4.Korean Popular Music and Yodel (90s)

▶ 90s - The Growth of Korean Popular Songs

The 90's were the most innovative times in Korean pop music. That historical background was set the 88 Seoul Olympics. Those days, general Koreans were considered the overseas product would be better than Korean-domestic, and the Korean young people at that time also thought that Korean pop songs were unattractive and almost of them thought American pop songs was nice.

The Korean society has become more advanced, but general Koreans were in a time when it felt like something old-fashioned. In 1992, with the appearance of '서태지와 아이들the SeoTaiji and Boys', Korean pop songs could no longer be the same as before, and innovative & new sensible musicians of various genres appeared everywhere.


'이승환Lee Seung-hwan', the emperor of the Korean ballad music, also a Korean rocker who represents the 90's and still has a lot of fans, and '더 클래식The Classic', male duo- (they were famous for the song "마법의 성Magic Castle") released thier joint single albums at 1994. And they inserted the yodel into one of the singles named '크리스마스에는at Christmas.'

Lee Seung Hwan & The Classic (1994) Christmas Single Album

At Christmas


- Composition: 이승환Lee Seung Hwan
- Arrangement: 조동익Jo Dong-ik,  이승환Lee Seung Hwan
- Sung : 이승환Lee Seung Hwan
- Yodel Featuring: 하동욱Ha Dong Wook



내 어릴 적 친구들과 함께 한 순간들은 항상 내 맘속에
남아 있는데 이젠 그 친구들 소식조차 알 수가 없네
The moments that I have with my childhood friends are always in my mind,
but I do not even know where they're living now.



눈 내리는 밤엔 더욱 생각나는 그 시절 즐겁던 기억들
이젠 모두 다 사라져 버리고 희미해진 아득한 추억
The snowy night I remember more memories of those days,
All the memories are now gone, just remain only a distant memories.



언제 다시 그곳에서 우리들 노래하며 웃을 수 있나
그때처럼 그 거리를 우리들 얘기하며 걸을 수 있나
When can we sing and laugh there again?
Can we walk again with a smile on the street?



크리스마스에는 그 거리에 작은 소망들이 피어나
그 친구들 환한 웃음 다시 볼 수 있겠지
at Christmas , the street has small hopes,
So I want to see their bright smiles again.


[Yodel]

Members of the Basel Yodel Club in Korea and Lee Seung Hwan(in the middle) 
  photos provided by Ha Dong-wook


In the 90s, young-girl -Idol-singers were trained through entertainment agency have begun to appear, it was the trend of the times in Korean music scene.

At that time, a five-member female band called "파워걸Power Girl" appeared. They were a mid-20's female band, and featured a self-titled Jamaican-style(?) yodel song "요로레이요Yororeiyo".

Unfortunately, the yodeless-monotonous and plain imitation of yodeling's vocalizations did not fulfill the vocalic-pleasures, and their overall music is also somewhat unfit for the trends of the times so the power girls was soon forgotten by the public.

However, Power Girl's "Yororeiyo" has the significance of being the only yodel in popular song in the 1990s when the most innovative period in Korean popular song.
In addition, Yororeiyo was first implemented of that the lyrics and themes of Yodel that not just express alpine or hometown cultures but also it will be able to advance to various other themes.

Power Girl debut album - "Bright"

Yororeiyo


-Lyrics: 김영아Kim Young A
-Composition: 이흥열Lee Heung Yeol
-Arangement: 이흥열Lee Heung Yeol


Yororeiyo Yayayaay  Yorreiyo Yayaya(*3)


어쩌다가 맘에 드는 남자를 만났었어
안돼! 만만찮은 적수가 있잖아
I had a chance to meet a lovely man.
No! I have met a tough opponent.



무진장 얼굴 예쁜 내 친구 때문에
가진 건 건강뿐인 내가 밀려 버렸어
Because my friend is so pretty
He liked my friend, not me, because I was fat.



내 친구의 이쁜 척에
나도 뭣을 해야겠어
Against my friend's pretty chuck
What can I do something ?



조신하게 미소 짓고
갖은 내숭 다 떨었지
with a smile on him ,
I've done all kinds of cute things.



내 딴에는 기를 써 하느라고 했는데
I used to do my best


뒤에 들은 그의 말
여자면 다 여자냐
After I heard, He was quoted as saying, 
''Casting pearls before swine.''



여린 가슴에 충격 받아
이것저것 막 먹다가
I was shocked,
so just about to eat



애꿎은 나의 허릿살만
사정없이 또 불어버렸어
My poor waist, did get so fat
without mercy

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7.Kim Hong-chul, the father of the Korean yodel

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Since the 1990s, Kim Hong-chul left Canadian immigration. There were short-terms records and writing works in 1997, but his activities in Korea were very limited. In fact, he had been living in tough immigration and busy business so he almost forgot the yodels. Then one day he accidentally heard his old yodel again, and Kim Hong-chul comes back to Korea with the longing for the yodels and the homeland. And finally in 2003, "김홍철과 친구들Kim Hong-chul and his friends" were reorganized with new members. At last, "Kim Hong-chul and his friends" resume their performances and broadcasting activities in Korea. The Last Yodeler(1997) In 1997, "The Last Yodeler" was released, and Kim Hong-chul came back again in Korea. This new album was also based by his former hit yodels, but he mixed up the new genres as like hip-hop, jazz, pop, rock and so on. So the contemporary folk sensibility yodels in the 70s were reborn by the new atmospheres of the 90s. In ...
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5.Korean Popular Music and Yodel (2000s~ present)

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▶ In the 2000s - Yodeling vocalization became a hybrid on Korean popular songs In the 2000s, a new emotional team emerged in yodeling. 리키Ricky, one of the members of the hiphop band named "거리의 시인들The Street Poets" famous for his unique and resilient ',빙Bing', formed a 5-member band called "조이박스JOYBOX". In the album "Welcome to the Joy World", their debut album, I found a monumental yodeling song called "스페셜Special". Joybox - special 2001.01.27 Welcome to the Joy World (Ricky, Vocal/Guitar), (Johnny, Keyboard), (Tazz, Drum),  (Andy, Bace), Miro(Vocal) / Illustration : Han Eun-jung Special by Joybox   I feel good I feel nice I feel beautiful cause you`re my special until now I was blind But I`m so much of a wiser person than before   cause you`re my special,   and this is for you baby     yo lay yo lay yo lay lay yo yo lay yo lay yo lay lay yo yo lay yo lay yo lay lay yo    ...
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1.Korean Popular Music and Yodel (30~40s, Japanese Colonial Period)

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There is no exact record of the time when the 'Yodel' came down to Korea, but it is estimated to be around the 1920s and 1930s. Some of them are believed to have come from Manchuria through climbers, and some of them came from Japan. I have met & listened the good yodelings of 이인범Lee In-bum, Korean veteran tenor-singer during his lifetime, and talked yodel with him. I've heard that when he attended  연희전문대학Yeonhee College[1] , he occasionally sing yodelings and he was popular with the girls of the 이화학당Ewha Hakdang[2].  Also, 황문평Hwang Mun-pyeong, Korean music critic said ,"In Korea, There was two yodelers in Korea during the Japanese colonial period and after independent days" But I am saddened that there is no records or something about it.  Anyway, I can see the history of Korean yodel is never short. - 김홍철Kim Hong-chul, the father of Korean yodel  ▶ 30s - Korean Yodel in Japanese colony days The same yodel songs as those of  "山の人気者(...
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