1.Korean Popular Music and Yodel (30~40s, Japanese Colonial Period)

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(A star of the mountain)"[3] of 中野忠晴(Tadaharu Nakano), a pioneer of the Japanese Yodel, were recently discovered in Korea.

The song with the title "사랑의 유레이티(1934, Lovely U-re-i-ti)"[4] is the Jazz Song [5], sung by 채규엽(Chae Kyu-yeop) who was one of the most popular singer of Joseon[6] during Japanese colonies.  This song was made from the 'Alpine Milkman[7] ', Based on the lyrics, it is presumed that the English original lyric was translated into Japanese and then translated into Korean again.

Chae Kyu-yeop(1906 ~ 1949)  Illustration:  Han Eun-jung

채규엽Chae Kyu-yeop was a musician graduated from Chuo(中央) University of Music in Japan. At that time, the classical music and popular songs were not clearly distinguished so he was simultaneously active as a vocalist, popular singer and even music critic. Chae was not only a very famous singer, but also the top singer of the colonial Joseon in 1934s. He won first place in the male voter popularity polls, also called " The King of  the  유행가Yuhengga[8]

However, after World War II, independent Korea faced a chaotic situations such as the confrontation between the US and the Soviet called The Cold War, he suddenly left North Korea in 1949. And he died that same year. Thus, he was the top-star of the Japanese colony era in 조선Joseon, but has since been forgotten in South Korea, and his activities in North Korea are unknown. According to the survey so far, 'Lovely U-re-i-ti' was the first yodel appeared in Korean popular singing scenes.  Chung Kyu Yeop sang it, the most popular trendy artists of the day, such as 조금자Cho Kum-ja, 안일파An Il-pa, participated in the chorus.

Jazz Chorus "Lovely U-re-i-ti"

Lyrics: 김동진Kim Dong Jin / Foreign Song
Arranged by: Higashiyoshi Okuyama奧山東吉
Number: Columbia Records 40529- A July 15, 1943
Print: July 20, 1943

Published accompaniment: Columbia jazz band

The approximate meaning of the lyrics is as follows ;

산마을의 귀염둥인 우유집 총각이지
새벽부터 저녁까지 노래만 불러요
The milkman is the top-star in this mountain,
he sing from dawn to evening.

목장터는 넓고 넓고 노래는 맑고 고와
The ranch is wide,
his song is clear and beautiful.

그 멜로디 듣기 좋네 알프스의 사랑
All of them like the melody,
"The love of the Alps" 

마을처녀 그 노래에 반해 유-레이티
All girls in this town like this song
- Yu-re-i-ti

다 놀아나네 유-레티
All of them have a good time with
-Yu- re-i-ti 

우유 짜는 총각 그리워유-레이티 유-레이 유-레이티
All girls miss the milkman and
-Yu-re-i-ti Yu-re-i - Yu re-i-ti

목소리도 좋은 총각 솜씨도 훌륭하지 

The milkman have a good voice
as well as the master at seducing women

젖 짜기 에도 바뿌 것만 
어느 겨를에동리처녀각시 다 후려 내노
Although the milkman was also busy with milking,
he chased all local women in town.

The era of Japanese colony was one of the most humiliating days in Korean history.
Sometimes it still a time to be resurfaced in various ways, but it's a tough time to mention in Korea as well.

It is clear that Koreans yet cannot look at this era objectively with plenty of confidence. The days of Japanese colony would not have been the days when there were only those who were struggling with bloody struggles for the independence of Korea against Japanese imperialists.

There were the anarchists who were frustrated in the world, the socialists who dreamed of a new world, even there were some person who fiercely loyal to Japanese imperialists than Japanese in order to be their second-class citizen. I think anyone who did not faced with choice of that era, can not judge which is right or wrong.

Listening to the song, I felt a little strange. There were the strongest Japanese armies, so-called "the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" as the self-narcissism of the Japanese empire.

Moreover, It seems to be reflected in the everyday life of the colony Korean people, who are the second-class citizens of the Japanese Empire, and the hustle and bustle of Seoul, the second largest city of the Japanese Empire, and the image of Joseon in the world singing the exotic Alps. Although it is the milk-busting Alps that does not fit the reality of colonial Korea.

It's like the languor of cherry blossoms that will be lost in the upcoming Pacific War.

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[1]A college was in Seoul during the Japanese colonial era. Yeonhee College is the forerunner of Yonsei University 

[2] A female education institute founded by Mrs. M. Scranton, an American missionary in 1886 in the Joseon Dynasty.  The name 'Ewha' comes from Ewha Hakdang and is the predecessor of Ewha Girls' High School and Ewha Womans University. 

[3]山の人気者 was also known as the first Japanese-yodel

[4]'U-re-i-i' was a Korean expression of Yodel 's utterance at that time. 

[5] Not just 'Standard- Jazz', all both Western and European songs was collectively called 'Jazz song' in Japanese occupied North-East Asia. 

[6] Joseon was the old name of Korean former dynasty, which was destroyed by Japan. The name was commonly used to refer to Korea even during the Japanese colonial period

[7] Alpine Milkman made by Leslie Sarony, UK Comedian & Music Hall singer. This song also sung by Wilf Carter, the Canadian country legend from the United States.

[8]Popular songs in the Joseon of the Japanese colonial period were collectively referred to as Yuhengga.