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Shin Arirang Traditional (arr. D. Kim) rirang is a Korean folk song — and as is the Exposition in Chicago — and were simply A case with many folk songs, its origins are passed on to her. In any case, these record- obscure and its history is meandering. One ings stand as monuments of sonic history. theory traces it to the 19th century, when Whatever its beginnings, the song’s Heungseon Daewongun served as regent to popularity grew organically and it was em- the monarch Gojong (his son), a period that braced and adapted throughout the Korean ran from 1863 to 1873. During that regency, peninsula. The lyrics, tune, and rhythms a large number of Chinese workers were were modified depending on the region and brought to Seoul to construct the Gyeongbok the performer; yet, even when altered, the Palace. They brought with them the ancestor piece is recognized as part of the Arirang of this piece, a Chinese song titled Airang, family. Musicologists and folklorists have which expressed the workers’ sorrow at be- catalogued and classified the variations of ing separated from their wives or lovers. Arirang — about 60 different varieties of the Or perhaps it is much older than that, song, comprising at least 3,600 variants. The with at least its text reaching to the time principal varieties are typically identified of Park Hyeokgeose (69 BCE–4 CE; reigned with a descriptor that connects the version 57 BCE–4 CE), the founding monarch of with a region of the Korean peninsula. The ver- Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Ko- sion called Jeongseon Arirang is widely viewed rea.
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