Folk song “Arirang”, representative of Korean folk songs and symbolic of the Korean nation, is a song of the Korean nation which is sung by each and every Korean and heard in any Korean settlements in the world.
A representative one among a great number of legends of the birth and etymology of a Korean folk song “Arirang” is “Songbu and Rirang”.
The legend goes like this.
Once upon a time a boy called Rirang and a girl called Songbu who were serving as servants for a landlord in a village took part in a riot raised by the local people in a year of crop failure and went into the depth of a mountain to avoid the pursuit of the government armed troops.
There, they got married and lived a happy life.
Later, Rirang decided to join the fight against exploiters and parted from his much beloved wife Songbu to set out on the journey over a series of mountain passes.
Songbu, gazing over the passes her husband crossed, sang a song of yearning, which was later handed down orally to finally become “Arirang”.
Sung by our people a lot, “Arirang” was diversified into a large number of local varieties ― “Sodo Arirang” of Phyongan Province, “Kangwondo Arirang” of Kangwon Province, “Tanchon Arirang” of Hamgyong Province, etc. to just name a few. All those have their features peculiar to their birthplaces.
“Arirang”, which is still widely sung by our people and known to the world, is a revised version as the theme song of a silent film “Arirang” by Ra Un Gyu in 1926.
The song is imbued with the spirit and sentiment of the Korean nation and it reflects simple aspiration of the Korean people for a happy life.
Today, “Arirang” is well-known as a famous song among people at home and abroad.
© 2021 KumChaek University of Technology