Academic literature on the topic 'Music Music, Korean'

South Korea is internationally well known for its ethnic and cultural homogeneity, economic and technical success, and strong sense of nationalism. The peoples of South Korea have flourished economically after a series of colonizations, industrialization and political chaos. Over the past few decades, Korea has gained interest internationally for its entertainment industry through the Korean Wave (or Hallyu in Korean). Korean Wave is a term that refers to the increase in the popularity of South Korean culture since the late 1990’s due to Korean music, television shows and fashion. The Korean Wave first swept and captivated the hearts of citizens in East and Southeast Asia and now has expanded its popularity beyond Asia and has captivated millions of people all over the world. After a steady increase in cultural exports as a result of the Korean Wave since 2005, the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) has realized the value in the exportation of Korean culture and goods and has now created programs that capitalize on this popularity and increase tourists South Korea. Korean popular music or K-Pop is a large and profitable aspect of the Korean Wave. According to CNBC in Move Over Bieber — Korean Pop Music Goes Global “The [k-pop] industry’s revenues hit about $3.4 billion in 2011, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), a government group that promotes the country’s cultural initiatives. K-pop’s exports also rose to $180 million last year — jumping 112 percent compared to 2010. Exports have been growing on an average annual rate of nearly 80 percent since 2007.” And that “for every $100 of K-Pop exports, there was an average increase of $395 worth of I.T. goods such as cell phones or electronics that were being exported” (Naidu-Ghelani). The exportation of K-pop music and cultural can be seen as an economic success story. But in fact, for the Black American community it is the exportation of cultural appropriation and the degradation of Black American culture. The Korean Wave is packaging, promoting and exporting a “window into Korean culture, society and language that can be as educational as a trip to Korea. South Korea is using the Korean wave to promote its traditional culture within Korea and abroad” (“Hallyu, the Korean Wave” 1). Despite South Korea’s strong sense of nationalism and cultural homogeneity, its pop music has a distinct Black American musical influence. Rap and hip-hop musical style/culture (which is distinctly affiliated with representative of Black Americans) is an integral, if not necessary, part of Korean popular music. The synchronized dance moves, attractive idols and “rap/hip hop” style draws in millions of fans from every walk of life all over the world. The “hip hop” dance moves, clothing and lyrics that dominate Korean popular music, however crosses the line of cultural appreciation and instead can be defined as cultural appropriation.

The choral music of Hyo-won Woo, the composer of Oh! KOREA, is being widely performed by universities and professional choruses in Korea, as well as throughout the world. The work exhibits Woo's remarkable compositional style, which displays traditional Korean musical influences. Hyo-Won Woo's Oh! KOREA consisting of four movements, is for chorus, two pianos, and both Eastern and Western percussion instruments. Woo's Oh! KOREA employs an excellent introduction to the Korean choral repertoire for Western audiences, rooted in traditional Korean folk tunes. As today's choral conductors, singers, and audience cannot fully appreciate the value of this traditional Korean work and will likely not understand its intended context, it is therefore necessary to provide an in-depth investigation of this work for any conductor considering a performance of this piece. This study includes influences of traditional Korean elements within Oh! KOREA and rehearsal and performance consideration for Western choir directors.

This thesis explores Korean 'sijo', as both poetry and music. It surveys the different bodies of research on the topic that are the result of 'sijo' long being treated from one or other of the perspectives of literary and musicological scholarship by both Western (e.g. Rutt 1971, McCann 1988, O'Rourke 2002) and Korean scholars (e.g. Chang Sa-hun 1986, Kim Tae-Haeng 1986, Cho Kyu-Ick 1994). Placing both literary and musicological aspects together, this thesis discusses the form, origins and content of 'sijo'. The synthesis of the two aspects forms the basis of my exploration of 'sijo' performance during the 20th century. My focus is on the transmission of 'chongga' - 'sijo', along with 'kagok' and 'kasa', that together form Korea's classical vocal music tradition - during the turbulent times from the late 19th century through the colonial period to the post-liberation era. The important actors, that is, the singers, scholars and relevant institutions - governmental and private - have been discussed at least partially in various publications (e.g. Hahn Man-young 1990, Yi Pohyong 2004, Song Bang-Song 2007, Kim Minjong 2015, Moon Hyun 2015), but this thesis provides the first thorough account of 'chongga' in the 20th century, its teaching genealogies, institutions, aspects of its preservation, and its regional variants. This thesis demonstrates that the subtle aesthetic of 'chongak' literati music lies at the heart of what constitutes 'sijo' as a genre; reference to Confucian and sometimes Daoist influence on the aesthetic of literati music is frequent, but the nature of such influence has not been adequately discussed. I survey academic writings by Korean and Western scholars (e.g. Donna Kwon 1995, Lee Byong Won 1997, Byung-ki Hwang 2001) to address terminology and concepts relevant in the context of 'chongga' and then, based on my personal fieldwork, and in order to provide a comprehensive account of 'chongga' aesthetics, I complement previous writing by incorporating the views of contemporary 'chongga' singers.

The aesthetic of ‘cuteness' in South Korean popular music (known as K-pop) is a pivotal concept in Korean media and culture and is frequently used to describe performances by both male and female K-pop groups. Aegyo is a fundamental part of this aesthetic, also called ‘K-cute', and it refers to the behaviour of ‘acting cute' that denotes a particular coquettish style not only in K-pop but also in South Korean society in a broader sense. This thesis explores K-pop performance from the mid-2000s to the 2010s through an examination of K-pop artists' training process, an analysis of K-pop music videos' lyrical and visual codes and a study of notable live performances. The aesthetic of ‘cuteness' in K-pop is contextualised through a historical and cultural review of South Korea and the forms through which aegyo has been represented. Thus, we see how aegyo has evolved in response to gender stereotyping in both traditional and contemporary South Korean society and how it has come to represent a unique idea of Korean-ness expressed in a cultural form that also fulfils its potential for flexibility. Furthermore, this thesis investigates how the K-pop industry influences aegyo through issues of gender and sexuality, primarily examining Richard Schechner's performance theory and Erving Goffman's notion of self-presentation. A significant aspect of this investigation is the sexualisation of K-pop idol boy and girl groups through the deliberate adoption of the aegyo aesthetic, a process that forms a key part of the marketing strategy behind their ‘Korean wave' global success. Finally, I explore mediatised performances of aegyo and the possibility that remediation, as outlined by Bolter and Grusin, provides a potent vehicle for the repetition and reinforcement of ‘cuteness' via holographic and digitalised K-pop performances.