Originally, sijo were first and foremost written as songs and performed with musical accompaniment. In continuing this tradition, the Sejong Cultural Society has begun to collaborate with numerous musicians from a range of different genres in creating musical works based on and featuring sijo. Through modern and popular mainstream genres of music, we hope that contemporary prize-winning and classic sijo will be used in works that may appeal to the younger generations. In the future, we hope to see sijo expressed through a wide variety of media forms.
Music Inspired by Korean Poetry:
Sijo Poems in Settings from Classical to Hip-Hop
based on "Still American" by Roberto Santos, winner of the 2013 Sejong Writing Competition sijo category
Still American
They say go, return to land that I don't know. It makes no sense.
Born and raised American, so Mexico is still foreign.
Culture kept, but this is my home. Immigrant, no: Hispanic.
"Be Here"
based on "Chung-sang-ri" by Hwang Chin-i (c. 1506-1560), one of the most famous courtesans in Korean history
Chung-sang-ri (Jade Green Stream)
Jade Green Stream, Don’t boast so proud of your easy passing through these blue hills
Once you have reached the broad sea, to return again will be hard,
While the Bright Moon fills these empty hills, why not pause? Then go on, if you will.
composed by Gum Suhyun (1919-1992), based on sijo by Kim Mal-bong (1901-1961)
The Swing, translated by Jang Gyong-ryol
Jade-colored fine ramie-cloth skirt and gilt pigtail ribbons
are leaping into the blue sky and fluttering in the clouds.
A startled swallow stares at them, forgetting to beat its wings.
As she pushes off once, she soars as high as to the treetop.
As she pushes off twice, the world lays itself flat beneath her feet.
Myriad worries of the mind are all blown away in the wind.
"Stars"
composed by Lee Soo-in (b. 1939), based on sijo by Yi Pyong-gi (1891-1968)
Stars, translated by Jaihiun Kim
The air is cool and pleasant as I step into my courtyard.
The sky has cleared above the peaks to the west.
And a slice of moon appears with the coming of the stars.
Now the moon sinks, the stars signal to one another.
Whose stars can they be? Which one is mine?
Standing alone in the night, I count them one by one.
"Spring Maiden"
composed by Hong Nan-pa (1898-1941), based on sijo by Yi Un-sang (1903-1982)
Spring Maiden, translated by Jaihiun Kim
Here comes at last our Spring Maid
dressed in shoots of grass,
veiled in a fleecy cloud,
shod with pearls of dew.
Who will she be meeting,
a bouquet pinned on her breast?
Will she ever pass my house
on her way to meet her lover?
Or is she coming for me?
I don’t know.
Shall I go and make a fool of myself
and ask her where she is going ?
composed by Misook Kim (Wheaton Conservatory), based on "Nostalgia" by Yi Un-Sang (1903-1982)
Nostalgia, translated by Jang Gyong-ryol
Vividly I see in my mind’s eye the Southern Sea so blue and serene.
How can I forget even in dreams that serene waters of my hometown?
Even now, the seabirds would greet me. Oh, I wish I were back home!
I miss those friends of mine whom I played with when I was a child.
Wherever I go and wherever I am, how can I ever forget them?
How are they doing these days? Oh, I wish I met them again!
While seabirds and friends are all still there at my hometown,
How and why have I come to leave my hometown and live alone?
Shall I go back home right now, leaving everything behind?
Oh, how I long to go back home and mingle with them as before!
How I long to live there and laugh as I did as a child in festive attire!
How I long to go back to those days when there were no tears at all!
Artists
Gretchen Adams, mezzo-soprano Allegra Montanari, cello Jennifer Woodrum, clarinet
Teddy Niedermaier, composer
"Trio"
composed by Teddy Niedermaier (Roosevelt University), based on sijo by Yi Myunghan, Hwang Chin-i, and Yang Sa Eun
untitled by Yi Myunghan
If on the pathways of dreams
left a footprint marks
The rough road with rocks by your window
would soon wear smooth.
But in dreams paths take no footprints.
I mourn the more for that.
Chung-sang-ri by Hwang Chin-i
Jade Green Stream, don’t boast so proud of your easy passing through these blue hills.
Once you have reached the broad sea, to return again will be hard.
While the Bright Moon fills these empty hills, why not pause? Then go on, if you will.
untitled by Yang Sa Eun
Soaring high though a mountain may be,
it is a mere mound beneath the Heavens
Climb and climb,
and no summit cannot be reached
Yet the people stay at its base
they say the mountain is too high.