'Repainting Songs' with 26 Popular Folk Songs from Those Days

National Gugak Center Folk Orchestra Regular Performance on the 10th and 11th
Yoo Ji-sook, Artistic Director of the National Gugak Center Folk Orchestra
"An Opportunity to Rediscover the Essence of Folk Songs... Felt Very Rewarding"
Introducing Forgotten Folk Songs... Enlivened with Paltal and Storytelling

"It was a process of gathering rough and coarse sounds, but it became an opportunity to find the essence of folk songs, so it was very rewarding."

Yoo Ji-sook, Artistic Director of the National Gugak Center Folk Orchestra, explained the meaning of the regular performance "Songs Redrawn," presented at the National Gugak Center's Yeakdang on the 10th and 11th. The stage of "Songs Redrawn" features 26 popular folk songs that were widely sung in the past but are now fading from memory. The National Gugak Center Folk Orchestra carefully selected 26 representative folk songs from each region based on audio recordings released during the Japanese colonial period and materials collected from past field surveys, with recommendations and reviews by experts.

At a press conference held on the 9th, a day before the performance, Artistic Director Yoo said, "We searched for songs spanning various eras," explaining, "The program consists of songs from the Japanese colonial period, songs that emerged afterward, and songs sung since the 1960s." She added, "While pursuing musical perfection and sophistication, we might have forgotten the emotions and sentiments contained in those songs at the time. This was a process of rediscovering those original aspects."

Demonstration scene of the National Gugak Center Folk Orchestra's regular performance 'Drawing the Song Again'
[Photo provided by the National Gugak Center]

Demonstration scene of the National Gugak Center Folk Orchestra's regular performance 'Drawing the Song Again'
[Photo by National Gugak Center]

The performance, featuring about 50 members of the National Gugak Center Folk Orchestra, is composed of five acts in total.

First, Paltalkkun Jeong Jun-tae appears at the center of the stage to lift the atmosphere with humorous storytelling using masks. After greeting the audience and inviting them on a tour of the eight provinces, he sits to one side of the stage, marking the official start of the performance. Jeong Jun-tae enlivens the mood with Paltal and storytelling at the end of each act. Paltal, designated as a national intangible cultural heritage, is a folk performance art involving wearing masks on the feet and performing various movements.

The first act, titled "Sounds in Memory, on the Boundary of Life and Death," features Gyeonggi sori. The second act, "Songs of Love, Waiting, and Nature," showcases Seodo sori. The third act, "Moments of Life When Spring and Flowers Bloom," allows the audience to enjoy Namdo sori. The fourth act, titled "The Stage of Excitement, the Moment Everyone Becomes One," presents a stage where Gyeonggi and Seodo folk songs blend together.

Especially in the fourth act, a pungmul troupe appears to perform an exciting scene together with the folk orchestra members singing Jangtaryeong, a folk song of the Gakseolipa. Jangtaryeong is a folk song sung by merchants at markets or during banquets, filled with various wordplays that bring laughter to the audience. The performance concludes with the fifth act, "Songs Containing Mountains and Winds," featuring Gangwon-do sori.

Paltalkkun Jeong Joon-tae is enlivening the atmosphere with paltal and jaedam during the National Gugak Center Folk Orchestra's regular performance "Drawing the Song Again."
[Photo by National Gugak Center]

Artistic Director Yoo Ji-sook said she will continue the work of breathing new life into faded folk songs and that there are still many songs she wants to introduce.

Director Yoo emphasized, "It is very regrettable that our nostalgic folk songs are disappearing, and I want to restore them to diversify the repertoire. It is the duty of our folk orchestra to refine and polish our precious folk songs and present them on stage." She added, "We have gathered many songs to showcase this time, but there are still many more. If given the opportunity, I want to revive all these songs."