[KS] Sijo (Music)

[Luke William]

Dear Korean Studies List,

Thank you to those who responded to my inquiry about translating Jeong
Cheol.  Happily, I was made aware of Keven O'Rourke's work
<https://www.amazon.com/Shijo-Poet-At-Court-OROURKE/dp/1138981834/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=>,
which is really all I was looking for.  It's too bad I wasn't able to find
this more readily:  perhaps encourage your libraries to obtain it if they
haven't already!

I completed a music project in 2017 called *Sijo*
<http://lukekwilliam.com/sijo>.  It wasn't on my mind when I wrote to the
list, and there's nothing to "promote" *per se* (it's free).  It occurred
to me, however, after I got the replies I did, that you on this list might
be a good audience to share it with.

The story goes:  I worked with a Korean teacher to study several *sijo* in
the original and wrote and arranged songs adopting the voices of the poets
and setting their themes to music.  My thinking was that it might be a
valued contribution, a work in American popular music in genuine dialogue
with Korean classical poetry.  More than anything, I was inspired by the
poetry and the music of the project itself.

It's a combination of lo-fi, conscious "imperfection," and carefully
designed digital soundscapes composed to be symbolic of the world of each
poem.  Poets represented include Yi Sunshin, Hwang Jini, Song Sun, Jeong
Cheol, Yang Saeon, and Im Che.  It's only about 20 minutes long, and I see
it as the first part of a project to be extended, perhaps with help from
some who have contacted me from the list!

The album with its beautiful, fascinating cover art is at
lukekwilliam.com/sijo.  There you can also find the project I worked on
subsequently, *Lotus Flower*, which is a full-length, much more ambitious
project in a still-symbolic but more exacting, minimalist style.  The
Korean sijo poets represented on that album are Yi Kae and Kim Yuk.

I hope those with an interest in music and poetry will listen to the album
and approach it as an artwork.  You're more than welcome to share it for
any purpose for which it might be useful, enjoyable, or helpful.  I've not
yet had an opportunity to give a talk or presentation on it, but someday
hope to.

Thank you, and best wishes,
Luke

Luke K William, Ph.D.
MFA Poetry Program
Texas State University
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://koreanstudies.com/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreanstudies.com/attachments/20180512/deedf590/attachment.html>