https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYGVcj5aAIk

This piece has a darker history, but supposedly sets a stage for upcoming Korean music for the century that followed its release. This piece is about the anguish of Koreans in the 1920’s and is adapted from the melody of “Waves of the Danube.” This piece, following its release in 1926 was followed by the singer, Yun Sim-Deok committing suicide, the songs messages seemingly portraying her feelings about life in the unfortunate moments before her demise. The piece, while taking aspects from a Romanian composer, still remains innately and distinctly Korean. Originally I was going to cover a piece called “Shangri-La” and the aspect that both pieces shared influences from other pieces. I found a list of the best Korean pop songs, and titles like “wannabe” or “Charlie Brown” stood out to me. While pop music adapts piece differently today, the concept of taking aspects from others and adapting them to become Korean still persists in the practices of Korean musicians today. The original piece of “the hymn of death” may seem dark and like an ending of all things as implied through its mood and title, but practices developed by its conception still live on today.