Frank Kogan

More wtf from Korea, Sunny Hill's "Darling Of All Hearts," which I described on Rolling Country as "sorta Irish folk-country flight-attendant pop" — though Mat points out on K-pop 2013 that "featuring" star Hareem plays the Swedish nyckelharpa (no doubt worth five times as much as the Irish pennywhistle he also plays*) and that the vocals in the "lalala" part sound very Swedish trad and the dance, too, looks Swedish. The LOEN Entertainment description improves our confusion by saying,

The song has a Bohemian polka-rhythm along with Jungle and Rock feelings with it as well.... the musician 'Hareem' joined as a session to make the music even more fun. The greek bouzouki, nyckelharpa, Drehleier, and the Irish Whistle is personally owned by Hareem himself. These instruments are rarely found in Korea, and in this song they make the polka even much more fun to listen to.

But actually, what makes the song for me isn't the whistle or the drone or the oom-pah but the breezy bright flight-attendant smile of the melody and the desperate cheer of the delivery, the lyrics by Kim Eana** about being the shoulder everyone else cries on while being denied a romance of one's own to cry about, and the video by Hwang Soo Ah turning the breeze and the desperation up yet another notch.



I wish someone would analyze the melody for me. Seems like — I don't know — French musical comedy, or maybe it's Korean or something.

I can't think of any American act of the last fifty years that could pull off something like this, the happy smile that's got strength in it, but not big boisterous American strength, just a hard inner knowingness that doesn't negate the smile or slow the breeze. (Again, is there anyone out there who can describe this in terms of melodies and chords? It does seem countryish.)

*Dumb joke, false cognate, "nyckel" stands for "key," not "nickel."
**I don't actually know that they're her lyrics and not that of cowriter KZ, but Eana does tend to write lyrics.

Just posted this on Rolling Country:

I don't think we've talked much about Korean country music - there not being much Korean country music to talk about. Han Myeong Suk's "The Boy In The Yellow Shirt" (1961) uses a self-consciously old-timey string band arrangement, though with a more aggressive '60s rhythm. Melody and singing are - I don't know - old bluesy country mixed with (I really don't know) trad Korean? pop Hawaiian? G'Old Korea Vinyl, the site that streams it, tells us that the lyrics "were pretty badass at that time" - doesn't quote them, unfortunately. Site says that the song was a hit in Japan too and other parts of Asia, and according to Wikip there was a French cover version by Yvette Giraud, YouTube being no aid to further research. Is terrific enough in the original.

Searching "country music in korea" on Google nets me Bobbyville, a side project of Seoul indie performer Bobby Chung, who says he models it on the Bakersfield sound; and Kim Tae-hun and his band Sunday Losers, who veer towards rockabilly and blues and are from the Busan indie scene. There's also a trot song by Moon Hee Ok that's labeled by the uploader as Korean country music, but isn't unless you consider trot the Korean equivalent to American country, which it's not.

Sunday Losers "KimchiBiilly Night Grand Carnival"

Watch on YouTube

There's perhaps a Korean yodeling scene that by the evidence on YouTube goes for yodel per se rather than the country variety, but it includes someone identified by the uploader as "Korea Young&Beautiful Yodelgirl" who wants to learn to rope and ride, someone doing "La Desperadado," and a fellow billing himself as Peter The Korean Yodeler who made his way to the Le Mars Country Festival in Iowa a few years ago.

Yodel Per Se

Watch on YouTube