Korea culture - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... In relation to music, Korean pop (K-Pop) is arguably the closest and greatest integration of the Korean culture. K-Pop music started around 1885 with the settlement of missionaries that taught a mixture of American and British folk songs to Koreans. However, the songs were sung in Korean lyrics implying that K-Pop is an integration of Western melodies sang in Korean. However, at this time the name K-Pop was not used as in the modern day and the music was commonly referred to as ‘changga’. In the later years during the Japanese rule, K-Pop was used as a mode of expression mainly targeting the oppression of the Japanese rule. For example, the song ‘Huimangga’, meaning the Song of Hope, was quite popular during this period. However, the rapid advancement of K-Pop was derailed by confiscation of the existing K-Pop records such as lyrics books. Nonetheless, there were some developments such as composition of songs that were a mixture of Korean traditional songs and gospel music taught by the missionaries.
After the liberation of Korea from the Japanese rule in 1945, Korea was divided into two with major western settlements such as US troops focusing mainly on South Korea. During this time musicians like Marilyn Monroe took some performances to South Korea where there was further integration of Korean and Western music. This saw the rise of new Korean musicians such as ‘The Kim Sisters’ thereby increasing spread of K-Pop to different parts of the world. In 1970s there was increased focus on the younger generation such as in Universities. The younger generation was heavily influenced by the Western culture leading to a transformation of K-Pop following incorporation of guitars and the American hippie fashion style.
In the 1990s K-Pop musicians such as ‘Seo Taiji and Boys’ adopted some aspects of the like rap, rock, and techno from the American music ...Download file to see next pagesRead More