가(歌)․요(謠)․곡(曲)의 해부학 4 -‘한국가요(韓國歌謠)’의 발명과 곡종(曲種)의 점멸(點滅) 1960-1979-

Abstract

The term “Korean songs” (Han’guk kayo), which specifically refers to Korean popular songs, emerged as a cultural invention only after the late 1960s, a timeline that many might find unexpectedly delayed. This development was shaped by a complex interplay of negotiations with political authorities and internal coordination within the music industry during the 1960s and 1970s. A seminal work in this context is the Collection of Korean Songs (Han’guk kayo Chŏnjip), published in 1980. This volume is notable for its comprehensive compilation of basic scores for 1,920 songs and ballads, supplemented by a historical narrative of Korean popular music “Han'guk kayosa” authored by Pak No-hong, along with photographic documentation. The score sheets included in the collection also illustrate the typical rhythmic patterns associated with each popular tune. Despite several shortcomings and errors from a contemporary standpoint, this book remains a crucial text for understanding the vernacular genres of Korean popular music. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods, this article challenges prevailing views that either oversimplify Korean popular music as generic and genreless or conform to international or Anglo-American genre classifications. Instead, this paper argues that vernacular terms such as kokchong, cho, and kyeyŏl should be recognized as distinctive alternatives to the Western terms like genre and style, rather than being dismissed as mere clumsy hybrid constructs. Thus, it suggests that these categories should be understood and studied in their own right, rather than being reinterpreted with contemporary terminologies. About the evaluation on the construction of "Korean songs," it argues that it represents a dual-edged phenomenon: on one hand, it defended popular music against accusations of being “vulgar” or “foreign” or “decadent,” while on the other hand, it homogenized and flattened diverse and heterogeneous kokchong, cho, and kyeyŏl.