Repackaging Folk Songs for Contemporary Consumption

Keith Howard's "Korean Folk Songs for a Contemporary World" discusses a contemporary singer named Yong Woo Kim who studies and performs traditional Korean folk songs with the aim of popularizing them with today's youth. In his quest to reach younger audiences, however, Kim has found that he needs to modify the songs to make them more familiar to the audience, and thus more appealing. I contend that one way this can be interpreted is through a Marxist lense which, as explained by Theodor Adorno of the Frankfurt School, creates a mass culture in which music is standardized and promotes passive listening.

In order to attract a younger audience, Kim has found it necessary to change the folk songs he performs in some very significant ways. For example, the women's song and dance genre, kanggangsullae, which is generally performed exclusively by women, is sung on Kim's album by Kim with a chorus of men, with not one female voice present on the track. Also, many songs are performed a capella, replacing what traditionally would have been drum accompaniment, and similar artists have added synthesizers or electric guitars to songs, or changed them to have more of a jazz feel. Kim explains that in addition he must change his style of singing in every song to be different than the way the song is traditionally sung, since as he explains, "People say that mine is a familiar way of singing . My voice is easy to listen to, easy to appreciate. To make music easier to listen to is essential work for all contemporary musicians, and so my ability to do this is a merit. I focus on my listeners, not on what professional musicians think I should do."

I believe that one of the reasons Kim and other artists feel this pressure to alter the distinctive styles of traditional music is to meet the expectations of consumers of mass culture. In order to pass these songs on in some form, contemporary artists must reach today's consumers who are accustomed to listening to a certain style of music. Marxist philosophy can explain some of these expectations. Theodor Adorno of the Frankfurt School explains in his 2006 essay "On Popular Music" that popular music has been standardized and promotes passive listening. By standardized, he means that the music is "mechanical" and "a given detail can be shifted from one song to another without any real effect on the structure as a whole." (This is particularly relevant to our recent discussions of Korean ballads). Since the music is, in effect, "pre-digested", consumers are able to listen to it passively. The repetitive music confirms the world, instead of questioning or enlightening it. According to Marxist theory, this is because work in a capitalist society is dull, boring and straining, and workers are therefore too exhausted in their leisure to search for and consume "real" or "authentic" culture, and instead turn to popular culture to satifisy their craving for culture without requiring them to expend any more effort.

This relates to Korean folk music in that the Korean people are the workers who crave cultural stimulation, but require it in a form which is easy for them to consume. When a typical young adult in Korea comes home from a long day of work, she or he doesn't want to relax to a traditional pansoori which, after listening to endless smooth, fluffy ballads, might sound grating and harsh. Instead, she or he would prefer to hear the story of the pansoori told in a manner which she or he is more accustomed to, namely something more ballad-like. And so artists like Kim, in order to capture younger audiences and pass on a piece of Korean heritage, must modify the folk song to make it more familiar, and thus more appealing, to younger audiences.

I can see many people denouncing this modification of traditional songs, however, I feel that it is probably necessary in order to keep these songs alive in modern culture. Just like the story of Admiral Yi Sunsin, the relevant parts of the legend - his accomplishments and courage and nationalism - must be brought to attention, while the less relevant (his style of clothing, for example) will likely be relegated to the history books. The traditional versions of these folk songs should certainly not be lost, but I believe it is unreasonable for anyone to expect the people of today, who with an ever-growing middle class are more used to comfort and pleasure than any past society, to make an exception to their musical tastes in order to consume folk songs performed in their traditional form. Instead, I believe the most relevant parts of the songs should be maintained, and the less important aspects should be modified so that modern audiences can better enjoy it. Only by doing so can traditional Korea expect to capture the hearts of today's youth and pass relics of the past on to future generations.