Bitter Five Hundred Years Jo Yong Pil
This piece is so called "gook ak" (traditional country music) from Korea, a very well known song. I don't know how old it is. This performance was done at the cultural exchange on behalf of the Republic of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea in 2005. It's a beautiful song, I couldn't find a youtube with the English subs, so I wrote a translation below. It may not be very good, but it's better than google translate I think. Jo Yong Pil is one of the most popular South Korean writers and singers of the post war period. He performed again in Pyongyang in the spring 2018 cultural exchange.
"Han" the feeling of reproach, bitterness, and tragedy that characterize much of the Korean national experience can be felt in this music. You don't need to know the words. One review said that the song itself is an allegory for the unfulfilled expectations of the Korean people.
Naturally, it's like this, don't say it, living 500 years, why be tormented?
This is a bitter world, my cold hearted lover left and the tears rain down.
Above the back hills and gardens, the Big Dipper rises; parents pray for long life.
On the beach, over the fine sand field the constellation gathers; Empty, I pray for my lover to appear.
Trampled youth, devastated love, river of tears, where am I going?
Bitter cold world without compassion, I can't live.
Lovely flower like youth, aged by the seasons, half a lifetime gone, any place to fix my thoughts.
Falling snow covered mountains and streams, my dearest lover covers my body.
Close by lover, don't live that way, rather I'd die and completely forget.
Unlucky fate, mischievious that way, why is this future so gloomy?
Rising moon of fifteen nights, in this brightness why am I so unhinged?
A wild goose rising in the clear sky is going somewhere, take a message to my lover.
Misty moonlit night alone, waiting for my love who doesn't come, I see the daybreak moon.
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