“Arirang” is Korea’s most well known folk song. Like many other folk songs, nothing about its exact origin is known. “Arirang” has been passed from mouth to mouth for countless generations. There are many version of the “Arirang” folk song, based on the region of the people or person singing it.  Although there are many versions, they are all common in that it is a woman singing about a lost love. Versions differentiate in the rhythm and lyrics, while maintaining the same general meaning and story.

The most common version is Gyeonggi Arirang, in which a man falls out of love with his girlfriend, leaving her to lament his absence, as the song expresses her point of view and sorrow from the first-person.  Regardless of the style I hear the Arirang tale sang in, it has greatly impacted me and affected my life. I identify with the song, being an unfortunate lover who had to leave, and being of Korean nationality.

First of all, I loved a girl named Emily when I was in Bangladesh and was attending the Canadian International School. At that time I couldn’t speak English at all, and all of the students thought of me as an idiot because of my poor communication skills. But this one girl, Emily, talked to me, helped me, and became my only friend. I loved her with all my heart. Soon, I found out that she liked me too, so we continued our love. Four years later my dad told me that we were going to move to Thailand for my education and a better life. Life in Bangladesh was too harsh for my family, so our family decided to leave this hopeless land. We also needed rest from a tiring life, so ,my family moved to Thailand. Although, I thought leaving Bangladesh was a good idea for a second, I soon realized that if I left, then our relationship would be finished. In Korea, there is a fairly known proverb that says “Your relationship with someone depends on the distance”. Now days, we have things like Facebook and Skype. But even this things cannot be compared with actually seeing that person. I tried to convince my parents to stay in Bangladesh, but their minds were set and they were determined to move to Thailand. On the last day of school, I gave her letters and presents and told her that I’m never going to come back. Also, I sang her the song, “Arirang”, letting her know that we will miss each other a lot, but to hope that we will meet again someday. This song became a symbol of hope and cheer; although we will be far away from each other, our minds will never change (like the song says). This song affected me as I was in the same position as the singer, having to leave my love in great pain. Like the lyrics, I could feel the pain of leaving my love, but hoping to see her one day. So “Arirang” means for me the most precious song that helped me reflect on the pain of leaving someone you love, and finding something of value in that.

The second way this song impacted my life is that I am a Korean. “Arirang” is the most famous Korean folk song. No one knows who wrote this song, but as far as we know, when we were poor and times were hard, we sang this song. In 1952, Korea was invaded by Japan. Many Korean people were killed for no reason. We couldn’t use our language and had to change our names. We were forced to bow down to the Japanese king, we had to hide our metal pots from Japanese soldiers taking it for making weapons, and almost everyone in Korea ate tree roots in order to survive, as the Japanese government stole 90% of Korea’s rice production and 50% of meat production. Dying of hunger, and suffering great hardships from the Japanese, we sang “Arirang” to heal our souls and to tell ourselves that good things will come as the lover hoped the man will come back. We sang this song as a way to fight against the Japanese occupation and keep hope alive. Since this amazing song helped keep unity among my people, this song is a part of my identity. If my ancestors had not been united through this song, then I might not exist in this world.

After independence was won from Japan, with the forces of the United States and Russia, the Korean peninsula was divided into two very different countries. Even with help of the United States, South Korea was the poorest country in the world. However, we were united with this song, which we sang as we worked hard to overcome our problems. Soon, we became one of the richest countries in the world and people called this “ The Miracle of the Han River”. This song united my people, so this song is really important to me and I’m thankful for this song. So the fact that I’m Korean affected my life and without this song, I might not existed in this world.

Although this song sounds really melancholy, you can feel the soul of Koreans who tried to overcome the present, and worked hard for a better future. This song gave us hope and strength to live and work. For this reasons, “Arirang” is part of my identity. As we sing this glorious music in our class, I will think of the wonderful memories that I have with Emily and my country. For these reasons, “Arirang” will always be part of me.