MIRYANG ARIRANG ALBUM

[Anchor Lead]

Seven different versions of Miryang Arirang sung by local residents have been released in an album. Area residents, from children to senior citizens living in the Miryang area in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, sang this folk song passed down orally through generations.

[Pkg]

Miryang Arirang was listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012. Although the cheerful melody and refrain remained the same, hundreds of lyrics varying by region and time have been passed down orally.

[Soundbite] Lee Yong-man(Miryang Tug-of-war Practitioner) : "I learned from my grandfathers that Miryang Arirang has three compound beats."

Diverse lyrics passed on over the centuries were collected and documented before they were produced into an album containing seven versions. Album participants included 47 members from five regional folk tradition preservation societies.

[Soundbite] Son Gi-bok(Secretary, Miryang Beopheung Sangwonnori Preservation Society) : "The elders are all gone and the tradition is dying out. So we discover and document them."

The album includes children’s Miryang Arirang, written by poet Yoon Seok-jung, the lyricist of children’s song “Half Moon” and the Independence Army’s Arirang, which showed the Korean people’s fighting spirit during the Japanese colonial period.

[Soundbite] Seo Jeong-mae(Adjunct Prof., Dept. of Korean Traditional Music, Dongguk Univ.) : "This project encompasses all the diverse sounds and lyrics. It’s meaningful that the songs were recorded in an album."

The city of Miryang plans to train professional singers of Miryang Arirang and work together with the educational office to teach the songs to students.