A guest radio show for NTS.
When I was in Seoul in 2017 I started to find out about the world of South Korean 70s folk songs and psychedelic rock music, about the bar “C’est Si Bon” where they all hung out, and the censorship and military dictatorships of the time.
When @phambinho asked me to do a takeover of his show, I thought it’d be a perfect opportunity to share the few original records and many reissues picked up back then.
Doing research for this show in these past months I learned so much about that time – about the long history of protesting in South Korea, about the influence of the US army and the Armed Forces Radio that made blues, jazz and rock available to the Korean public, and at the same time had a big budget for for entertainers, which made earning a living possible for some Korean musicians in post-war times. The workers struggle and the student pro-democracy movements demanding democracy, better working conditions and the reunification of the two Koreas, and the songs they sang being a central space for meeting, organising, protesting and distributing political messages via illegal cassette tapes. About the Gwangju Uprising in 1980, where a five day long protest started by students became a bloody massacre where 2000 people are estimated to be killed by the military. And of course, about the banning of long hair and “hippie culture”, and the oppressive censorship that barred many musicians from publishing and performing.
A huge thank you goes to Prof. Kim Chang Nam 김창남, a founding member of the student protest song group Nochasa 노찾사, who shared experiences and music of the time and is also heard on the show. Thank yous also to Sung Un Gang, who shared his contacts and experiences of being a student in the 2000s when singing those old songs were still a big part of student life, Soung-U Kim and Anna De Mutiis for digitising my LPs that are still in London, and of course @phambinho and @nts_radio for the wonderful radio space.
Tracklist:
Shin Jung Hyun & the Men – Beautiful Rivers And Mountains
이장희 Lee Jang Hae – 그건 너
양희은 Yang Hee Eun – 작은배
김민기 Kim Min Ki – 아침 이슬
메아리 – 주여, 이제는 여기에
방의경 Bang Eui-Kyung – 불나무
송창식 Song Chang Sik – 이슬비
이정선 Lee Jeong Seon – 거리
이장희 Lee Jang Hae – 그 여인 그 표정
김두수 Kim Doo Soo – 강
Kim Jung Mi – Haenim (햇님)