This study aims to examine the generational transmission and musicalcharacteristics of Jeonjangga, a Seodo japga, through a comparative analysis of recorded performances by three master singers: Kim Jongjo (1898–1948), Kim Jeongyeon (1913–1987), a...
This study aims to examine the generational transmission and musicalcharacteristics of Jeonjangga, a Seodo japga, through a comparative analysis of recorded performances by three master singers: Kim Jongjo (1898–1948), Kim Jeongyeon (1913–1987), and Choi Gyeongmyeong (1939–1999). Jeonjangga vividly depicts the tragedy of war, conscription, familial separation, and the fate of soldiers who are unable to return home after defeat. Among the Seodo jwajang repertoire, it is particularly significant for its direct engagement with historical and social realities.
The primary sources for this study include Kim Jongjo’s commercial shellac recordings, Kim Jeongyeon’s Collection of Seodo Songs(1972), and the Hwanghae-do folk song recordings of Choi Gyeongmyeong restored by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage (1998). The study first transcribes and compares the lyrics of the three recordings to establish a shared narrative framework, and then analyzes the patterns of expansion, reduction, and rearrangement of lyrics found in the versions by Kim Jeongyeon and Choi Gyeongmyeong. Subsequently, the research examines generational musical characteristics with a focus on the Susimga tori mode, melodic progression, flexible rhythmic organization according to the lyrics, exclamatory vocal gestures (naedeureum), and the treatment of melody and text in the concluding Susimga section.
The analysis reveals that all three versions share a common narrative structure—encompassing war and separation, defeat and the impossibility of return, and the self-identification of the singer as a wandering spirit of the battlefield—as well as a fundamental musical framework based on the Susimga tori and Susimga-style conclusion. Within this shared framework, Kim Jongjo’s version exhibits relatively concise diction and restrained melodic movement, presenting a structure close to the original form and conveying a controlled sense of tragic sorrow. Kim Jeongyeon’s version expands the lyrics of the wedding, farewell, and waiting scenes and subdivides rhythmic units, thereby enhancing narrative density and lyrical expressiveness. Choi Gyeong-myeong further transforms the piece by actively incorporating exclamations, repetitive endings, and performative vocal ornaments, emphasizing rhythmic elasticity and theatricality.
This study demonstrates that while Jeonjangga preserves its core lyrical framework and conventional melodic and rhythmic practices, its narrative construction and musical language are flexibly reconfigured in accordance with the aesthetic sensibilities and historical contexts of successive generations of singers. In doing so, the study elucidates the dynamic nature of Seodo japga transmission, in which preservation and creative transformation coexist, and contributes to a renewed understanding of the music-historical significance of war narratives in Seodo vocal tradition.