Jeong Seon Arirang (Arari)

Jeong Seon Arirang is a folk song particular to the Jeongseon region, carrying the everyday feelings of the residents of its mountain villages; it is also called Arari. It is said to have begun when scholars who had served the fallen Goryeo dynasty went into hiding in the Jeong Seon area and composed poems expressing both their loyalty in refusing to serve a second king and their longing for their hometown. Local scholars who heard these poems explained their meaning to villagers who could not understand the classical Chinese verse, and the villagers began to sing them—this is said to be the origin of Jeong Seon Arirang. The lyrics mainly concern love between men and women, parting, laments over one's lot, and satire of the times or of social conditions, but during the Japanese colonial period they also carried the sorrow and indignation of a people without a nation on a mournful melody; both melody and lyrics are accordingly varied rather than fixed. Jeong Seon Arirang has sorrowful lyrics and a plaintive melody: its spoken-style passages deliver the words clearly, as if speaking, while its drawn-out passages have an appeal like a cry of anguish. Where Jindo Arirang is lively, exuberant and marked by ornamentation, and Miryang Arirang is blunt and masculine, Jeong Seon Arirang, by contrast, flows calmly and simply, yet carries a sadness like a woman's sigh. Yoo Yeong-ran, Kim Nam-gi, Kim Hyeong-jo and Kim Gil-ja currently hold recognition as skill-holders of Jeong Seon Arirang, while Choi Bong-chul is recognised as an honorary holder.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jeongseon, Gangwon

Designation

Provincial Intangible Heritage · 시도무형유산