By Choi Yearn Hong
My poem, “Dokdo,” was turned into a song by composer La In-yong, a professor emeritus at Yonsei University and a member of the Korean Academy of Arts, which was then sung by baritone Choi In-dal, a professor emeritus at James Madison University in Virginia, and tenor Kim Young-suk, a professor at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania,. As a poet, I am thankful for the opportunity to debut as a songwriter for the special occasion of the international conference on Dokdo . It was my honor to have a famed composer and opera singers bring my poem to the musical world.
The stage was not set for a musical performance but rather for a scholarly conference, specifically the International Conference on the Territory and Maritime Issues: Sovereignty over Dokdo from Historical, Political and Cultural Perspective . The conference was co-sponsored by the Korean-American University Professors’ Association and the Northeast Asian History Foundation and held at Omni Providence Hotel in Providence, R.I. on June 5-6, 2015.
The association requested Professor Choi to produce a new song on Dokdo. He remembered reading my poem in 2009, and both he and the association agreed that my poem should be turned into a song and sung at the conference.
I wrote the poem “Dokdo” during my first trip to the islets in 2009. The poem was published in a Korean language newspaper and was read and praised by several people, including Professor Choi, an opera singer at James Madison University. Upon the association’s request, I translated it into English for his performance at the conference for the American audience.
“The Dokdo Isle”
We approach the Dokdo isle ;
Our hearts are pounding
As we start to see the three-peak isle on the horizon
Dokdo is seen in the distance
As an island with three peaks
So it was once called the Three-Peak Island
Dokdo looks different from different angles
So it has had many different names over the past 1,500 years
Once it was called the Seal Island
Because so many seals landed on the island
Who killed the seals? Barbarians did
Once it was called as the Rock Island
Cholla fishermen were called “the Rock,” which meant “the lonely” in Korean
The Korean fishermen offered many different names for the Dokdo isle
Over the past 1,500 years
But Japan dared to claim that it discovered a no man’s island and occupied it in 1905
Only barbarians want to steal the isle we have occupied
We approach the Dokdo Isle
As we start to see seagulls
The island sea has been a fishing ground for many centuries
For all Korean people over many centuries
So no one can steal our Dokdo isle.
We can see Dokdo from Ulnungdo with our naked eyes
On many fine days
So don’t try to steal our isle
Poetry or music can be a good prelude to an international conference, even though the conference is basically for social scientists and international maritime law faculty. The poem can clear people’s minds and set the atmosphere for a conference. The beginning of poetry was for the feast in the early Korean history. It was a farmers’ prayer before the seeding season and after the harvest. And not just in Korean literary history, but in all literary histories in the world. All poems were songs for the primitive people in early human history. So, back then, it was natural for the poem to be turned into a song, but the modern free verse changed the poem into something for reading, not necessarily for singing.
Lyrics are poems with rhythms.
When I was working as a senior scholar at the Society of Ieodo Research in 2010-2013, I proposed to the president of the foundation making a musical on Ieodo with the Jeju sea-diving women’s song, “Who Lives in Ieodo?” A Broadway musical may touch many people from around the world. The Jeju women believed their husbands and sons who have not returned from fishing have been living in Ieodo. The president was receptive to my proposal but could not continue discussing it with me after he left the foundation. Needless to say, territorial disputes can be resolved by the International Court of Justice, but poetry and music may strongly influence the world’s opinion, which would eventually influence the court judges. I am glad to know the foundation commissioned composer La to turn my poem on Dokdo into a song. I heard that the conference participants were impressed by the song sung by baritone Choi and tenor Kim. The conference keynote speaker, Dr. James Kraska, a professor of Oceans Law and Policy at the U.S. Naval War College, and other conference participants told me that the song was a great prelude to the conference. I hope that poetry can help people decide in all kinds of conflict resolutions.
Dr. Choi is a poet and writer based in Washington, D.C.