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Music is spiritual legacy inherited from generation to generation, reflecting the culture and custom of the region. However, due to globalization, the world is sharing similar music. Once unique music from different regions are getting similar, losing their uniqueness.

The reason why unique regional music exists as different cultures exist may be thanks to the efforts of musical anthropologists.

The exhibition 〈My Music, My Fatherland〉 is being held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jung Chu (1923–2013), a Korean musical anthropologist. The exhibition consists of three different parts: his life as a musician, records about his creative works such as his handwritten scores, and records about his musical anthropological study.

A natural musician

Jung Chu was born in 1923 in 192 Yangrim-ri, Gwangju-myeon, Gwangju-gun. His maternal grandfather, Jung Nak-gyo, was a well-known rich man in Gwangju. The House of Yi Jang-u in Yangrim-dong was constructed by Jung Nak-gyo in 1899 and given to his first son, Jung Byeong-ho. Later, Yi Jang-u (1919–2002) purchased the house. In 1989, the house was designated as Gwangju Folk Cultural Heritage No. 1. Jung Chu grew up in an artistic family. He learned to play the piano under the influence of his uncle, Jung Seok-ho who studied music at Berlin University of the Arts in Germany. His older brother, Jung Jun-chae, became a movie director. His younger brother, Jung Geun, became a children’s song writer and an author of children’s books, wrote popular children’s songs such as 〈Television〉 and 〈Round & Round〉, and worked as a conductor of KBS Children’s Choir. Naturally, Jung Chu chose to become a musician as well.

Jung Chu was expelled from Gwangjugobo High School (current Gwangju Jeil High School) in 1938 as a disciplinary action for using Korean. He then transferred to Yangjeonggobo High School in Seoul and graduated from high school there. In 1946, he went to North Korea, following his brother who was a movie director, believing his brother’s saying that he would be able to make music at a movie studio in North Korea. He sought asylum in the Soviet Union instead of going back to North Korea, protesting against the idolization of Kim Il-sung. He started his career in music in earnest, studying composition theory at the Moscow Conservatory.

Jung Jun-chae, older brother of Jung Chu, sent 〈Cheongguyeongeon〉 from Pyongyang, a collection of 580 sijos (a Korean traditional poetic form) composed by Kim Cheon-taek, a writer in the late Joseon dynasty, hoping that it would be helpful for his younger brother who was studying in Moscow. 〈Cheongguyeongeon〉, composed by Kim Cheon-taek, is a book consisting of songs in anthologies and orally transmitted songs. The author made this book to prevent traditional Korean songs from disappearing and to hand them down to next generations. It seems to have affected Jung Chu’s work of recording Koryo-saram songs.

Recorded 1,000 Koryo-saram songs

Jung Chu was interested in Koryo-saram songs and tried to protect the Korean people’s music in Kazakhstan by recording. He visited farms where Koryo-sarams worked for and recorded their songs including traditional folk songs and work songs in reel-to-reel audio tapes. He recorded the lyrics of 1,068 Koryo-saram songs and the scores of approximately 500 songs. His work shows that how the music culture of Korean people, which might have disappeared and been forgotten, has been maintained or changed in other cultural areas.

Under the guidance of Professor Anatoly Nikolayevich Alexandrov, he researched Korean melodies and presented 〈Fatherland〉, a piece that harbors the emotions of the Korean people. He wrote 〈My Fatherland〉, hoping that the song could be used as a national anthem of a reunified Korea some day. It was also his last work as a musician.

Jung worked as a music professor at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and made a textbook with his songs. Although he was once forgotten in Korea after going to North Korea, he is an esteemed songwriter. A total of 60 songs written by Jung Chu is included in music textbooks in Kazakhstan.

〈On My Way〉 by Jung Chu

Before leaving the exhibition hall, you can listen to the song in a video played by Lee Seung-kyu, a composer who reflects the landscapes, people, and art of Gwangju in his performance. 〈Violin Sonata No. 1 Jung Chu 1923-2013〉 was arranged by Lee, a composer and a pianist. He rearranged the main melody of 〈On My Way〉, a song that shows Jung Chu's longing for his fatherland, to be played by a violin.

Jung Chu is known as a musical genius or the black-haired Tchaikovsky. However, I hope that he is remembered and loved as a musical anthropologist since Koryo-saram songs might have disappeared if he had not recorded them.

The exhibition is held until May 28 at Special Exhibition Hall 1, ACC Asia Culture Museum. You will be able to learn about Jung Chu in depth by attending a special lecture given by an outside expert. Lee Gyeong-bun, a musicologist and a visiting researcher at Seoul National University, gives a lecture under the theme of Jung Chu’s Musical Language and Asylum (May 16). Kim Bo-hui, a musical anthropologist and a visiting professor at Yonsei University, delivers a lecture titled Jung Chu and Original Songs of Koryo-sarams (May 18). They will present the diasporic characteristics of Koryo-saram songs. You can apply for a lecture via the website of the ACC (www.acc.go.kr).

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