Ryo Ok (5th century B.C ~ 4th century B.C.), a woman musician in the latter period of Ancient Korea, was a songwriter and an instrumentalist. She was one of the talented folk musicians. She was famous for writing and playing a lyric song “Konghuin” on a small konghu (a kind of traditional Korean stringed instrument) with 13 strings, while living with her husband near the ferry of the River Taedong in Pyongyang, the capital of Ancient Korea. Despite being poverty-stricken, she loved music so much that she always took pleasure in playing the konghu.
How “Konghuin” was written and what it is about are found in a number of books at home and abroad including “Kogumju”, “Haedongyoksa”, “Osansollim”, “Yolhailgi”, “Akso”, etc. One day Ryo Ok was told about a pathetic old man from her husband, who had returned from all day’s work on the ferry dock of the River Taedong. When the old man threw himself away into the River Taedong, his wife improvised a song playing the konghu with grief over his death. Feeling pity for the old couple that was drowned in the river, Ryo Ok, with the konghu in her bosom, composed “Konghuin” picturing in her mind the old grief-stricken lady playing the konghu. Ryo Ok enjoyed singing it along to the konghu in the moonlight or at sunrise and she taught it to her neighboring pupil Ryo Yong. From then, the song was spread across the country and even to the neighboring countries under the title of “Konghuin”.
The fact that many poets and writers in many generations have taken great interest in the song “Konghuin” and that different opinions of it are given in several documents gives a clear proof of the contributions of the ancient art of our country made to the development of the eastern art.
Ri Yong Ho, section head at the Academy of Social Sciences
© 2021 KumChaek University of Technology