In defense of accordions

By Kim Ji-myung

In retrospect, I have kept on doing some things just for my own fun throughout my career, even if in secret.

I may have seemed to others to be too busy to think about activities unrelated to my work. But between you and me, I always did things that I liked besides my serious jobs ― drawing, watercolor and oil paintings, making pottery, porcelain painting, playing a traditional Korean drum (the janggo), practicing traditional dance. And now it is playing the accordion. Maybe I just needed to do these things to release the pressures from work.

I bought an accordion last year and found an instructor. At my first one-hour weekly lesson with him, I asked when I would be able to play the French chanson ``Sous le Ciel de Paris” (Under the Sky of Paris). After a moment of thought ― not to disappoint me by telling me to wait too long and not to cheat me by being unrealistic ― he said, ``Two years.”

Now almost one year has passed ― with two months pause during my busiest season ― and he gave me the music for the song. Although I cannot play it at the proper tempo, I feel as if my dreams have come true.

What a wonderful instrument the accordion is! You don’t need any accompaniment. One accordion is sufficient to entertain a crowd on a mountain top or an island. You don’t even need an amplifier or a loudspeaker.

In this process, I learned that accordion has become a very much neglected instrument, in Korea in particular. Only in Korea has there been no official accordion department or courses at music colleges, although it is probably one of the world’s most productive countries in music education. Only in 2011 did the first official accordion course open at the Kukje International College of Arts in the central Gangnam area in southern Seoul.

I have learned that the saxophone and accordion are two popular instruments for retired people who start or restart playing music. They are mostly aged between 65 and 75, who went to college from 1955-65 and worked so very hard throughout their lives for the ``economic development of the fatherland.” They are the new senior class who are still healthy, have the time and passion for a ``romantic” hobby and can afford it.

I agree that the saxophone looks quite sophisticated and smart on stage no matter how poor the amateur players are. I also agree that those sax players are slightly more learned and refined ― at least as I see them.

On the other hand, beginner-level accordions are so cheap ― made in China or in North Korea ― and the entry barrier is so low so anyone can start. Since the 1960s in particular, accordion music has been despised as a cheap marketplace sort of music, just to earn some money.

In North Korea, the accordion is ``the people’s instrument,” functioning as an important tool of ``agitprop” (revolutionary agitation and propaganda). In the 1990s, all teachers reportedly had to pass an accordion test before receiving a teaching certification.

In this situation, it seems quite natural that many well-qualified accordion players in South Korea are North Korean refugees or immigrants from China. Their music may far better touch the hearts of Korean audiences than either the orthodox classical or extremely trendy music from Europe, which professional players from Italy or Germany perform with awful skills on Italian or German-made accordions.

I cannot skip the story of Ms. Lee Cheol-ok here. She was the first and only qualified accordion professor at the Kukje College. She and her husband made it to Korea in December 2007 after wandering for 7 months in China and Thailand. They were relatively well-to-do in North Korea as her husband was an engineering professor and she was a musician. But they enjoyed watching ``hallyu” (Korean Wave) videos ― Korean drama and music. They were caught, stripped of all privileges and imprisoned.

Lee bought a good accordion with the money the Korean government paid to help their settlement in the South. Almost automatically, she has been recognized as the best accordionist in South Korea where no official training was given in the past. Since 2009, she has given recitals and charity concerts regularly.

She is also one of the most popular online music instructors with the biggest online music school. Isn’t it a modern-day Cinderella story? She has achieved her dream of living like the Koreans she saw in the TV dramas.

By the way, there are numerous online and offline accordion clubs comprised of amateur musicians across the nation. The club websites offer helpful information, member news, music scores and free lessons. I found most of the songs they prefer are ``trot” music, remembering my mom and family, hometown, friends, unrequited love, bygone days and so-on.

When I first saw Lee perform at an accordion concert, I wanted to get lessons from her but I had to give that dream up. Perhaps because of her North Korean-style perfectionism, she would not let her students move a step forward until they play the assigned song perfectly.

I am afraid that if I had a perfectionist teacher like her, I might still be trying to play ``Sous le Ciel de Paris” without a flaw when I am 90!

The writer is the chairwoman of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage). Her email address is Heritagekorea21@gmail.com.