Gugak Videos Must Be Repositioned as Hallyu Content
Written by Song Hyunmin, Music Critic
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world hard in early 2020, the gugak (traditional Korean music) community has faced both internal and external challenges regarding the new directions and pursuits it will take in the post-pandemic era. The Netflix drama Squid Game and the global popularity of BTS have served as a new breakthrough and source of power for Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, and a few popular gugak groups are also beginning to step on to the road to global recognition. To seek ways of helping them, the National Gugak Center held a policy discussion for the promotion of the gugak industry in November 2021. At the time, everyone was humming the song “Tiger Is Coming” by Leenalchi, and television programs such as MBN’s Joseon Pan Star and JTBC’s Pungryu Daejang were arousing the keen attention of the public.
Gugak used to be quite separate from public interest. Although a time-honored form of traditional music, gugak has long been considered to not align with contemporary tastes. This fixed notion once hindered the promotion of the genre, though it also served as the spark that ignited the popular gugak we enjoy today. Gugak had been left in the dark corner of the music industry in the country of its origin—as the old Korean saying goes, “The beacon does not shine on its own base.” Thus, it had been regarded as something unworthy of interest until one day it reemerged, having undergone a makeover that turned it into something more fun and brilliant than any other type of music. It was a twist that few expected to see, especially regarding a genre of music about which many knew very little, if anything at all.
Unlike in the past, when the government’s support for Korean music was usually focused on its preservation and transmission, it is now aimed at encouraging communion with the public and opening the gate for international exchange. Accordingly, new gugak producers are revising the map of Korean music to bring it to audiences beyond national borders. This trend has been set and reinforced by such bands and ensembles as SsingSsing, Lee Hee-moon, Leenalchi, Chudahye Chagis, ADG7, Coreyah, Jambinai, Black String, Dongyang Gozupa, and Haepaary.
When the pandemic began, it slowed down both gugak trendsetters and followers, forcing them to change their methods. Musicians who had once been active on live stages and in-person exchanges with international audiences were tasked with changing their modus operandi, for instance, by using online video communication. As the situation barred stage performances, many have produced videos as secondary channels to share their music and raisond’être. In any case, the videos contributed to the creation of a “virtual audience” that transcends conventional concert hall audiences. It is a sort of privilege of the COVID-19 era that people who have never been to a gugak concert are now able to access such music via the internet. For instance, it cannot be denied that Leenalchi’s “Tiger Is Coming” became a big hit among the public and helped people resist the COVID-19 blues as dependency on contactless cultural events and their influence increased. Moreover, the YouTube algorithm, which may be called a 21st-century disc jockey, delivers new gugak to viewers who may have never encountered gugak videos before. In this way, the number of videos produced by gugak artists has grown exponentially as of the first quarter of 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, but I have begun thinking about video recording and planning. By recording, I am referring to the performance videos released on the internet by gugak artists. Unless the internet ceases to exist, such videos will be out there permanently. By planning, I am talking about how to utilize these videos.
The act of archiving culture, which once was nearly synonymous with recording, has now turned, through the concept of planning, into an activity of opening and sharing. The Korean Film Archive used to be busy recording—filling its empty storage by collecting and restoring Korean movies that were lost during premodern and modern times. Now, however, it is contemplating how to open up its storage in the virtual world in the context of planning.
Under these circumstances, how will the Hallyu road change for gugak? As performances continue to be divided between online and offline events, gugak, as an aspect of Hallyu, is presumed to be rendered as “online Hallyu” and “offline Hallyu.” Gugak planners and artists whose main concern has been contactless presentation may now be able to explore the new, unprecedented forms of “online Hallyu” by utilizing their recordings, or their videos.
Gugak, the unlit “base of the beacon,” has become the people’s music as it regained the spotlight. The treasure trove of gugak artists’ videos was momentarily lit up, but it now returns to the shadows again. However, if the videos take the planning approach, they will provide just as much fun and appeal as in-person stage performances. The stores of videos that were produced eagerly in the pandemic era will be gradually neglected because of the conventional inclination toward in-person performances and the genre’s resultant inertness. A close scrutiny of expenditures on video production shows that many were funded by the government. The COVID-19-era recordings are the resources and fuel that will enable post-COVID-19-era planning. Now may be the time at which we should review what we have or what we have come to have and reposition it on the road of Hallyu.
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