Wikipedia

Morning Dew (Korean song)

"Morning Dew" (Korean: 아침 이슬, "Achim Isul") is a South Korean protest song from the 1970s written by Kim Min-ki and sung by Yang Hee-eun.[1][2][3]

The song was Yang Hee-eun's debut in her album Minki Kim [ko].[4][5] It was not intended to be a protest song, and belonged to the geonjeongayo genre.[1][4] It has also been described as belonging to the genres of Korean ballad[6] and T'ong guitar.[7] The song was well received by both music critics and the public, youths in particular.[8] Initially it won a government award (건전가요상, the Wholesome Song Award), and was considered a pro-government propaganda or "healthy" song, and played on the Korean radio under a cultural program supported by the government.[2][4][9][5]

Soon afterward, it had inexplicably become a popular protest song among the pro-democracy activists in South Korea, particularly with students.[1][4][8][10] Despite the song lacking an overt political message and being described as "full of resolve in spite of the sorrows of life's trials",[11] its wording could be interpreted as "activists yearning for a democratic society",[4] and critical of the 1972 Yushin Constitution.[3] It has also been interpreted as critical of Americanization of Korean society.[6]

Subsequently, in December 1975, it was banned by government censorship of the Park Chung Hee regime.[2][6][5][3] It was later also banned in North Korea.[10] Copies of the album containing it were recalled and destroyed, and it was even prohibited to cover it.[12] The song, composed in 1971, was one of the favorites of the pro-democracy students until the late 1980s (the other being another song by Kim Min-ki, Sangoksu, lit. Evergreen). It was often sung during the events of the 1987 June Democratic Struggle.[4] It has also been described as an anthem of the Korean pro-democracy movement[12] and credited with starting the South Korean protest music.[13]

The ban on the song was lifted following pro-democracy protests in 1987. It remained popular for some time afterward.[4] It has been sung at political rallies as late as the 2000s.[14]

The song has also been described as popular with North Koreans living in Japan (people affiliated with Chongryon).[15]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "양희은 "'아침이슬' 운동권 노래? 섬뜩!"". 스포츠한국 (in Korean). 2006-11-08. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  2. ^ a b c "양희은 "'아침이슬'은 건전가요상을 받고 금지곡도 된 노래"". The Korea Economic Daily (in Korean). 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  3. ^ a b c Rhee, Rosaleen (2020). South Korean Popular Folk Music: The Genre That Defined 1970s Youth Culture (Thesis). UCLA.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Shin, Hyunjoon; Lee, Seung-Ah (2016-09-13). Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music. Routledge. p. 1976. ISBN 978-1-317-64573-3.
  5. ^ a b c Lee, Jung-Min Mina (February 2023). "Minjung Kayo : Imagining Democracy through Song in South Korea". Twentieth-Century Music. 20 (1): 49–69. doi:10.1017/S1478572222000470. ISSN 1478-5722.
  6. ^ a b c Pardo, Ramon Pacheco (2022-07-15). Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop. Oxford University Press. pp. 28–29. ISBN 978-0-19-767454-3.
  7. ^ Fuhr, Michael (2015-06-12). Globalization and Popular Music in South Korea: Sounding Out K-Pop. Routledge. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-317-55691-6.
  8. ^ a b Ch`ang-Nam, Kim; Kyung-ja, Chun (March 1987). "The Spirit of Folksongs and Realism in Song - The Musical World of Kim Min-gi". Korea Journal (in Korean). 27 (3): 28–41. ISSN 0023-3900.
  9. ^ Kim, Tai-hoon; Mohammed, Sabah; Ramos, Carlos; Abawajy, Jemal; Kang, Byeong-Ho; Slezak, Dominik (2012-11-07). Computer Applications for Web, Human Computer Interaction, Signal and Image Processing, and Pattern Recognition: International Conferences, SIP, WSE, and ICHCI 2012, Held in Conjunction with GST 2012, Jeju Island, Korea, November 28-December 2, 2012. Proceedings. Springer. p. 147. ISBN 978-3-642-35270-6.
  10. ^ a b Jennison, Rebecca S. (2023). "In/Visible—New Directions in Contemporary Art by Zainichi Koreans: Fragile Frames/Precarious Lives—in Soni Kum's Morning Dew (2020)". Seoul Journal of Korean Studies. 36 (2): 465–483. doi:10.1353/seo.2023.a916927. ISSN 2331-4826. S2CID 266920874.
  11. ^ Yoo, Theodore Jun (2022-09-27). The Koreas: The Birth of Two Nations Divided. Univ of California Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-520-39168-0.
  12. ^ a b Tudor, Daniel (2012-11-10). Korea: The Impossible Country: South Korea's Amazing Rise from the Ashes: The Inside Story of an Economic, Political and Cultural Phenomenon. Tuttle Publishing. p. 297. ISBN 978-1-4629-1022-9.
  13. ^ Pardo, Ramon Pacheco (2022-07-15). Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop. Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-19-767454-3.
  14. ^ Song, Jesook (2014-04-01). Living on Your Own: Single Women, Rental Housing, and Post-Revolutionary Affect in Contemporary South Korea. SUNY Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-4384-5013-1.
  15. ^ Clark, Donald N. (2019-04-08). Korea Briefing 1993: Festival of Korea. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-429-71585-3.

External links edit

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