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An Emotional Moment with 60 Korean, American, and Japanese Teenagers – “Arirang”

Seo Hyun Sun, Choi Sung Rim

The folk song “Arirang” acts as a sort of cultural umbilical cord that connects Koreans to one another no matter where they live in the world. It occurred to me that folk songs can transcend nationality and location to comfort people. I spent a very long time arranging the music to create a beautiful melody that combines Eastern and Western musical instruments. In line with this score, students from the U.S., Japan, etc. who have been playing musical instruments for years – in some cases more than 10 years – played “Arirang” online. Various kinds of instruments were also used; Western instruments including the violin, flute, trumpet, and cello harmonized with traditional Korean instruments including the gayageum (traditional Korean zither) , jangsaenap (traditional Korean reed instrument), daegeum (bamboo flute), and jang piri (traditional Korean oboe). This clearly shows off the beauty of the tones of East and West alike. “Arirang,” a Korean folk song with hundreds of years of history, truly epitomizes the saying, “The most Korean thing is the most global thing.”