Sarangga / 사랑가

2019

sEODo band / 서도밴드

“Created by sEODO, Joseon-Pop is a new music genre where the traditional vocal technique of pansori and modern lyrics and melodies meet, creating a modern genre suitable for both the older and the new generation” (Lagdani 2020). A song that showcases this connection between old and new is sEODo’s third single SARANGGA, which is the band’s own version of the song “Sarangga” from the pansori Chunhyangga, both in terms of the unique musical style fusion and their adaptation of the traditional lyrics making it easier to understand and relate to for modern audiences.

I. Origins

In 2019, the band has been working on the pansori of Chunhyangga before the release of SARANGGA already, having performed other songs of the same pansori on different occasions. They played several concerts in China and Japan telling their own version of the pansori with the four songs SARANGGA (love song), “The Farewell Song (이별가)”, “Until When (언제까지)”, and “I Came (내가 왔다)”. Furthermore, they won the grand prize at the 1st KBS Korean Traditional Music Rookie Awards 2019 with the song “I Came (내가왔다)” from the same pansori. One month after their win, they officially released SARANGGA on the 26th of December 2019 as their third single, along with a music video to the song. SARANGGA has been performed live in different locations, such as at the Acoustic Café Unplugged in Hongdae, Seoul and at a Sofar Sounds Concert in Shanghai. Furthermore, it has been broadcasted on several TV shows such as Mnet’s I Can See Your Voice season 7 and CLUB.KOM, the gugak show of the channel Arirang.

II. Context

sEODo band are recognised especially for the fusion of traditional Korean music (gugak) with modern genres, not only limited to Pop, but also including Jazz, R&B, and Rock. As the singer of the band stated, besides gugak and pop, “other genres flow as music through sEODo band in the form of Joseon Pop” (Iyengar 2021).

Jaehyun Seo, singer of the group, started learning traditional Korean singing from the early age of 4 and continued throughout his school career, majoring in vocal music at the Gugak National Middle School. On the side, he learned pop music composition and started combining both styles. To advance his knowledge in pop music, he graduated university in the department of practical music composition. Therefore, he has been exposed to both, traditional and contemporary genres, from an early age and was able to combine them in a new way, which made him pioneer of the new genre Joseon Pop. However, the band does not want to just be put in the box of gugak fusion, but they want to make the Korean sound accessible to the global audience by integrating it into the Pop genre that is already listened to all around the world. In an interview with The Korea Times, Seo explained:

“Our music is rooted in traditional music, specifically pansori. Also, there has been a long history of fusion gugak in Korea, but we don’t want to be called a fusion gugak band. We are already a pop music band. We try to defy the cliches of the fusion gugak category and try not to use the typical traditional rhythms of the genre. As Latin music first became Latin pop and then a mainstream pop genre in the international music scene, I hope our Joseon pop will become a pop genre in the music scene worldwide” (Park 2021).

The song SARANGGA, in particular, derives from pansori, a traditional Korean art of performance which can be described as a sung novel. It is performed by only one singer and one percussionist using a buk, a traditional Korean barrel drum. The singer tells the up to 8-hour long story, alternating sori, which is a song-like and more melodious part, and aniri, which is rather recitative. It is the task of the singer to project the plot into the listener’s head only with his voice and gestures, requiring him to have a vivid and expressive voice and way of talking.

The pansori repertoire that is known today comes from the time where the art form has already been established and accepted in the upper class in the mid-19th century (Park 2000: 247). However, originally, pansori was an art form of the lower class. The expression of emotions, vulgar word choice, and unstructured plot development prove this origin in the lower class, since the court music up to that point had to strictly follow the aesthetics of Confucianism, focusing on the music through self-control and without getting disturbed by human sentiments (Lee 1991: 103-104).

Chunhyangga is one of the five remaining pansoris of the present. There are multiple different versions of it since pansori has always been an oral tradition and the songs and texts have been passed down from teacher to student. Added to that, the performance relies on the interaction between the singer and the audience and gives the singer freedom to improvise to a certain degree according to the reactions of the listeners. Chunhyangga tells the story of the lower-class girl Chunhyang, daughter of a female entertainer of the governor (kisaeng), who falls in love with the son of the governor Mongryeong. The couple secretly marries but then, Mongryeong and his family are ordered to serve in the capital so the newly weds are separated, promising each other to wait for Mongryeong’s return. During Mongryeong’s absence the new governor requires Chunhyang’s service as a kisaeng, which she refuses. Therefore, she gets imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced to death. At the last moment, Mongryeong returns and saves his wife, who, through all this time and pain, has always been loyal to him.

The song SARANGGA, which means love song, accompanies the scene of the two falling in love. The original lyrics are rather hard to understand for the contemporary listener, since it uses old Korean language. Also, the musical aesthetics of pansori are not easily relatable for people growing up with contemporary popular music or western classical music. Since there is only a singer, there is only a melody and no harmonies, and certain rhythmical patterns in units of twelve played by the drummer. Certain vocal techniques also make the specific pansori sound, like very clear theatrical pronunciation, strong vibrato, which sometimes makes the original note not recognisable anymore, and swerving by using the larynx.

sEODo tried now to make this traditional pansori more relatable for the contemporary audiences.

III. Analysis

Compared to the original pansori song, the band created a new version that can be seen as an adaptation that is based on the pansori, since it creates a “situational equivalent” making the original in a new social, cultural, and temporal environment more “relevant” or “easily comprehensible” (Vandal-Sirois, Bastin 2012: 22). Furthermore, one could argue that within the band’s vision of making Joseon Pop a worldwide acknowledged and used genre, the song has been internationalized, which means certain content has been generalized, so that it can fit all markets and geographical areas without the need to modify it to fit a certain geographical area or market (Vandal-Sirois, Bastin 2012: 28).

The group rewrote the lyrics in modern language, which carries a similar meaning to the original but is still phrased very differently. They start off with the same line, “come here, let me give you a piggyback ride” (Appendix), a playful way to show love for the other person. The original lyrics then continue about offering food to the loved one, which shows deep caring for the other person, while sEODo’s version uses a more direct speech to the loved person using metaphors from nature to express the beauty and infinity of their love, such as “Even if we separate again after this night / You’ll be a flower and I’ll be a butterfly and fly away (이 밤이 지나 우리 다시 헤어져도 /너는 꽃이 되고 나는 나비 되어 훨훨 날아가리)” (Appendix). This line also draws a connection to the plot, where the couple must separate. Furthermore, it adapts the feature of onomatopoetic and ideophonic (mimetic) elements from the original, a special feature of the Korean language. Thus, a strong bridge to the original has been built with the first line, making the connection to the original very clear, which is confirmed along the way through a similar sentiment and loving and caring address towards the loved one, even though a different context and topic have been chosen as content of the lyrics.

The musical structure of the song is divided in different parts that return; it is a basic structure of a pop song:

	Measure	Chords	Melody	Instrumentation
Intro	1–5	Fmaj7, em7, dm7, em7, Fmaj7, em7, F/G, Cmaj7	General downwards direction, goes through different instruments	Wind chime, bass, guitar, organ/bell-like synthesizer (synthesizer 1), electronic sounding muffled synthesizer (synthesizer 2)
Verse 1	6–13	\|\|:Fmaj7, Cmaj7, Fmaj7, Cmaj7:\|\|	Downwards direction, long stretched notes that are artistically embellished through vibrato, swerving, ornamentation, stress	Synthesizer 1, vocals, cymbals
Pre-Chorus 1	14–19	\|\|:dm7, em7, Fmaj7:\|\| F/G	More text, therefore faster moving, sung a bit breathless (-> excitement?), upwards direction, dynamics <, leading towards chorus	Wind chimes, vocals, synthesizer 1, tambourine, guitar
Chorus 1	20–28	Cmaj7, Fmaj7, em7, A7+, dm7, em7, Fmaj7, C4-3	A B A C form, A: call-like (lyrics= “love, my love” (Appendix)), B: recitative-like line, C: rejoicing ornament on “You” (Appendix)	Drums, bass, vocals, backing vocals, synthesizer 1, synthesizer 2
Post-Chorus 1	29–34	see Intro	Rising and falling, the second time with a wider range	Vocals, backing vocals, drums, bass, synthesizer 1, synthesizer 2, piano, wind chimes
Verse 2	35–42	see Verse 1	Melody oriented at lyrics (pansori-like), “under the sky” (Appendix) followed by a swerving downwards, calling out “there is nothing more precious than you” (Appendix)	Vocals, drums, bass, piano, synthesizer 1, backing vocals, synthesizer 2,
Pre-Chorus 2	43–48	see Pre-Chorus 1	see Pre-Chorus1, a bit more ornamented in the end	Vocals, tambourine, piano, guitar, synthesizer 1, synthesizer 2, wind chimes
Chorus 2	49–57	see Chorus 1, Gb/Ab	see Chorus 1, modulation one semitone upwards, repeating the dropping movement a semitone higher	Vocals, backing vocals, drums, bass, Piano, synthesizer 1,
Chorus (modulated)	58–66	Dbmaj7, Gbmaj7, fm7, Bb7+, Gbmaj7, fm7, ebm7, Ab, Db4-3	see Chorus 1, B part rising in the end -> tension, C part adds one more downwards falling element	A B: only vocals and piano (last measure: drums, bass, guitar A C: backing vocals
Post-Chorus (modulated)	67–71	\|\|: Gbmaj7, fm7, ebm7:\|\|	see Post-Chorus 1, last swerving upwards slightly delayed, leading towards the end	Vocals, synthesizer 1, drums, bass, backing vocals, synthesizer 2
Outro	free	Ab, Dbmaj7	Big ornamentation of the word “love” (Appendix)	Vocals, piano, guitar

From the beginning until the modulated Chorus, they make the sound grow bigger by adding more instruments. As for drums and bass, they build a continuous underlying base, or, as for piano, guitar, and other instruments, they throw in some counter-melody excerpts. With the modulation, the listener expects the climax. However, the climax is relayed, and a very reduced part (A B of the modulated Chorus) is interjected, which only features the piano and the singer. This creates a very intimate atmosphere, an extreme and surprising contrast right before the actual climax (A C of the modulated Chorus), from where the tension is released and the mood calms down until the end.

As already mentioned, certain instruments have certain roles in the arrangement. Bass and drum create a foundation which serves as a base to build up an arrangement on top of it with more instruments, therefore, these two instruments are missing in the beginning, the calmer part before the climax, and in the end. The wind chimes often mark the transition to a new section. The backing vocals are responsible for harmonies, at times unexpected ones, as for example in Chorus 1, they sing the third of the augmented A-chord. Especially the piano takes on the role to play a counter melody to the singing voice, starting from Verse 2, which contributes to the growing arrangement. The calm part is only a duo between the singer and the piano, where, in the beginning, the piano adds a triplet-based melody line accompanying the singer, pausing the pulsing beat of drum and bass before and creating a more flowing, irregular feeling.

One of the most striking features of this recording, however, is the vocal performance of the singer. His voice-handling is probably the feature closest to pansori, as he uses some distinctive techniques that derive from this vocal genre. Already the composition of the melody for the voice shows some of those features, as for example in Verse 2, the melody line follows what is being said in the lyrics, for example it says, “under the sky” (Appendix), after which he sings a falling line as an audible depiction. After that he calls out in a rising line “in my heart there is nothing but you”, where his voice gets almost like a scream, louder and with a bit more pressure, which shows the emotional intensity of his message. Opposed to that in the first verse, he uses swerving to create a smooth flow. Also, he sometimes adds a change in the pressure behind the airflow on long notes, which leads to a swelling sound, as well as a developing vibrato at the end of those long notes (measures 6–9). He switches this up with adding small ornamentation or a short and rather shaky vibrato of the long notes instead of swelling and a developing vibrato (measure 10–14). In Pre-Chorus 1, he uses a very breathy voice, like on the sounds “dal-la, dal-la” (Appendix), which he then turns into an alternation between a clear voice and voiceless whispering. This is the most clearly recognisable in the word “ba-bba-do” (Appendix), where the first syllable is a voiceless hissing, whereas the second and third syllable are voiced and artistically ornamented. This all contributes to a very vivid and expressive vocal performance, as it is required from a pansori singer.

Keeping this in mind, it is audible that the band wanted to keep the song in pansori tradition, even though the musical structure and arrangement are very different from pansori, using a bigger instrumentation and the structure of a pop song. The context of the performance, therefore, plays a big role of how the audience perceives the song. In the music video, only the singer is shown, performing the song in a seated position, using only his hand gestures, upper body movement, and facial expression, just as a pansori singer. Added to that, in most live performances, the group presents a spoken part of the tale of Chunhyang before the song, which also relates closely to the pansori tradition with its alternation of recitatives (aniri) and songs (sori). However, without the context, the song can still be perceived as a soft R&B/Pop original, due to its modern structure, sound, and arrangement.

IV. Reception

The singer of sEODo band appeared on the 12th episode of the 7th season of the Korean TV show I can see your voice (aired 3rd April 2020). This was their first introduction to a bigger audience outside of the field of Korean traditional gugak music. Even though he got eliminated after the third round (Singer’s lip synch), the judges, after hearing him perform a cover of Jaurim member Yoona Kim’s song “Nocturne (야상국)” asked him for an encore of his own music. To present his own invented genre Joseon Pop, he then performed the chorus of SARANGGA. The judges reacted positively to the performance and comments such as “The more you listen to it, the more you fall in love with Seo Jaehyun and Joseon Pop’s charm (들을수록 빠져들게 되는 서재현과 조선팝의 매력)” or “We are all Joseon Pop-aholics (너도 나도 조선팝 홀릭)” were edited onto the aired performance video.

On YouTube, the music video is with about 117k views (as of September 2021) the most viewed music video of the group that is not a cover. On Spotify, it is their fourth most listened to song with about 19.7k (as of September 2021).

Even though the band is, as of today, still comparably unknown to a broader audience, they were discovered by Universal Music and signed a global distribution and promotion contract in 2021, which is rather rare for musicians whose music roots in traditional Korean gugak music. A representative of the label stated that the group is “ready both musically and physically to absorb everything to become successful” (Park 2021).

EMILY CRAWFORD

Appendix: Lyrics with transcription and English translation (by Emily Crawford)

Verse 1

이리오너라 업고도 놀자
I-ri o-neo-ra eob-go-do nol-ja
Come here. Let me give you a piggyback ride.

우리 오늘밤 업고도 놀자
U-ri o-neul bam eob-go-do nol-ja
Let’s do a piggyback ride tonight.

Pre-Chorus 1

달라 달라 지지 마라
니 아무리 바빠도
Dal-la dal-la ji-ji ma-ra
Ni a-mu-ri ba-bba-do
Don’t change,
no matter how busy you are.

저 하늘에 멈춰있어
Jeo ha-neul-e meom-chweo-iss-eo
Stay in the sky

내일은 오지 말고 매일이 이 밤 같게
Nae-il-eun o-ji mal-go
mae-il-i I bam gat-ge
Don’t come tomorrow,
every day is like this night.

Chorus

사랑 사랑 내 사랑아
사랑 사랑 내 사랑아
Sa-rang sa-rang nae sa-rang-a
Sa-rang sa-rang nae sa-rang-a
Love, love, my love,
love, love, my love.

이리 보아도 저리 보아도
내사랑
I-ri bo-a-do jeo-ri bo-a-do
nae sa-rang
If I see you in this way, if I
see you in that way (=every
aspect of you) it’s my love.

사랑 사랑 내 사랑아 사랑
사랑 내 사랑아
You 내사랑
Sa-rang sa-rang nae sa-rang-a
Sa-rang sa-rang nae sa-rang-a
You nae sa-rang
Love, love, my love,
love, love, my love.
You my love

Verse 2

이 밤이 지나 우리 다시
헤어져도
I bam-i ji-na u-ri da-shi
he-eo-jyeo-do
Even if we separate again
after this night,

너는 꽃이 되고 나는 나비
되어 훨훨 날아가리
Neo-neun ggoch-i dwae-go
na-neun na-bi dwae-eo
hweol-hweol nal-a ga-ri
You’ll be a flower and I’ll be
a butterfly and fly away.

네 곁에서 춤을 추리
Ne gyeot-e-seo chum-eul chu-ri
I’ll dance next to you

하늘아래 너보다 귀한 것은
없어
Ha-neul-a-rae neo-bo-da
gwi-han geos-eun eobs-eo
Under the sky, there’s
nothing more precious than you.

내 맘 안에
너 말곤 아무것도 없어
nae mam an-e
Neo mal-gon a-mu-geot-do
eobs-eo
In my heart,
There’s nothing but you.

어화둥둥 내사랑
어화둥둥 내사랑
Eo-hwa-dung-dung nae sa-rang
Eo-hwa-dung-dung nae sa-rang
My love, my love, my love.

Pre-Chorus 2

닭아 닭아 우지 마라
니 아무리 바빠도
Dalg-a dalg-a u-ji ma-ra
Ni a-mu-ri ba-bba-do
Rooster, don’t cry.
No matter how busy you are.

우지 말고 멈춰있어
U-ji mal-go meom-chweo-iss-eo
Don’t cry, stop there,

내일이 오지 않게
Nae-il-i o-ji anh-ge
tomorrow won’t come,

평생이 이 밤 같게
Pyeong-saeng-i I bam gat-ge
our lifetime is like this night.

Chorus (2x)

Credits

Vocal: sEODo (서도)
Keyboards: Sooin Choi (최수인)
Bass: Sooin Choi (최수인)
Drums: Sooin Choi (최수인)
Chorus: Susan
Electric guitar: Youngjoon Koo (구영준)
Music: sEODo (서도)
Lyrics: sEODo (서도)
Arranged: Sooin Choi (최수인), sEODo (서도)
Producer: sEODo (서도), Sooin Choi (최수인)
Label: Honey Music (허니뮤직)
Executive producer: Honey Music (허니뮤직) (Jiseon Yoo (유지선))
Recording engineer: Chanyoung Kim (김찬영) @702studio
Mixing & mastering engineer: Chanyoung Kim (김찬영) @702studio
A&R management: Honey Music (허니뮤직) (Jiseon Yoo (유지선))
Published: 26 December 2019
Length: 3:58

Recordings

서도. “사랑가“. On: 사랑가, 2019, 허니뮤직, 대한민국 (Streaming&Download / MusicVideo). [sEODo. “Sarangga”. On: Sarangga, 2019, Honey Music, South Korea (Streaming&Download / MusicVideo)].

References

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Lagdani, Safae: Interview with sEODo the creator of Joseon-Pop, where traditional and modern music meets. In: TalkTalkKorea, 23.11.2020. URL: https://www.korea.net/TalkTalkKorea/Vietnamese/community/community/CMN0000005484?mode= [12.09.2021].
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Park, Ji-won: [INTERVIEW] sEODo Band, pioneers of ‘Joseon pop’. In: The Korea Times, 02.07.2021. URL: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2021/07/732_311483.html [12.09.2021].
Pihl, Marshall R.: P’ansori: The Korean Oral Narrative. In: Korean Studies 5 (1981), 43–62.
Vandal-Sirois, Hugo and Georges L.Bastin: Adaptation and Appropriation: Is there a Limit?. In: Translation, Adaptation and Transformation. Ed. by Laurence Raw. London and New York: Continuum 2012, 21–41.
von Appen, Ralf and André Doehring: Analyse populärer Musik. Madonnas Hung up. In: Populäre Musik. Geschichte – Kontexte – Forschungsperspektiven. Ed. by Ralf von Appen, Nils Grosch and Martin Pfleiderer. Laaber: Laaber 2014, 219–240.

About the Author

Analysis written in a course of Dr. Christina Richter-Ibáñez at the University of Tübingen.
All contributions by Emily Crawford

Citation

Emily Crawford: „SARANGGA / 사랑가 (sEODo Band / 서도밴드)“. In: Songlexikon. Encyclopedia of Songs. Ed. by Michael Fischer, Fernand Hörner and Christofer Jost, https://www.songlexikon.de/songs/sarangga, 03/2025.