Plotting the course: artistry, celebrity and kugak in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Within the context of the rising popularity of the Korean Wave, artists of Korean traditional music (kugak) often find themselves sidelined and struggling to gain the attention of the general population. In this article, I explore the strategies of three kugak artists who have risen to become not just stars in their field, but with a broader audience as well. Each artist highlights a different path to transcending subcultural kugak stardom: Pak Aeri’s appearance on reality TV; Kim Chunsu as a ‘kugak idol;’ and Yi Hŭimun’s eye-catching performance attire. In tracing the strategies each uses to balance popular fame and traditional artistry, I argue that although a ‘celebrity moment’ is crucial in order to attain popular stardom, sustained performance of ‘celebrity reluctance’ in engaging with popular culture remains a necessary strategy for retaining legitimacy as a traditional artist.

KEYWORDS:

• Korean wave
• kugak (traditional Korean music)
• ‘celebrity moment’
• subcultural celebrity

Acknowledgments

I wish to express my particular gratitude to the editors, as well as the anonymous reviewers, whose feedback was of great assistance in helping me polish this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. It should be noted that I do not address North Korea in this article and will use ‘Korea’ to refer to South Korea exclusively.

2. An exception to this is p’ansori-based alternative pop band Leenalchi, whose viral internet fame has now moved them squarely into mainstream celebrity. For space reasons, I do not develop their particular brand of celebrity here.

3. As the artists discussed here use varying spellings of their names in English-language materials, I have chosen to use only the McCune-Reischauer style of Korean romanisation to write their names in this article, following standard Korean practice of writing the surname first. For the sake of consistency, and in line with standard practice in Korean Studies scholarship, I also employ this style of romanisation throughout this article. Exceptions are made for names which follow a standard spelling in English and for authors of articles published in English.

4. Although this term was replaced in official legislation by the more flexible term ‘exemplary form’ (chŏnhyŏng) in 2016, ostensibly to allow for more innovation within kugak, the principle of the unchanging standard for traditional music has remained resilient within general discourse (see for example Yates-Lu 2019a).

5. The 1997 Asian financial crisis saw huge changes in labour markets throughout Asia – in Korea, this brought about a shift ‘from lifetime employment to lifetime job searching’ (Kang 2015, p. 61).

6. See for example Finchum-Sung (2009, 2012), Kwon (2014) and So (2015) for case studies on kugak promotion strategies.

7. Negra’s (2005) concept of ‘niche stardom,’ Ferris (2010) description of local celebrity and Driessens (2014) concept of ‘(sub)national celebrity’ are also helpful in understanding the phenomenon.

8. See Yang and Chŏn (2016) for an analysis of factors contributing to Jambinai’s success.

9. In 2018, the award category was broader, including both Asia and the Pacific.

10. P’ansori version of the ‘Song of Love/Sarangga’ from p’ansori story Ch’unhyangga performed by Pak Aeri. Available from: https://youtu.be/UI_lz_o62dM. Accessed 31 May 2020.

11. Ch’anggŭk version of the ‘Song of Love/Sarangga’ performed by Pak Aeri and Wang Kich’ŏl, available from: https://youtu.be/1pC7ren4PZA?t=1440. Accessed 31 May 2020.

12. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f31oKbFVEjk. Accessed 31 May 2020.

13. One of Pak and Nam’s most popular performances from this show is available from: https://youtu.be/uKkiBTc0qF8. Accessed 31 May 2020.

14. In this context, Pak can be categorised as a ‘proto-celebrity’ according to Deller’s fame cycle model (2016, p. 377), having both gained prominence in the kugak niche, as well as through association with her husband.

15. All K-pop idols have a characteristic greeting, often both for their band and separately to highlight their most distinctive features (height, vocal tone, position in the team, etc.). An example of this individual greeting is available from: https://youtu.be/7bG03mkHa5o?t=115 (starting 1:55). Accessed 26 January 2021.

16. Kim is by no means the only performer thus named: Nam (2019), for example, further identifies Yu T’aep’yŏngyang, Yi Yuna and Ko Yŏngyŏl.

17. Kim himself plays into this, jokingly asking in one interview to be called ‘countryside Chunsu’, by way of contrast to Xia (Kim 2015).

18. All men in Korea are required to complete two years of military service, although sports stars and artists who win a certain amount of competitions are exempt from this.

19. Kim Chunsu’s appearance on the show is available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMbyfaJYpDM. Accessed 31 May 2020.

20. A clip is available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyn1rttBLrw. Accessed 1 June 2020.

21. This commonly used sequence features a shot of the car arriving, a (sometimes slowed down) shot of the door opening, often dwelling on the foot of the person getting out of the car, before finally revealing their face, all accompanied by dynamic background music. See for comparison a shot from popular variety TV show Running Man (episode 162, aired 8 September 2013, https://youtu.be/DE6M4rDKdGE?t=256, accessed 26 January 2021) and the imitation of this introduction on Master Singer Road (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1PZiRVaFys, accessed 23 March 2021).

22. Galbraith, P. and Karlin, J., 2012. Introduction: the mirror of idols and celebrity. In: P. Galbraith and J. Karlin, eds. Idols and celebrity in Japanese media culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1–32.

23. A clip of Yi performing as his mother is available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MCxM3lLhh0. Accessed 1 June 2020.

24. Available from: https://youtu.be/QLRxO9AmNNo. Accessed 1 June 2020.

25. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh8U1NaryV8. Accessed 1 June 2020.

26. P’ansori-based band Leenalchi are one of few, if not the only kugak acts to have landed not just one, but several high-profile advertisement deals.

27. This is a complex and involved topic in its own right, which I am unable to devote more attention here due to space considerations.

28. A similar case is highlighted in Franck and Nüesch’s (2007, p. 217) discussion of celebrities ‘manufactured’ through the TV show Pop Idol.

29. See Kim and Yi (2015) on the particular impact of entertainment companies, along with other factors such as previous rankings and TV show appearances, on the chart rankings of Korean popular music.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Yates-Lu

Anna Yates-Lu completed her PhD on the traditional Korean sung storytelling art form p’ansori, titled ‘P’ansori Today: Reconciling Tradition and Creativity in Modern Society’ at SOAS, University of London. Her most recent research project is studying the use of social networking services as a promotional tool by traditional musicians in Korea and China. She is also active as a p’ansori teacher and performer both in Europe and in Korea, having been trained by National Intangible Cultural Property No. 5 (P’ansori Hŭngboga) disciple Min Hye Sung. She has performed amongst others in Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, Cadogan Hall in London, and the Elysée Palace in Paris.