Arirang

Etymology

Many versions of the song start by describing the travails encountered by the subject of the song while crossing a mountain pass. "Arirang" is one name for the pass and hence the title of the song. Some versions of "Arirang" mention Mungyeong Saejae, which is the main mountain pass on the road connecting Seoul and southeastern Gyeongsang Province during the Joseon Dynasty.

There are a number of passes called "Arirang Pass" in Korea. One of them is in central-northeastern Seoul. This particular pass, however, was originally called Jeongneung Pass and was only renamed Arirang in 1926 to commemorate the release of the film Arirang. Older versions of the song long predate the movie.

Arirang Pass (아리랑 고개) is an imaginary rendezvous of lovers in the land of dreams, although there is a real mountain pass, called "Arirang Gogae," outside the Small East Gate of Seoul.

The heroine of the story from which the Arirang song originated was a fair maid of Miryang. In fact, she was a modest woman killed by an unrequited lover. But as time went on, the tragic story changed to that of an unrequited lady-love who complained of her unfeeling lover. The tune is sweet and appealing. The story is recounted in "Miss Arirang" in Folk Tales of Old Korea (Korean Cultural Series, Vol. VI).

Variations

There are many variations of the song, which may be classified based on the lyrics, the timing when the refrain is sung, the nature of the refrain, the overall melody, and so on. Titles of different versions of "Arirang" are usually prefixed by their place of origin or some other kind of signifier.

The original form of "Arirang" is "Jeongseon Arirang," which has been sung for more than 600 years. However, the most famous version of "Arirang" is that of Seoul. It is the so-called "Bonjo Arirang," although it is not actually "standard" (bonjo: 본조; 本調). This version is more widely known simply as "Arirang" and is of relatively recent origin. It was first made popular when it was used as the theme song of the influential early feature film Arirang (1926). This version of the song is also called "Sin Arirang" (Shin; "new") or "Gyeonggi Arirang," after its provenance, Seoul, which was formerly part of Gyeonggi Province. (The titles "Bonjo Arirang" and "Sin Arirang" are sometimes applied to other versions.)

Particularly famous folk versions of "Arirang" — all of which long predate the standard version — include:

"Paldo Arirang" is sometimes used to collectively denote all the many regional versions of the song, as sung in the far-flung regions of Korea's traditional Eight Provinces (Paldo).

The American composer John Barnes Chance based his 1965 concert band composition Variations on a Korean Folk Song on a version of "Arirang" that he heard in Korea in the late 1950s.

Translation into other languages

Until 2013, the lyrics had not been translated into other languages, forcing singers to sing romanized Korean lyrics. In late 2013, a group of professional translators and interpreters from the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies produced singable lyrics of "Arirang" in nine languages other than Korean. On 3 December 2013, professor Jongsup Jun directed a concert under the title of "Let the World Sing Arirang in Their Tongues," in which a student choir sang the famous Kyunggi "Arirang" in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian, Arabic and Korean.

Lyrics

The table below gives the refrain (first two lines; the refrain precedes the first verse) and first verse (third and fourth lines) of the standard version of the song in Hangul, romanized Korean, and a literal English translation:

The standard version of "Arirang" ("Seoul Arirang" or "Gyeonggi Arirang") has many verses, although other verses are not as frequently sung as the first. The lyrics are different from singer to singer:

Refrain

In all versions of the song, the refrain and each verse are of equal length. In some versions, such as the standard version and "Jindo Arirang," the first refrain precedes the first verse, while in other versions, including "Miryang Arirang," the first refrain follows the first verse. Perhaps the easiest way to classify versions — apart from melody, which can vary widely between versions — are the lyrics of the refrain. In the standard and some other versions, the first line of the refrain is "Arirang, Arirang, arariyo...," while in both the "Jindo Arirang" and "Miryang Arirang" (which are otherwise quite different from each other), the first line of the refrain begins with "Ari arirang, seuri seurirang...."

Miryang Arirang

Bird Pass or "Saejae" is the summit of a high mountain, rising north of Moonkyung in the ancient highway, linking Seoul with Miryang and Tongnae (Pusan). Its sky-kissing heights are rugged in their eyes. This is a love song of a dancer from Miryang who was left behind by her lover from Seoul (Hanyang). She is calling him to take her with him to Hanyang. She believed that her own beauty was above all flowers in Hanyang. The words in the first line of the chorus are sounds of bitter sorrow at parting. This song was composed by Kim Dong Jin.

Gangwon Arirang

The highland maids would like to make up their hair with castor and camellia oils and go flirting instead working in the soybean fields. The mountain grape moroo and banana-shaped darae were precious foods to mountain folk. The song is sarcastic but emotional to comfort the solitary reapers who gather wild fruits in the deep mountains of Kangwon-do.

Association with the United States

The South Korean government designated "Arirang" as the official march of the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division since 26 May 1956, after its service in Korea during the Korean War. The official Division song was the "New Arirang March," an American-style march arrangement of "Arirang" (the 7th Infantry Division was inactive and was reactivated as an administrative headquarters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington on October 1, 2012 to provide more oversight and guidance for the base’s five combat brigades).

On February 26, 2008, the New York Philharmonic performed "Arirang" for an encore during its unprecedented trip to North Korea.

In popular culture

The tune is used for the hymn "Christ, You Are the Fullness".