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"By 1945, more than 5,000 discs of Korean music had been produced, the majority being popular songs." -Howard 2021
Most of these discs would be single-sided and only 3 to 4 minutes long. Many have been preserved, and there is plenty of room for additional research on this music.
Most of these discs would be single-sided and only 3 to 4 minutes long. Many have been preserved, and there is plenty of room for additional research on this music.
One interesting thing I found recently was that 'Folkways' (now part of the Smithsonian) released a record of all kinds of Korean music in 1951. I was recently working on a small project for @Folkways to create a learning program, and I noticed https://folkways.si.edu/folk-classical-music-of-korea/world/album/smithsonian
that this record from 1951 has not one performer's name recorded. Of course I was offended on behalf of the artists, and I assumed this has been collected by some white people who went to Korea in 1949 or 1950, so I wrote on FB (in Korean) asking if my music-researcher friends
had ever met someone who said they were recorded by Folkways. Only a short time later a friend of mine replied that he had investigated that album and the amazing thing was that all of the tracks on it were actually tracks that were recorded during the Japanese Colonial Era.
Of course he had also collected the detailed information about the names of each performer on each track and what instrument they were playing.
This is both an example of how [in the past? still?] the Western world would just take non-Western cultural products
This is both an example of how [in the past? still?] the Western world would just take non-Western cultural products
and hold them up as an exotic display, with little concern for accuracy or individual cultural rights (one doubts any performer received compensation), and an interesting contrast to the ways that 1990s (and later) K-pop has, at times, plagiarized existing Western pop songs.
Fortunately Smithsonian @Folkways is working on fixing many issues with the old recordings and how they were labeled and even collected.
But back to my original point-- not enough research has been done on these records,
But back to my original point-- not enough research has been done on these records,
partially because they were recorded under a Colonial Government, there wasn't a Korean recording company at all until 1930, and even after a Korean company existed the reality is that commercial cultural production was shaped by that colonial environment.
Yet music is *always* shaped by the environment, and this treasure trove of recordings is sitting, waiting for your interest. Here's a short playlist of pop music hits from the colonial era.
