In A Mellow Tone
Wednesday September 27th, 2023 with Heavy Ben
추석을 기념하는 한국 재즈 음악 Korean jazz music to celebrate Chuseok

Chuseok is the Korean harvest festival or "autumn evening". Chuseok is the biggest traditional holiday in South Korea, where people visit their hometowns to pay respect to the spirits of their ancestors and share a feast of Korean traditional food. This includes ancestor memorial services at home, and visiting graves to tidy the grounds. Chuseok is a three day festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar on the full moon. Tonight is the eve of the autumn evening festival that runs through Saturday. I am taking this opportunity to play exclusively Korean music for three programs on CKCU this week. Korean Jazz on In A Mellow Tone https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/94/62137.html Modern Korean music on Chance Meeting https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/581/62155.html 1960s, 70s and 80s Rock, Funk and Pop from Korea on Heavy Friends https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/410/62207.html The first song of the program is a fascinating interpretation of "Arirang", a 600 year-old Korean folk tune. Arirang loosely translates to "my beloved one", and there are 3,600 variations. Interestingly, Arirang was an early protest song. During the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 it was a criminal offense for anyone to sing patriotic songs, including Korea's national anthem, so Arirang became an unofficial resistance anthem against Imperial Japanese rule. I am sure that Koreans listening will recognize the Arirang melody right away, but Lee Pan Geun & The Korean Jazz Quintet soon take this traditional melody into funky jazzy territory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuseok A brief history of jazz music in Korea https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/09/638_251750.html International photos of the 2023 harvest (including one from Ottawa) https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/dr/653_359951.html Beatball records in Seoul, South Korea https://beatballmusic.bandcamp.com/ (to embiggen the show icon, right-click and choose "Open image in new tab")