midicnMusic History 中文

Arirang in Yanbian

Arirang as sung by the Korean minority in Yanbian, Jilin, in triple time with changgu drum, in several regional variants.

The jangguThe gayageumVoice

Time and place

The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture lies in eastern Jilin, with Korean communities around Yanji, Longjing, Tumen and Helong, facing Korea across the Tumen River. In the second half of the nineteenth century farmers from the northern Korean peninsula crossed the river to open land and brought their songs with them. They sing in Korean, and since many Yanbian families came from Hamgyong province, the speech and tunes carry a Hamgyong colour. Arirang exists all over the peninsula in different tunes, and Yanbian sings several of these lines.

What happened

The origins of Arirang are debated; it is often described as a road song, and it became the most widely known folk song of the peninsula, with variants in Miryang, Jindo, Jeongseon and Tanchon. Migrants brought different local versions to Yanbian, where they were sung in villages, at work and at festivals. When the Yanbian Korean autonomous region was established in 1952 and became a prefecture in 1955, Korean music and dance entered professional companies, and Arirang was arranged for chorus, dance and instruments. Later recordings and television carried the Yanbian version further.

Musical features

Arirang is usually in triple time, notated in either 3/4 or 9/8, organised by jangdan rhythmic cycles and often accompanied by the changgu drum. The melody rests on a pentatonic frame in symmetrical phrases, strophic, with the refrain "Arirang" after each verse. The line tends downward and the ending is light. The drum gives the skeleton, and dancers step to the cycle. Regional variants differ in ornament, phrase length and tempo, while the refrain stays recognisable.

What to listen for

Start with the basic Yanbian Arirang and fix the swing of triple time and the place of the refrain. Then take the Tanchon version, whose Hamgyong manner is closer to the homeland of many Yanbian families. The Miryang version has longer phrases and more ornament; the Jindo version is looser still, with a longer hold at the end. Heard together, they show that Arirang is a family of tunes, not one song.

Common misunderstandings

A common mistake is to treat Arirang as a song unique to China. It is shared across the Korean peninsula, sung by Chinese Koreans, North Koreans and South Koreans in different versions. Nor is the Yanbian version the same as the popular South Korean one; tune, tempo and delivery differ. And Korean folk song is not only Arirang: taryeong, Doraji and boat songs form separate lines.

Listen in the library

A li langC10:22C1 朝鲜族《阿里郎》，最通行的一版，听三拍与句尾下行Details阿里郎（一）C30:35吉林《阿里郎（一）》，延边传唱的基础版本，听三拍子的摆动与副歌；C3 朝鲜族民歌，C1 为另一版本Details端川阿里郎C30:36《端川阿里郎》，咸镜道端川的变体，旋律与延边版有差别；C3 朝鲜族民歌，C1 无该变体录音Details密阳阿里郎C32:38《密阳阿里郎》，庆尚道变体，句幅更长，听地方色彩；C3 朝鲜族民歌，C1 无该变体录音Details珍岛阿里郎C31:00《珍岛阿里郎》，全罗道珍岛变体，装饰多，节奏更松；C3 朝鲜族民歌，C1 无该变体录音Details

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Sources

  • 中国民间歌曲集成全国编辑委员会编，中国民间歌曲集成（中国 ISBN 中心）— 曲目与朝鲜族聚居区核对，未引用
  • The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "China" — framework and dates checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.