Commentary & Notes
Gungcho daenggi (宮綃—): A hair ribbon made of thin silk with a round pattern. That the singer doesn't notice it slipping loose shows how desperately she hurried after her love.
Buryeong and Cheongjin: Towns in North Hamgyeong Province, the distant northern land where her love has gone.
The song uses the bokkeun taryeong rhythm, full of syncopations where two groups of three shift into three groups of two. It has four verses, and its refrain is longer than the verse itself.
Cultural Background
Gungcho Daenggi is usually sung right after Singosan Taryeong, and its melody and closing cadence are so close to that song's that the two form a natural pair of Hamgyeong folk songs. Bright and lilting yet steeped in sorrow, it is best heard alongside Singosan Taryeong in this archive.
Lyrics
궁초댕기
풀어지고
신고산 열두고개
단숨에 올랐네
무슨 짝에 무슨 짝에
부령 청진 간 님아
신고산 열두고개
단숨에 올랐네
My silk gungcho ribbon
has come undone,
and over the twelve passes of Singosan
I climbed in a single breath
Why, oh why,
my love, did you go off to Buryeong and Cheongjin?
Over the twelve passes of Singosan
I climbed in a single breath
