DISCUSSION 2

Hi my name is Zoe and I will be leading this discussion by talking about how popular music has played a role in Korean political movements and how Korean politics and social conventions at that time have changed these music styles over time. Despite how popular music in Korea nowadays are becoming transnational and globally multidirectional (Kim 2018: 26), it is necessary that we go back in time to the Japanese colonial period Korea and Korean War period where popular music just began to appear in the Korean society. During this historical time period, the political condition between Japan and Korea has caused the Korean popular music industry to go from an oppressed state that “they had no choice but to swallow what was categorized by the Japanese and their version of popular music” (Maliangkay 2007: 54) and progressed to a state where the society burst with a sense of nationalism and political resistance. Music was therefore used as a method to broadcast these patriotic ideas and used as propaganda to propel this new political voice of Korea.

In this discussion, to show more about how music was heavily included in Korean politics and also the other way around, I want to bring up two specific events and movements. First is the political voice of Nationalism that was portrayed in the early popular form of music and second is the Minjung-Gayo that was established during the democratization movement from the 1970s to the 1990s.
During the colonial period, popular music and record companies were mainly still under the effect of the Japanese and Americans. Starting at approximately the 1920s, popular music began to slowly take over the traditional music trend. After music genre such as shinminyo and yuhaengga were introduced, these music styles began to develop with the base of traditional folk songs combined with Western melodies. Some of the composers for these kinds of music style began to incorporate their oppressed feelings in songs and used music to criticize the Japanese following the March 1st Movement (Maliangkay 2007: 61). During that period, music can play the role to remind the Koreans of their national pride and superiority during when the “Korean cultural life” was actually just the Japanese’s vision of the Korean life. Later on, the Japanese government began cultural censorship when a lot of Korean popular music were considered expressing nationalism. Famous folksongs like “Arirang” sent strong political messages to the audience which eventually paved the way to the later movements that resulted in Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule.

Another form of music style that I want to bring up is the Minjung-Gayo, which can also be known as the “protest songs” emerged during the 1980s along with the pro-democracy movements in Korea. This kind of music form pushed forward democracy movements such as the June Democracy movement in 1987 where protested the government at the time and generated democratic reforms that led to the establishment of the current government or the “Sixth Republic”. The gayo written at that time reflected mostly the people’s criticism towards the government and the president Park Jeonghee. Music would be played at demonstrations on the streets, and sheet music would be handed out during propaganda activities (Kim 2013). Popular music at that can be counted as a big part of the political protest culture. 
After the democracy movements, musicians began to reform the minjung-gayo into a more modernize genre of music that resulted in the Korea wave and K-pop we have nowadays. Although these type of music form began to fade out of the public, music like these that had a strong political voice played a big part of the political movements and the social and cultural development of Korea and eventually led to what Korea politics are today. 

Bibliography
Kim, Sukyoung. K-pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018.
Maliangkay, Roald. “Their Masters’ Voice: Korean Traditional Music SPs (Standard Play Records) under Japanese Colonial Rule.” The World of Music 49, no.3 (2007): 53-74.

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COMMENTS

Amy: Thank you Zoe for a very thoughtful essay. I would like to talk a bit more about the change of Minjung-gayo during the 1980s, because this was the period when Minjung-gayo developed most rapidly and had a really powerful influence to Korean people during the democratization movement.

There are three periods of Korean protest songs in the 1980s:

The first period was between 1980-1984, when the number of Minjung-gayo was increased significantly and they were composed as marching songs. The most outstanding song during this period was “March of the beloved” (Hangul: 임을 위한 행진곡) which was shown in today’s lecture. This song instantly became the anthem of South Korean Democratization Movement and it is still widely sung up until now in several political movements, for example during the movement against former president Park Geun-hye.

The second period witnessed the spread of Minjung-gayo among college and university students. Students were doing club activities to secretly play protest songs that were banned by the government and also utilized those occasions to promote the movement or exchange information such as date and location of the next demonstrations. These activities were portrayed in the Korean film “1987: When the Day Comes” released in December 2017 (I initially watched this film because it stars Kim Tae-ri – my favorite Korean actress, and it turned out to be really fascinating. If you guys want to have a general look about the student protests surrounding Park Jong-chul and Lee Han-yeol’s deaths, I think this film is a good choice).

The third period occurred after the June Democracy Movement in 1987. The limits of the universities’ Minjung-gayo movement were recognized and people were trying to overcome them. Minjung-gayo then showed the workers’ emotions and became widely sung by different social classes including both the intellectuals and working-class population.

Shannon: The period where university students were getting heavily involved is very interesting to me. In class, we learned about the concept of campus clubs, which were university clubs organized by students that were advertised as “singing clubs” but were secretly being used to spread information about events and demonstrations that were happening around to other students. At that time, “Tong Gita” music was also used by them to promote structural change, which became the hidden campus culture. Unfortunately, some students were arrested for their participation in this culture.

The reason I want to discuss about this is because of how it reminds me of the 1989 Tienanmen Square Protests. As someone who is Chinese, I am very familiar with the events that occurred. A major difference between the demonstrations in South Korea and China was in the way the government decided to handle the protests. New styles of music did not emerge from the protests, but because of the force that was used to stop the protests, the whole world paid attention to it. As the government worked to censor everything about the protests, the new generation of the Chinese population living in China have no knowledge of the events at all. In Korea however, the music that was created during the time of the movements are able to be passed down as a way to preserve the memories of the events that occurred. Since the music released at the time became very popular, many from older generations can still remember it, and others are able to utilize the songs to learn about the past.

We also learned that Pungmul music was used by activists at the time and is the major reason many South Korean parents despise that type of music. As they do not want their children to also become activists; even after many decades, they still almost see initial exposure to Pungmul music as an introduction to activism.

Francis: I find it very interesting how in the world of global politics and affair; music not just serve entertainment purposes but also a tool to project a message or statement. This is evident in the many examples as discussed in class and above in the previous comments such as singing clubs and Minjung-gayo movement.

An example that’s relevant to today is the demilitarized zone (DMZ) border that separates North and South Korea. In this area, both countries respectively have built up mock cities and other infrastructure for a political statement and to attract defectors to their corresponding sides. Alongside these physical infrastructures, the south has also been blasting south Korean pop music towards the north. The series of speakers are capable for 12 miles of audio projection and albeit not reaching the capital, the soldiers along the DMZ on the north end are the ones listening to this music and come to understand the meaning in the lyrics and ultimately work as a propaganda tool. There isn’t much study on the effects of this tactic but North Koreans soldiers defecting to the south has been achieved before and makes us question the greater effects of music as propaganda.

Another aspect I found fascinating is how music continues to serve as this medium of propaganda and influence in cases such as government censorship. In class, it has been mentioned that during Japanese rule and many years after, there was strict censorship on music, but many Koreans found ways around it such as the singing club in universities that Shannon mentioned earlier that gave people the chance to create and sing music to make a political statement. Albeit Korea has moved toward a democratic government system, music still serves the same role. An instance of this is with the artist Seo Taiji, whom’s songs criticized the Korean society but not the government directly. His album was a huge success and despite no censorship from the government for his work, this all ties in with how democratic Korea has grown but It just goes to show no matter what kind of implications there are, the people will always find a way to express their thoughts and desires.

Rachel: Many of you guys have mentioned political movements during the colonial Era and after Korean war periods. I agree with all of you guys that music has always been one of the crucial tools to politically impact Korea and also helped to recover from such tragedies happened in the past. However, I feel like music plays even dominant role in Korea now. For example, the most recent shameful event occurred in 2017 March 10th, and it was the day when the first female Korean president, Park Geun Hye got impeached. When her issues first revealed to the world, people began to examine some of the related events. Shockingly, but of course, the Sewol Ferry incident came up to the surface to disclose the veiled truth. Sewol Ferry has been the most sorrowful, heartbreaking incident that happened in 2014. So many young high school students sacrificed their lives, parents who lost their children have torn their hearts apart every day. Then, the behind stories of why this happened contained Park Geun Hye’s inhumanity. She could save everyone in time, but missed calling the rescue workers because she was busy taking care of her skin so ended up leading the whole country in devastation. From this regrettable accident, BTS released a song called “봄날” (Spring Day). They portrayed the Sewol Ferry while dancing on stage, and the lyrics referred to an emotion of loneliness. This song encourages everyone to love one another harder to embrace the sadness and that the spring will eventually come. Even nowadays, “Spring Day” still gives effects to everyone in Korea to get out of that day’s trauma. I firmly believe that music is so powerful that it has the power to change society.

Diego: As my classmates have mentioned before me, music is a powerful tool used to move the hearts of many. The strength of music was exemplified in Minjung-gayo, a form of singing culture used in Korea as a means of spreading the pro-democracy movement. Our classmate Amy spoke about Minjung-gayo in much greater detail, which is why I want to discuss not only the power of music but also the power of performance – the combination of music, dance, and entertainment. Minung-gayo utilized pungmul and tong gita music to spread the pro-democracy message and were presented in the public streets and cafes under the guise of harmless performers. Musicians such as Kim Min-gi and Han Daesu paved the way for the pro-democratic movement and inspired many pro-democratic Koreans to participate in the journey towards sociopolitical change.  The lecture in which Minjung-gayo was introduced reminded me when my aunt spoke to me about the time the Philippines was still under the Spanish nation. Like the Koreans during Minung-gayo, the Filipinos restricted and censored by the Spaniards also wanted sociopolitical change and wanted to be more independent and more autonomous. Due to the restrictions, explicit communication was difficult. However, implicit communication was possible through the power of performance – a combination of the celebration of music and dance. The Filipinos used dance performances to relay subliminal messages to those who were a part of the rebellion, and these performances helped facilitate an underground network of communication.

Korea, the Philippines, and many other countries that have histories of oppression and censorship have shown that music allows for one to communicate emotions, struggles, and daily experiences in a way that speaking does not. Through Mingung-gayo and the Spanish colonization, music and musical performances have exemplified a way of combating everyday challenges, and a way to express the change one wants to see in the world.