Jeongseon Arirang

By Jin Yong-seon

Many of our listeners know Arirang as the most representative folk song in Korea. Even Koreans who live in overseas and whose offspring can barely speak the Korean language are one with their homeland when they sing the song of Arirang together. It is truly a symbolic song of Korea. That's why Koreans enjoy singing Arirang at international sports competitions in order to cheer up the players spirit.

In the olden days. Koreans were very good at swallowing their anger and sorrow. We presume the sounds coming out from the deepest heart of Koreans was something like Arirang. Koreans try to resolve their mental stresses through the passage of time rather than finding ways to relieve them as soon as possible. There are more than one hundred different Arirangs in Korea. But the words of every Arirang are simple in phrasing.

We think Koreans used simple linguistic structures in expressing their regrets, because there were so many illiterate poor people in Korea in the olden days.

And the first song of Arirang in Korea is the Arirang of Jeongseon.

Oh, ferryman of the Auraji river, let me cross the river.

The leaves of Oldnngbak in Sarigol are falling down.

It's been over six hundred years since Arirang took off in Korea as its representative folk song. We can find many evidences that Jeongseon Arirang are the origin of all the other Arirangs of Korea.

First of all, the grandiose melody of Jeongseon Arirang is much closer to the notes of traditional Korean music than any of the other Arirangs. And the words of Jeongseon Arirang con be found easily in the Arirangs of other provinces. It is with good reason then, that Jeongseon Arirang has been designated as the provincial intangible cultural asset No. 1 in 1971. The monument of the Jeongseon Arirang, installed in Jeongseon, is the only Arirang monument in Korea.

Compared to the Arirang songs of other areas, Jeongseon Arirang sounds very grandiose and sad. It is said to be because of the geographical features of Jeongseon. Because people had to cross a number of hills and mountains including Swae-jae and Sab dang-ryoung to reach Jeongseon. So the people of Jeongseon lived a very isolated life. That is why the melodies of the Jeongseon Arirang are sad and full of pathos rather than delightful. And there are more than one thousand different versions of the Jeongseon Arirang. Perhaps, it is because the people of Jeongseon would have needed a great number of words to relieve their lonely hearts. The words of Jeongseon Arirang still evoke sympathy in the hearts of modern Koreans.

At first, Jeongseon Arirang may seem too slow and simple to Westerners, who are familiar with speedier rhythms. However, in a moment, one realizes that the music of Arirang is an expression of the basic human emotions. When you look down from a mountain top in Jeongseon , you can feel the melody of Jeongseon Arirang reverberate from somewhere down the winding mountain path. Just as the people of Jeongseon sooth their heavy hearted, isolated life with the song of Arirang, you can find many different stories in the words of the Jeongseon Arirang.

The words of the Jeongseon Arirang depict many different themes especially concerning the life of women. Since most Korean women suffered from the hardships of married life, especially the oppression by mother-in-laws, we can find many words of the Jeongseon Arirang depicting such a story. Of course, some of them describe love stories, but most people who listen to the song for the first time say Jeongseon Arirang sounds too sorrowful. But when you listen to it over and over again. you'll be able to feel the true meaning of the song, and the feelings that the people of Jeongseon had as they tried to gain an emotional catharsis by relieving their remorseful hearts through the Jeongseon Arirang. Eventually, one finds a love of people in it. That's why we call the Jeongseon Arirang the sounds of life and love.

The people of Jeongseon used to sing there Arirang song when working in the fields and mountains, or soothing their lonely hearts when their lovers were gone. Still today the Jeongseon Arirang is loved by the people of Jeongseon. So if you ask anybody you meet on the street to sing the song for you, he or she is sure to sing in for you, even though he or she may hesitate a little bit at first.

There is one place in Jeongseon which has become famous because it is described in the words of the Jeongseon Arirang. It's the Auraji River. The Auraji River lies to the north of Jeongseon. As the name Auraji literally means a merging of the Golji-cheon stream flowing from the Taebaek mountain range and the Song-cheon stream from the Pyeong-chang county met in the Auraji River. And the Auraji River is the uppermost area of the Namhan-gang or the southern Han River.

The rafts of the Jeongseon used to go down to the Gwang-na roo or Ma-po ferries in Seoul on the southern Han River. Rafters used to sing many songs as they rowed their boats each dawn down the river, or as they stopped by wine houses along the way.

In this way the Jeongseon Arirang spread nationwide especially in the areas along the Han River. That is why we can find melodies similar to the Jeongseon Arirang in the areas along the southern Han River such as Dan-yang, Cheong-ju, Yeo-ju, and Yang-pyeong.

The Auraji River is located about twenty minutes to the north by car from the town of Jeongseon-eup. It is a tiny and shallow river. However and it has become a tourist attraction because of the Jeongseon Arirang. The ferry carrying people across the river reminds us of the rafters in the olden days. There also stands a statue of a young girl on a low hill beside the Auraji River. The statue makes people sad because of the words of the Jeongseon Arirang.

There was a sad story of the girl depicted in the statue, and the man who lived in a neighboring village.

A girl who lived in a village of Yeo-ryang Ri and a man who lived in the Yu-cheon Gol valley fell in love with each other.

They were able to meet with each other thanks to the ferry that carried them across the Auraji River between the two villages. One day, the ferry couldn't operate because of a flood. So they stood on each side of the river and sang songs.

The songs now became part of the Jeongseon Arirang. The words of the song go something like this. "Oh ferryman of the Auraji River, let me cross the river. The leaves of Oldongbak are falling down." The response of this verse goes like this. "How happy would I be if I were a leaf on Oldongbak tree because it can fall there where it is. I think I'm going to die due to a heartbreak." However the legend finishes the story sadly; The lovers were never able to meet each other again. That is why the people of Jeongseon built the statue of the poor girl. It is in memory of her sad love story.

* The writer is a director of Jeongseon Arirang Research Institute.