRING): Ths pece was wrtten durng the perod of Kng Sejong, of the Ye dynasty, n honor of hs havng created and ntroduced the Korean alphabet. The composer s unknown. There are three types of Ah Ahk musc: Court Musc, Tang Musc, and Country Musc. Ths pece s Court Musc. MAN PA SIK -- AH AHK (TEN THOUSAND WAVES CALM): Korean flutes are generally made of bamboo, but occasonally of sem-precous stone such II as jade. They are ether vertcal or horzontal types. Ths pece s played on a horzontal flute. There s a legend about the Royal Flute called Man Pa Sk, whch says that when the kng played t all the waves of the sea became calm. The actual composer of ths pece s unknown, though t was popularzed by Pahk Yun, a scholar n the era of Kng Sejong. ON AHK (MUSIC WITH WORDS): Ths ah abk pece was wrtten n 145 by Chung In Cho. It has ddactc words warnng aganst the wastng of tme. JONG MYO YONG SHIN AHK -- AH AHK (REQUIEM FOR ANCESTORS' SHRINE): In Korean palaces t was once the custom to hold elaborate annual festvals to repose the souls of the royal ancestors. Ths pece s an examp Ie of musc played on such an occason. It was composed durng the Sejong era. PHOTO CREDITS Korean Pacfc Press U.N. US Army Producton Supervsor - Moses Asch Edtor - Harold Courlander Court muscans LITHO IN U.S.A. ~ 15'