IGEORI, JEOGEORI, GAKGEORI
When we were kids, we had many plays in Korea that used our feet and legs. One such a game was called ‘Igeori, Jeogeori, Gakgeori’. a leg-counting game in which children would sit on the room, crisscross their legs together, and one child, who was to be the leader of the game, would start counting the legs while she or he sang a song, and the child whose leg was counted at the end of the song would then be able to take out her leg. The game would continue until there was only one leg left.
Thinking about the game and the songs we used to sing while playing the game, I realize that how Korean folk games were enriched by these witty, whimsical, spirited and communal songs we as children sang together. In particular, this ‘Igeori, Jeogeori, Gakgeori’ song, to me, connects to the togetherness and playfulness of soccer, a game that makes use of feet and legs.
I remember watching film 1900 directed by Bernado Bertoluci, where town people slaughter a pig for a feast and children play soccer with the bladder of the pig. This is not just a scene you get to see in a small town in Italy. This also happened in Korea, where children also play soccer by kicking the pig bladder. Kicking and passing a ball must be one realization of the basic human desire to play.
This piece is to celebrate the playfulness, spiritedness, togetherness, and fun that soccer may bring to us.
The composer wishes to thank Noh, Hanna, an Korean elementary teach who has collected many Korean oral folksongs, for kindly giving the composer the permission to use her sound material, and Jung, Changkwan for introducing me to Ms. Noh.
Suk-Jun Kim studied theology at Yonsei university, South Korea and Recording Engineering at OIART (Ontario Institute of Audio and Recording Technology). He earned a master’s degree in Music Technology in Northwestern University. He is now a doctoral fellow in University of Florida studying with Paul Koonce. He has received prizes and mentions in Métamorpheses (the Biennial Acousmatic Composition Competition, Belgium), the ASCAP/SEAMUS Student Commission Competition, the International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sonic in Bourges, France, MUSICA VIVA, Lisbon, Portugal, and MUSICA NOVA, Prague, Czech Republic.
When we were kids, we had many plays in Korea that used our feet and legs. One such a game was called ‘Igeori, Jeogeori, Gakgeori’. a leg-counting game in which children would sit on the room, crisscross their legs together, and one child, who was to be the leader of the game, would start counting the legs while she or he sang a song, and the child whose leg was counted at the end of the song would then be able to take out her leg. The game would continue until there was only one leg left.
Thinking about the game and the songs we used to sing while playing the game, I realize that how Korean folk games were enriched by these witty, whimsical, spirited and communal songs we as children sang together. In particular, this ‘Igeori, Jeogeori, Gakgeori’ song, to me, connects to the togetherness and playfulness of soccer, a game that makes use of feet and legs.
I remember watching film 1900 directed by Bernado Bertoluci, where town people slaughter a pig for a feast and children play soccer with the bladder of the pig. This is not just a scene you get to see in a small town in Italy. This also happened in Korea, where children also play soccer by kicking the pig bladder. Kicking and passing a ball must be one realization of the basic human desire to play.
This piece is to celebrate the playfulness, spiritedness, togetherness, and fun that soccer may bring to us.
The composer wishes to thank Noh, Hanna, an Korean elementary teach who has collected many Korean oral folksongs, for kindly giving the composer the permission to use her sound material, and Jung, Changkwan for introducing me to Ms. Noh.
Suk-Jun Kim studied theology at Yonsei university, South Korea and Recording Engineering at OIART (Ontario Institute of Audio and Recording Technology). He earned a master’s degree in Music Technology in Northwestern University. He is now a doctoral fellow in University of Florida studying with Paul Koonce. He has received prizes and mentions in Métamorpheses (the Biennial Acousmatic Composition Competition, Belgium), the ASCAP/SEAMUS Student Commission Competition, the International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sonic in Bourges, France, MUSICA VIVA, Lisbon, Portugal, and MUSICA NOVA, Prague, Czech Republic.
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