National orchestra brings North Korean music

Composer and conductor Kim Seong-guk rehearses with the National Orchestra of Korea for the “New Generation, New Arirang” concert featuring North Korean music at a rehearsal room in the National Theater of Korea in central Seoul, Monday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Early signs of a thaw between North and South Korea came with music.

In February, North Korea's Samjiyon Orchestra performed in Gangneung and Seoul to support the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, and in April a South Korean troupe visited Pyongyang to present its “Spring Is Coming” concert. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un suggested "Autumn Has Come," a North Korean concert in the South, in return, which hasn't been realized yet.

"Cultural exchanges between North and South Korea have been halted for a long time and the traditional music field was no exception. I think learning about North Korean music is the start of understanding North Korea and its culture," said composer Kim Seong-guk, who conducts the National Orchestra of Korea (NOK) "New Generation, New Arirang" concert today. "I wish this concert would provide a better understanding of each other's traditional music."

The NOK has worked to bridge the two Koreas through music, introducing to South Korea North Korean music, including folk songs and popular music composed after liberation from Japanese rule, through concerts from 2000 to 2009.

"New Generation, New Arirang," held at the Lotte Concert Hall in southern Seoul, premieres some North Korean musical pieces for the first time in South, arranged in traditional Korean style, as well as two new pieces written for this concert by Kim and fellow composer Kim Dae-sung.

"I didn't know much about North Korean music either and had to do research for this project. Some South Korean musicians defected to the North and it is interesting to trace their changes. From what I understand, traditional music in North Korea developed reflecting the social environment there, absorbing modern music and popular demand as well as propagandistic purposes. Meanwhile in South Korea, musicians tried to preserve traditional music and it developed influenced by Western-style orchestral arrangement.

"Two major elements of traditional Korean music are rhythm and melody. Rhythm developed in a more diverse way in the South, while it became simplified in the North. Local colors of folk songs are better preserved in the South, too. I think North Korean music became standardized as only musicians who advocate the social system survived and their music was adapted for propaganda purposes," Kim explained.

At the concert, Chung Se-ryong's "Celebration," a North Korean style traditional orchestral piece with modernized traditional instruments, will be played.

North Korean composer Lee Han-woo's "Ongheya" is rearranged for a traditional Korean orchestra and violinist Oh Joo-young of the New York Philharmonic will accompany the NOK, while another Lee piece "Long Arirang" is arranged as a "danso" (short bamboo flute) concerto. Korean-Japanese danso player Lee Dong-shin will accompany the NOK.

"The songs I picked for this concert are relatively modern pieces, reflecting recent North Korean orchestra style. Ongheya and Long Arirang showcase how the same folk songs differentiated as the two Koreas became divided," Kim said.

Kim Seong-guk / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Kim wrote a large-scale cantata "Hope for Korean Traditional Orchestra and Choir" for this concert. The song was inspired by Korean folk dance song "Ganggangsullae" and borrows lyrics from Shin Dong-yup's poem criticizing the political situation of the divided Koreas and Kang Young-eun's poem consoling Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee boy who drowned as his family tried to reach Europe in 2015.

"I wish the two Koreas can continue this mood for peace. My parents' generation experienced war in Korea in the 1950s and still there are many wars ongoing around the world even now. I featured the voice of a young Syrian girl from an interview to convey a message for a peaceful world," Kim said. "And Ganggangsullae is a dance praying for a good harvest and I borrowed the wishing part to bring peace to the two Koreas and, furthermore, the world."

For more information, visit ntok.go.kr or call 02-2280-4114.