Bo-Tae-Pyoung, The Korean Royal Shrine Ceremony Music (1928)

[extranoisy]

Yes this is a-ak. 아악

[sychnrea]

i already saw the temple in encyclopedia!

[bringonthelovin]

Fascinating! Interesting that the Japanese occupiers wanted to record this... my understanding is that they wanted to obliterate Korean culture entirely. On the other hand, Japan did introduce many modernizing elements to Korea such as a postal system, infrastructure, etc...

[Khebi]

At first the Japanese took on a coaxing strategy for a period of about 5~10 years. Mark, though, that they eventually went on to burn up to fifty million Korean history books and make every attempt to belittle the Korean culture along the way. Also, the economic infrastructure introduced by the Japanese were strictly for exploitation purposes, and hundreds of thousands of Koreans were killed and tortured in the process. :(

[Khebi]

Honestly, it's a complicated debate, raging even to this day, about whether or not Korea would have modernized without Japanese intervention. All the basic structural elements already were in place: the social hierarchy was beginning to crumble and people were regaining their rights, commercialization was getting big and the nation was owning up. Yeah, politics was bad, but isn't it always.

[bringonthelovin]

Modernization and infrastructure are a by-product of colonization...look at India as an example. The British weren't necessarily there to "help" Indians enter the modern world, but to exploit their resources (like the Japanese in Korea as you mentioned...)

[Khebi]

Yes, true, but the infrastructure of the Japanese didn't help in the long run. What they did was divide Korean industries into two main sectors, with heavy duty factories in the mineral-abundant North and the breadbasket works in the warmer South. This division has not helped the development of our separated nations, so it's irrelevant, really. :(

[Khebi]

But, of course, you're right, generally speaking. It's just that this doesn't apply specifically to the Korean-Japanese case, which is sort of off on a little tangent of its own. The Japanese colonization of Korea was a rather unique case in point.

[Stroheim1000]

@Khebi LOL It wasn't necessary for JAPAN VICTOR to do such thing,was it?

[mrsamshin]

Korea during that period was in the road of modernization. It was pretty much on their own with american and russian assistance just like the Japanese that had british and german assistance. Japan right wing activists today justify their invasion of Korea.

[Khebi]

Uhm, come to think of it, revamping the subtitles might be a very very good idea. I should know, I play some of these instruments. Heads up!

[transformingArt]

Oh, Thank you for your information...you know, I still confound Aah-Jaeng with Guhmoongo...(Sadly)

[Khebi]

Ah, okay. At 03:19? THAT's an aah-jaeng, not a guhmoongo. Guhmoongo are plucked with hands and struck with blunt, SHORT sticks about the length of the player's hand.

[Khebi]

I guess you could say aah-jaeng and hae-gum have the horsehair bows in common, but that's about it. Aah-jaeng are long, broad, wooden planklike structures played through the friction of bow and strings. Hae-gum are much smaller and more supple. You squeeze the string in different places to achieve the sound you want. Again, good video. Hope I'm being some help. :)

[Khebi]

Great clip, rare record, cool. I'd just like to point out that at 01:53, those are not Aah-jaeng (아쟁), they're hae-gum (해금), which really have no equivalent in western music and sound like violins. Aah-jaeng are Korean zithers. There is no such thing as a Korean harp, because Korean music does not utilize harmony the way Western music does.