When traditional music meets K-pop
BTS’ member Suga’s new single Daechwita, made under the alias agust d, marks the continuing trend of century-crossing genre-mixing in K-pop.
SUGA’S solo track Daechwita under the alias Agust D in late May begins with a powerful burst from a taepyeongso – a Korean wind instrument – as the BTS member sits up from a throne in a period thriller-themed video reminiscent of Netflix’s zombie series Kingdom.
“I sampled Daechiwta, which is the music played for when a king was on the move,” the rapper said on the group’s Youtube channel.
In a swirling pre-chorus, he sings, “Who’s the king, who’s the boss.”
The lyrics are fitting as Daechiwta, which literally translates as “big blowing and hitting,” is a marching song preserved for kings and high-ranking officials.
The music was also played in 2017 when United States President Donald Trump was in Seoul for a state visit.
Lee Young, art director at National Gugak Center who is also a taepyeongso player, instantly recognises the use of its sound.
“It’s the melodies from ‘Daechiwta with what sounds like the tapeyongso that’s playing in the background.”
The lingering taepyeongso riff from the original song was used at the beginning of Suga’s track for a dramatic intro, Lee explained.
Having racked up over 74 million views on Youtube, the track is the latest in a series of songs that saw traditional Korean music, also known as gugak, meet K-pop in recent years.
And “when traditional music collaborates with popular genres like hip-hop and creates new music,” Lee says a new creative work is born.
In the 2018 single Idol ,BTS embraced their Korean roots as they showed off chants and dance moves inspired by a traditional mask dance called Bongsan Talchum while in Hanbok-inspired outfits in the video.
Sunmi released Lalalay the following year, a mid-tempo pop song that heavily features the taepyeongso in its instrumental chorus.
The title happens to be another name for the taepyeongso.
Monsta X’s 2019 single Follow took a similar path, featuring a sound resembling that of the taepyeongso to live up to the group’s usual energetic and powerful sound.
“It sounds like it’s part of an old musical legacy while retaining modernity, freshness as well as strength which we thought would work well in a track with an EDP drop,” the writers and producer of the track said.
With instruments like the taepeyongso used in Korean pop music as early as in the ’90s, notably in Seo Taiji and Boys’s Hayeoga ,Lee sees the mix of old and contemporary pop music is a rather good thing.
“Just like water can fester if it doesn’t flow, a culture can get stuck, become stale and make no progress, which is why I believe that collaboration between traditional Korean music and other genres is a good thing.”
Renewed interest
As the lead track of Suga’s new mixtape D-2, Daechwita has sparked global fans’ interest in traditional Korean music.
The new hip-pop track, which was created based on the traditional sound source provided by the National Gugak Centre, on Wednesday ranked No. 76 on Billboard’s This Week’s Hot 100 chart, which shows the most popular songs in the US across all genres.
The K-pop boy band’s influence did not stop there.
“BTS is making me learn Korean history and music. This is interesting,” a viewer commented on the National Gugak Centre’s Youtube clip about Daechwita.
The five-minute explanatory clip, which was posted four years ago, had reached over 120,000 views as of Sunday. Another video on the National Gugak Center’s Youtube channel, which features the original full version of the traditional performance of the song, also had more than 140,000 viewers as of Sunday.
English subtitles were added to the two videos last week.
“Look how fast the National Gugak Centre is responding to the trend. It is great to see English subtitles,” a viewer commented.
Some fans commented that the explanatory video was helpful in understanding Suga’s song better.
“After watching Suga’s music video as a fan, I wondered what the man is saying at the beginning. I had no idea even though I am Korean. It is great to discover the details this way,” a BTS fan commented on the Youtube channel.
The new song and the traditional music both begin with a man called Jipsa, who plays the role of conductor, shouting “Myunggeumilha ‘Daechwita’ harapsinda.”
The National Gugak Center’s video explains that it means the Daechwita performance is to begin at the sound of the “jing,” which is a traditional Korean percussion instrument that makes low and grand sounds. – The Korea Herald/ Asia News Network