Harvard Professor Shows Expertise in Korean Sijo (Arirang TV News)
Meet David McCann, a Harvard University professor whose love for the Korean poetic form sijo has brought him here to Seoul. Sijo is a three line Korean poetic form often exploring bucolic, metaphysical and cosmological themes. And wondering why the sijo could not enjoy the same widespread recognition as the Japanese haiku, Professor McCann, embarked on a mission to popularize the sijo.
[Interview : David McCann, ProfessorHarvard University] “One thing is the language, the imagery, the attitude, the voice in some of the old sijo poems, you can really hear an individual’s voice And I feel you can understand something about the Korean people through this sijo, it’s just remarkable.”
The professor’s efforts to popularize the sijo is very timely since a so-called “Korean Wave” of exported television shows, movies and musicians is attracting attention across the globe.And since reading poems may not be such a thrill to some people the poems should be presented to the public in new and creative ways.
[Reporter : Hwang Sung-heessung86@arirang.co.kr] “At the Ewha Sijo Festival, Professor David McCann will demonstrate how smoothly Korean traditional music is able to be in harmony with international music by reciting his own sijo with the accompaniment of a jazz performance.”
Composed of repetitive phrases and rhythmic elements, the sijo was meant to be sung or chanted.And the modern jazzy touch added a new flavor to Korean traditional music.At the concert hall, Professor McCann was not the lone foreigner confessing his love for Korean music.Others in attendance awed the audience with their musical performances of ancient Korean culture saying that Korean traditional music taught them about Korea.
[Interview : Heather Willoughby, ProfessorEwha Womans University] “In Korean pansori, you have music that represents the Korean people, and their history and their experiences and it does that brilliantly.”
The series of performances by foreign professors was dynamic enough to spark the students’ interests about Korean traditional poems and music.
[Interview : Kim Eun-ji, StudentEwha Womans University] “I have been to a lot of performances since I am a Korean music major, but today’s performance was very refreshing. With a foreign professor trying out new things to popularize the sijo, I feel like we should also put in such efforts.”
And efforts to globalize Korean traditional music is being welcomed by experts in the field as such promotion will inform the world about the aspects of Korea that modern movies and music are unable to.Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News.
JUN 11, 2010
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