Aewonseong
Unknown (Hamgyeong Oral Tradition)
Region
Hamgyeong Province
Genre
Usage
Hamgyeong Folk Song
Lyrical / Work Song
Aewonseong, "The Sound of Sorrow and Grievance," also called Aewongok, voices the hard lives and the grief of parting of the people of Hamgyeong Province. It was sung in every corner of Hamgyeong's mountain villages, giving voice to the heart of the region. This record is archive material collected to organize and preserve the representative lyrics and the transmission context of Aewonseong.
Commentary & Notes
Geumsu gangsan (錦繡江山): "Mountains and rivers like embroidered silk," a poetic name for the beautiful land of Korea.
The cuckoo (dugyeon): Long a symbol of grief and longing in Korean poetry, its cry deepens the sorrow of the singer who has lost her love.
Sung to the gutgeori rhythm, its refrain borrows touches of Seoul's Gyeongbokgung Taryeong and Hwanghae's Byeongsin Nanbongga.
Cultural Background
Hamgyeong was a northern frontier, worn down by conflict with the Jurchen, used as a place of exile, and blessed with only thin, poor farmland. Born from these hardships, Aewonseong came to carry songs of parting, wandering, and the sorrow of those who left for Manchuria. Though it is a sad song, women sang it both at play and while weeding the fields.
Lyrics
금수강산이 제아무리 좋아도
정든 임 없으면 적막강산이로다
에 얼싸 좋다 얼 널널리 상사디야
뒷동산 숲속에서 두견이 우는 소리
임 여읜 이내 몸 슬퍼만 지는구나
에 얼싸 좋다 얼 널널리 상사디야
However fair this land of silk-embroidered mountains and rivers,
without my dear love it is a desolate land
E — eolssa, how fine! Eol neolleolli sangsadiya
The cuckoo cries in the woods on the hill behind the house,
and I, who have lost my love, grow only sadder
E — eolssa, how fine! Eol neolleolli sangsadiya
