Tri-Cultural Performance — Now I’ve Seen It All
by James Na ~ January 8th, 2009. Filed under: Japan-Korea Relations, Korean Art, Korean Culture, Korean Language, U.S.-Korea Relations.Yesterday I linked to nostalgic Korean tunes from the 70’s. The third one I linked was Cho Yong-Pil’s “Come Back to Pusan Port.” While I was looking for some more video material on Korea, I found the following, which is certainly a different performance of that song:
Yes, that is an African-American expatriate (”Jero”) in Japan, dressed in hip-hop attire, singing “Come Back to Pusan Port,” a Korean pop-tune, in Japanese Enka-style!
First, major Korean characters speaking mostly Korean on primetime American TV (”Lost”) and now this! Now I have seen it all. The end of the world might be near — it’s “dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria” time!
January 8th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
“돌아와요 부산항에”
I love this song. I was born and raised in Busan prior to immigration to US when I was 9 years old. Whenever I listen to the lyric of this song, it brings back memory of going to the HaeunDae Beach and Yong Do Island. This is my “number 18″ whenever I go to Korean NoRaeBang.
January 9th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Here are the Korean and Japanese lyrics:
돌아와요 부산항에/조용필
꽃피는 동백섬에 봄이 왔건만
형제 떠난 부산항에 갈매기만 슬피 우네
오륙도 돌아가는 연락선마다
목메어 불러봐도 대답 없는 내 형제여
돌아와요 부산항에 그리운 내 형제여.
가고파 목이 메어 부르던 이 거리는
그리워서 헤매이던 긴긴 날의 꿈이었지
언제나 말이 없는 저 물결들도
부딫쳐 슬퍼하며 가는 길을 막았었지
돌아왔다 부산항에 그리운 내 형제여.
돌아와요 부산항에/조용필
つばきさく春なのにあなたは歸らない
츠바키사쿠 하루나노니 아나타와 카에라나이
たたずむ釜山港に淚の雨が降る
타타즈무 부산항니 나미다노 아메가 후루
熱いその胸に顔うずめて
아츠이 소노무네니 카오우즈메테
もういちど幸せかみ締めたいのよ
모-이치도 시아와세 카미시메타이노요
ドラワヨ プサンハンへ逢いたい あなた
도라와요 부산항에 아이타이 아나타
きっと傳えてよ かもめさん
킷토 츠타에테요 카모메상
今も信じて耐えてる私を
이마모 신지테 타에테루 와타시오
ドラワヨ プサンハンへ逢いたい あなた!
도라와요 부산항에 아이타이 아나타
Now you can sing along when you play this page and the other one with Cho Yong-Pil.
I have to say, by the way, Jero’s performance is very good.
January 10th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Jero’s grandmother (I think) is Japanese, so it’s not as if he came to it cold.
You’re astonished, but I have to say that people in Japan today take this sort of thing in stride.
January 10th, 2009 at 4:40 am
These kind of surprises happen to me sometimes while in Korean classes in Seoul. Maybe not as interesting/surprising as the video, but several months ago I went out with some classmates and the Mongolian guy in our class spent a good while showing off his Chinese. Then I realized I was the only non-Chinese speaker there out of the five of us (the others were from Singapore and HK, but also Japan) — not to mention the only person who didn’t speak at least 3 languages if you count Korean. (i’d put myself at about 1.25 languages — i’m about a quarter into the Korean acquisition process, if you will)
I still crack up when I remember my first class at Sogang’s Korean program. Earlier in the term it had come out that one of our teachers was a big fan of Snoopy. So one day one of the Japanese girls had just returned from a weekend trip home and presented our teacher with a Snoopy doll or some such. I must have had an intrigued look on my face, because another Japanese classmate turned to me and asked me if I knew who Snoopy was! I guess Snoopy is so ingrained in Japanese culture that it doesn’t even register as American anymore…?
January 11th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Ampontan,
I am not so much astonished as amused and a bit delighted (mainly because it IS a good rendition of that song).
One of Jero’s grandmothers was a Japanese woman who married a black American GI and moved to the United States with him. It is she who supposedly instilled the love of Enka in Jero.
He says that she was from Yokohama, a port, so that is why “Come Back to Pusan Port” is more meaningful for him.
January 12th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Now that Jero’s fairly well established in Japan, that story about identifying with port cities is as good an excuse as any to scout out the possibilities of the Korean market.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
BTW, Jero is from Pittsburgh and Steelers are in the playoff this weekend. Even though I live in MD, I am rooting for Hines Ward and the rest of Steelers.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Been to the O’s, MAJ K?
January 13th, 2009 at 4:09 am
People like the teams they like, and they like the players they like, and that’s cool. It’s also understandable that the people who would read this site root for Hines Ward.
But you do realize that Ward is one of the players most disliked by others in the NFL because he’s considered a cheap shot artist, don’t you?
$15,000 in fines in two straight games, and then the third game he breaks another player’s jaw.