Historia Del K-pop

The K-pop

K-Pop

Is a musical genre originating in South Korea that is characterized by a wide variety of audiovisual elements. Although it comprises all genres of "popular music" within South Korea, the term is more often used in a narrower sense to describe a modern form of South Korean pop music covering: dance-pop, pop ballad, electronic, rock, metal, hip-hop music and R&B. In 1992, modern K-pop was ushered in with the formation of Seo Taiji & Boys, whose successful experimentation with different music styles had sparked a paradigm shift in the music industry of South Korea. As a result, the integration of foreign musical elements has now become a common practice in the K-pop industry. By tapping into social networking services and the video sharing platform YouTube, the K-pop industry's ability to secure a sizable overseas audience has facilitated a noticeable rise in the global proliferation of the genre. Since the mid-2000s, the K-pop music market has experienced double digit growth rates. In the first half of 2012, it grossed nearly US$3.4 billion, and was recognized by Time magazine as "South Korea's Greatest Export". First gaining popularity in East Asia in the late 1990s, K-pop entered the Japanese music market towards the turn of the 21st century. In the late 2000s, it grew from a musical genre into a subculture among teenagers and young adults of East and Southeast Asia. Currently, the spread of K-pop to other regions of the world, via the Korean Wave, is seen in parts of Latin America, Northeast India, North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and immigrant enclaves of the Western world.

History

The beginnings of Korean popular music

The history of Korean popular music can be traced back to 1885 when an American missionary, Henry Appenzeller started teaching American and British folk songs at a school. These songs were called changga in Korean, and they were typically based on a popular Western melody sung with Korean lyrics. The well-known song "Oh My Darling, Clementine" was for example known as "Simcheongga". During the Japanese rule (1910–1945) popularity of changga songs rose as Koreans tried to express their feelings against Japanese oppression through music. One of the most popular songs was "Huimangga" (희망가, The Song of Hope). The Japanese confiscated the existing changga collections and published lyrics books of their own. [third-party source needed] The first known Korean pop album was "Yi Pungjin Sewol" (This Tumultuous Time) by Park Chae-seon and Lee Ryu-saek from 1925 and contained popular songs translated from Japanese. The first pop song written by a Korean composer is thought to be "Nakhwayusu" (낙화유수, Fallen Blossoms on Running Water) sung by Lee Jeong-suk in 1929. In the mid-1920s, Japanese composer Masao Koga mixed traditional Korean music with Gospel music that American Evangelists introduced in the 1870s. This type of music became known as Enka in Japan, and later in Korea as Trot (Korean: "트로트"). These songs became extremely popular. Later, in the 21st century K-pop singers rediscovered the genre of trot, for example singers like Daesung from Big Bang and several members of Super Junior produced trot singles.

1940s–1960s: Arrival of Western culture

After the Korean Peninsula was partitioned into North and South following its liberation in 1945 from Japanese occupation, Western culture was introduced into South Korea on a small scale with a few Western style bars and clubs playing Western music. After the Korean War, which started on June 25, 1950 and lasted for 3 years, U.S. troops remained in South Korea for protection. With the continued presence of the U.S. military, American and world culture began to infiltrate South Korea. During this time, Western music became more accepted to a wider crowd of young adults.

Marilyn Monroe entertaining American soldiers in Korea in 1954

The United Service Organizations made it possible for several prominent figures of American entertainment, like Marilyn Monroe or Louis Armstrong to visit the soldiers stationed in Korea. These visits prompted attention from the Korean public. In 1957 the American Forces Korea Network radio started its broadcast, spreading the popularity of Western music. American music started influencing Korean music, as pentatony was gradually replaced by heptachords and popular songs started to be modeled after American ones. Improvements in the recording systems encouraged the production of LP records in the 1960s, which led to the pursuit of diverse voice tones. Many singers sang for the American troops in Korea at the time, usually in dedicated clubs, the number of which rose to 264. They performed various genres like country music, blues, jazz and rock & roll. Popular Korean singers earned a total of 1.2 million dollars a year which almost equaled the country's export income at the time. In the 1960s, the South Korean economy started blooming and popular music followed the trend. The appearance of the first commercial radio stations played a significant part in spreading popular music, Korean cinema began to develop. Korean musicians and singers formerly only performing at American clubs started opening up to wider audiences. When The Beatles fever reached the shores of Korea, the first local rock bands appeared, the very first is said to be Add4,[49] founded in 1962. The first talent contest for rock bands in Seoul was organized in 1968. Besides rock and pop, trot songs remained popular. Some of the Korean singers managed to gain international popularity. The Kim Sisters, Yoon Bok-hee and Patti Kim were the first singers to debut in such countries as Vietnam and United States. The Kim Sisters became the first Korean group to release an album in the United States, they performed various times in Las Vegas and appeared several times on Ed Sullivan's TV show. Han Myeong Suk's 1961 song titled "The Boy in The Yellow Shirt" was covered by French singer Yvette Giraud and was also popular in Japan.

1970s: Korean hippie folk pop

At the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s Korean pop music underwent another transformation.

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