Sora Woo

University of California, San Diego

We can easily glimpse the challenges of defining electronic music in Korea even in a cursory linguistic investigation. Unlike in English, there exists no separate term to distinguish between electronic and electroacoustic music in Korea as any composition incorporating electronics is simply called jeonja eumak (literally, jeonja translates to electronics and eumak to music). Furthermore, several words for “music” exist in Korean: kugak referring to traditional Korean music (Han 1991; Cheon 1987), yangak to Western music (Killick 1992; Choi 2006), and eumak to music in general without any allusion to cultural origins, influences, or associations. By definition, then, the usage of eumak in the naming of jeonja eumak provides no hints on its national or cultural origins nor its stylistic classification as traditional or modern. In this vein, this paper challenges the notion of “nationality” associated with eumak, which is often characterized and chronicled according to a composition’s place of origin or conception. Classification based on national authenticity remains especially contested for a country such as Korea, which has been under foreign and authoritative powers for much of its modern history, i.e., Korea’s annexation under Japan (1910 to 1945), the military presence of the United States in South Korea (1945 to the present), and decades of South Korean military rule and authoritative regimes (1948-1988). For such a country whose national history is inseparable from narratives of foreign powers, and their cultural relations to each other, how should we discuss and describe the “Korean” in Korean electronic music? Does a musical genre based on pure notions of nationality even exist? And how should we interpret the role of Korean artists in the creation of hybrid music with ontological “origins” abroad (i.e., United States, Japan, and Europe)?

In order to illustrate the elusive nature of nationally categorizing jeonja eumak as Korean, this paper explores some of the intermingled influences in the genre’s original conception from the 1950s to the 80s. This emphasis on the founding years is due to the significant role that foreign resources, i.e., musical equipment, educational institutions and materials, have played in shaping the development of jeonja eumak in Korea. I assert that such a mixture of cultural influences renders this genre as hybrid, reflecting the exchange and mixture of various cultural elements as a result of interactions between people and their ideas. In postcolonial discourses, hybridity is often posited as a consequence of, and a challenge to, cultural imperialism. Taking after Edward Said, Homi Bhabha asserts that hybridity contests “essentialist claims for the inherent authenticity or purity of cultures which […] frequently become political arguments for the hierarchy and ascendancy of powerful cultures” (1994, 83-84). While I agree that hybridity challenges cultural essentialism, I also acknowledge their operational basis and focus on large-scale actors, that is, that of nations and cultures at large, which gloss over individual actors on a more grounded register. Herein lies the points of tension in my methodology on hybridity: that of individual subjectivities even within larger, transnational flows of culture. On the one hand, a reductive praise of Korean artists’ ability to persevere without a consideration of their historical and societal situatedness houses neoliberal thought that imposes responsibility on the individual for their success or failure. On the other hand, a stance solely staked on cultural imperialism of hybrid culture or music in Korea reductively renders artists as passive and powerless receivers, who “apparently without a critical cultural lens, automatically absorb any messages and ideologies from the dominant center,” conscripted to a state-to-people or West-to-Rest paradigm (Iwabuchi 2002, 39). In this vein, while this paper does not attempt to deny traces of cultural imperialism within Korea, it also does not surrender to a spirit of cultural dominance as it chooses instead to affirm the culturally hybrid adoptions and adaptations of artists as agents of their own subjectivities and creators of art.

The Founding Years

Initially, newspaper features about electroacoustic music in other countries are what introduced electronic music to Korea, that is, a conceptual awareness of the existence of the genre without a thorough understanding. Dudas and Yim (2010), Kye and Yim (2018), and Gluck (2009) cite the following Dong-A Ilbo articles in their works to posit that domestic readers of the newspaper could have potentially been aware of electronic music as early as 1959. Considering the context of post-War Korea, it is hard to discern the interest of the readers or the perceived significance of electronic music at a time when most of the country remained in dire economic circumstances. As seen below, these newspaper features provide rudimentary descriptions of jeonja eumak in a factual or technical sense without much emotion, except for the last sentence abruptly ending the article in a sentiment of lament: that Korea is falling behind (see Figure 1).

Besides mentioning Schaffer, Eimert, and Stockhausen’s names, however, these articles illustrate no further understanding of the influence of these composers nor an extensive coverage of the genre of electronic music. Simply describing the genre as a revolution of sound, it expresses anticipation regarding the development of electronic music abroad before concluding that “we” Koreans are falling behind. It is unclear from these articles where or how such a linear conception of the development of music originated in Korea, a line of thinking which is also revealed in later music festivals that seem to associate modernity with contemporary art music from other countries (to be covered later in this paper).

Newspapers during these founding years also cover events that encourage further attention on the hybridity of sources, which contributed to the development of jeonja eumak in Korea. Kyunghang Newspaper (December 19, 1955), for example, advertises the Catholic priest Moon-Keun Lee’s upcoming solo electric organ recital in Seoul in 1955, as a culmination of his seven years of studying religious music at Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra in Italy. Such events suggest that even despite the domestic lack of resources, individuals who could afford to travel or study abroad may have been influential in introducing the genre to the general populace, albeit in a spiritual context (see Figure 2).[1]

The fact that the first domestic electroacoustic concert in Korea occurred as a result of a priest’s educational pursuits abroad for religious purposes, i.e., leading choir, is notable considering the context of Western missionaries in the establishment of education and vocal music in Korea (Killick 1992; Yi 1985).[2] Since religious musical practices are often associated with acapella performances or acoustic instruments, this event provides a glimpse of how unique the hybrid conception of jeonja eumak was in Korea. For instance, in the case of this particular recital, it is difficult to discern whether the excitement stems from the religious or electroacoustic nature of the music, or simply from the celebratory occasion of a holiday. While beyond the scope of this paper, later electronic compositions, such as Yong-In La’s Fantasy of the Cross (1972) for flute and synthesizer, which represents the second electronic piece to be performed in Korea, provides another example out of many that incorporate references to religion, i.e., Christianity, and the use of electronic instruments.[3]

In this context of liminal musical and cultural boundaries, pioneering composers utilized foreign educational materials or writings for their artistic endeavors. Sukhi Kang, commonly acknowledged as the pioneering composer in Korea, only became aware of the concept of electronic music through a visit with an anonymous colleague, who happened to bring over a Japanese magazine called Electron and Electricity (1964), featuring an excerpt on electronic music (“Life Story” 2013; Kye and Yim 2018). Despite the brevity of this excerpt and his chance encounter, Kang was entranced and experimented for a couple years before producing what is widely recognized as the first electronic composition in Korea, Feast of Id.[4] Thereafter, Kang’s discussions on contemporary Western art music with Isang Yun, a German-based Korean scholar who later became his mentor, are what motivated him to further pursue music abroad, namely at Hanover University in Germany.[5] In addition to the aforementioned Japanese and German resources and institutions, foreign educational resources have also been crucial to the genre’s conception in Korea. One such resource is Herbert Deutsch’s Synthesis: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Electronic Music (1976), which was translated by Sung-Ho Hwang, a composer who studied in the Netherlands and took initiative in translating educational materials (Gluck 2009).

Moreover, in the context of post-War Korea in the late 1960’s, the acquisition of electronic instruments and studios also illustrate the transcultural roots of the establishment of jeonja eumak. While some Korean artists were able to earn income performing and imitating forms of popular music, such as soul, jazz, and rock-and-roll at U.S. military bases, composers in Korea were often left without access to technology to pursue electronic music, largely due to the lack of income and the economic state of post-War Korea. The first domestic electronic studio at Seoul National University, for example, opened in 1978 with an anonymous donation from Japan and consisted of a single synthesizer and effects processor (Gluck 2009). Subsequently, more fully-equipped domestic computer music studios were founded at Korea National University of Arts (KNUA) and Hanyang University in the early 1990s by composers who had studied abroad, namely, Sung Ho Hwang and Donoung Lee (Dudas and Yim 2010; 2013). This general lack of equipment, as illustrated in Ahn Doo Jin’s (1986) paper, meant that individual composers had to take initiative in generating funding and accumulating their own resources, rendering foreign aid and influence (i.e., Western-based education) one of the few avenues through which composers could pursue the electronic medium. Korean composers during this time also commonly relied on Japanese products, i.e., Roland and Yamaha, and contemporaneously used the Moog synthesizer, which was invented by Bob Moog in the United States and encountered through works of Japanese composers, i.e., Isao Tomita and Kitaro (Ahn 1986; Kye and Yim 2016). Moog synthesizers could then be heard in works of relatively more popular Korean musicians of the time, such as the accordion player Sung-Rak Shim, thereby revealing the transcultural routes of foreign electronic equipment that circumvent the West-to-Rest paradigm in the beginning of jeonja eumak (from the U.S. to Japan, and then, Korea).

Lastly, music festivals and concerts in Korea also illustrate cultural hybridity in regard to composers and compositions. For example, the Pan Music Festival (1976), the first contemporary music festival in Korea which was organized and directed by Kang, featured works by some of the most prominent foreign composers at the time. In an interview with Naver, Kang mentions that the invitation of foreign artists was intentional to expose Korea to music outside of the country, as encouraged by his mentor Isang Yun (“Life Story” 2018). This intent is also reflected in a 1976 article from Dong-A Ilbo, which depicts the third Seoul International Festival (later renamed the first Pan Music Festival in 1976) as an attempt to synthesize traditional and modern music onto one stage (see Figure 3 below).[6]

To this aim of blending the traditional and the modern, the festival featured the world premiere of “Sequenza VIII” by Luciano Berio (which it misspells as “Se guenza VIII”) and “Impression” by Wolfang Clint, whom the article describes as an exceptional German composer and student of Messiaen pursuing an “Eastern world.” Interestingly, specific traditional Korean artists or compositions are not featured in this article, which chooses to note “Eastern-pursuing” Western composers instead.[7] (This article doesn’t exactly describe what such a pursuit of the “Eastern world” entails, nor what they mean by this dichotomy between the East and the West). In short, the effort behind the festival seems to be less about introducing jeonja eumak by Korean composers to foreign artists than it was about introducing Korea to the more “modern” sounding electronic art music from abroad. It is unclear exactly how or when such a line of thought, which confounds the modern with the non-Korean, came from, but such sentiments can also be observed in Pan festivals in other years as well, with the festival in 1982 centering German electronic works and the one in 1983 foregrounding Italian works (see Figure 4).

One aspect that remains unclear so far in current literature is the reception of jeonja eumak by the general Korean audience at the time. Certainly, it can be deduced that Western art music—and not just the electroacoustic genre—was very much new to the general Korean populace. Western-styled symphonies, such as the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, did not form in Korea until 1957, with ballet and opera companies only to follow in the 1970s (Gluck 2009).  Considering the hybridity of influences that culminated into jeonja eumak, it may have been possible that electronic music in the late 1970s and 1980s may not have seemed as avant-garde (or pushing the conventional boundaries of music) for the Korean audience as it did for audiences abroad with precedent familiarity of centuries of classical music. In such a context, it is hard to tell whether various musical genres were simply all grouped by its foreignness or newness without much perceived stylistic categorizations based on sound. That is, the reduced gap in time between these genres could have also contributed to the grouping of Western art music in general, further confounding strict national and musical categorizations and illustrating a hybridity constitutive of (perceived) Western-ness, Japanese-ness, and the modern. In this sense, it has become increasingly challenging for me to label my research on jeonja eumak under the larger umbrella of non-Western ethnomusicology since my attempt to uncover its domestic development within Korea has led to following various transcultural flows that expand beyond the country.

Conclusion

An inquirer into the historical examination of jeonja eumak in Korea may find it challenging to reductively categorize it as “Korean” for various reasons. Conceptual introductions through foreign resources, the European, American, and Japanese basis of composers’ education and careers, and cultural hybridity in compositions and festivals are just some of innumerable factors that have shaped the development of electronic art music in Korea. In this vein, this paper contests the term Korean electronic or electroacoustic music and posits instead the phrase of the development of jeonja eumak in Korea. It does not render Korean artists as mere victims whose hybrid music are reductive results of cultural imperialism, but rather honors their volition and will to utilize whichever means necessary and viable in their post-War situatedness—Korean or non-Korean—to pursue intellectual interests and creative endeavors. Certainly, the above statement also entails an acknowledgement of privilege unaffordable to many, and on that note, does acknowledge the limitations set by post-War Korea. In this line of thought, this paper does not disengage from postcolonial discourses but rather inserts the agency of artists back into broader transcultural frameworks, thereby recognizing actors not only at the national level, but also on a more individually grounded register. As Kang expressed, “I would not say that my interest in Korean traditional music is ‘national value-seeking.’ I just want to stand in this world as one of the Koreans” (Hwang 2007, 35-6).

 Notes

References

Bhabha, Homi. 1994. Location of Culture. London: Routledge.

Choi, Soo-Yon. 2006. Expressions of Korean Identity through Music for Western Instruments. PhD Diss., Florida State University.

Cheon, In-pyeong. 1987. “Changjak kugak” (New traditional music). In Hangukeui oneuleui eumak (Today's Korean Music), 165-89. Seoul: Hanguk Eumak Chulpansa.

Dudas, Richard and Jongwoo Yim. 2010. “An Overview of Computer Music in Korea.” Journal of the Japanese Society for Sonic Arts 2, no. 2: 28–31.

___. 2013. “Studio Report: CREAMA – Center for Research in Electro-Acoustic Music and Audio at Hanyang University.” Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference (Perth, Australia): 397-400.

Gluck, Bob. 2009. “Electronic Music in South Korea.” eContact! Online Journal for Electroacoustic Practices 11, no. 3. https://econtact.ca/11_3/southkorea_gluck.html.

Hae, Jung-Eum. 1955. “Priest Lee Moon-Geun Returns Home.” Kyung-Hyang Shinmun, December 19, 1955. https://newslibrary.naver.com/.

Han, Man-Young. 1991. “Recent History of Korean Music.” In Kugak: Studies in Korean Traditional Music, translated and edited by Inok Paek and Keith Howard, 13-49. Seoul: Tamgudang.

Hwang, Hooshik. 2007. A Study of Sukhi Kang’s Inventio for Piano and Electronic Sound. DMA diss., University of North Texas.

Iwabuchi, Kōichi. 2002. Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. Durham: Duke University Press.

Killick, Andrew. 1992. “Musical Composition in Twentieth-Century Korea.” Korean Studies 16: 43-60.

Kye, Hee-Seng and Jongwoo Yim. 2018. “Excavating the History of Electroacoustic Music in Korea, 1966-2016.” Contemporary Music Review 37, no. 1-2: 174-187.

“Life Story: Kang Sukhi.” 2018. Naver Cast, January 25, 2013. https://terms.naver.com/entry.naver?docId=3575946&cid=59013&categoryId=59013.

Yi, Yu-sohn. 1985. Hangook yangak baeknyeon sa (A hundred years of Western music in Korea). Seoul: Hangook Eumak Chulpansa.