죽창가 Bamboo Spear Song [View all]

Last edited Sat Aug 7, 2021, 12:51 PM - Edit history (1)

The original poem is attributed to Kim Nam-ju ( 故 김남주 시인 ) according to an article in the International Newspaper July 16, 2019 shortly after the final episode of the dramatic series Noktu Flower ( 녹두꽃 ). Noktu Flower portrays the Tonghak reform movement in late 19th Century Chosun.*

* 조국 게재한 죽창가 가사 내용은? 정치권 의견 분분, 이영실 기자, 7.16.19 국제신문 ; http://www.kookje.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?code=0100&key=20190716.99099007677

This mountain village, soar together!
Let's become a flower. The flower
nurtured by falling tears and broken feet
let's become noktu flowers

This mountain valley all together take flight!
Lets become a bird. A bird
To north and south it cries,
Let's become the flying blue bird

This field alight together
Let's become a fire. A fire
burning plains lighting the darkness
Let's become the field afire

Let's do that, it's time for that
One more time, this village
Let's become a rebellion
Green pine green bamboo fixed in our heart
Let's become the bamboo spear

( 죽창가 / 김남주 시, 김경주 곡 )

I've taken a liberal rather than literal interpretation in order to convey the aesthetic and emotional appeal of the original in hangul. From watching the Noktu Flower drama series and learning from other sources about the period I tried to capture the spirit of the uprising's Bamboo Spear Hymn. The poem by Kim Nam-ju won a literary award in 1989. At some earlier point it was set to music by Kim Kyeong-ju, and sung by college students during the uprising against the Chun Du-hwan dictatorship. A song with similar imagery actually arose during the Tonghak rebellion period. There is an academic argument about the use of the symbolism of the "blue birds" as compared to the use of the symbol in '새야새야' ( Birds! Birds! )a folk song from the period in which the birds could be interpreted to symbolize invading foreign armies alighting on the mung bean (noktu) fields offending the spirit of the ancestors whose souls reside there to ward off the birds.* The seasonal coming and going of the birds takes a entirely different meaning in The Bamboo Spear Song.

*조국 수석의 '죽창가' 인용, 무엇이 문제란 말인가? 19.07.23 12:01l최종 업데이트 19.07.23 19:05l추준우 ; http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002555923

The poem and the song are politically controversial in the early stages of the current South Korean presidential political campaign. It is said by conservatives to represent "harmful" populist nationalism in South Korean politics. There is more on the historical background of the poem in the article at the link below:

https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2021/08/bamboo-spear-song.html