Korean ballad, also known as K-ballad (often simply referred to by South Koreans as ballad; ), is a style of music in South Korea and a genre in which
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
and
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
music is transformed to suit Korean sentiment. It became popular in the 1980s, and has influenced and evolved into many different music styles.
Background
Stemming from the international
sentimental ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...
, the Korean popular ballad has become a nationally recognized and supremely popular music style in Korea.
Power ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...
s from the West, including songs from
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...
and
Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...
, nurtured the growth and popularity of ballads as a genre in Korea.
Gaining popularity alongside
trot
The trot is a ten-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about . A very slow trot is someti ...
in the 1960s, the ballad is distinguished as "a slow love song built on a Western seven-note scale".
However, it was not until the 1980s that the ballad song style became popularized in mainstream Korean culture. From its popularity throughout Korean media, the Korean ballad has influenced and evolved into many different music styles.
![Lee Sun-Hee](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Lee_Sun-Hee.jpg)
According to an analysis of ballad songs in ''Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music'', ballads tend to have the following music style:
"intro-A (verse)-A-B-chorus-interlude-A (B)-chorus-bridge-chorus-outro.....here
Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to:
Software
* Here Technologies, a mapping company
* Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here
Television
* Here TV (formerly "here!"), a TV ...
..The verse, or section A, was usually composed of eight bars, and its repetition was labeled as A. Section A usually began quietly and transitioned into section B, or the chorus. The bridge before the last chorus helped to escalate the emotions by modulating to a different key or through a grander arrangement. Lastly, in the outro, the accompaniment would come to a full stop or fade out."
While still maintaining themes relating to love and loss, songs at the intersections of ballad and other genres can include nontypical instruments or vary in musical style and level of expression.
Popular ballad singers in Korean history include
Lee Moon-se
Lee Moon-sae (; ; born January 17, 1959) is a South Korean ballad singer who is often considered a Korean pop icon. Since his debut in 1978, he has released 16 full-length albums, including 1987's ''When Love Passes By'', which sold 2.85 million ...
,
Hye Eun-yi, and
Lee Sun-hee.
Intersections with other music styles
Ballad and trot
As the "background music of the Park era" (in reference to the Park Chung-hee dictatorship from 1963 to 1979),
trot music was also an extremely popular music style in Korea.
Having gained popularity during the Japanese colonial period of Korea, its foreign influences included Western instruments and the Japanese pentatonic minor scale.
Popular trot singers notably include
Cho Yong-pil
Cho Yong-pil (; born March 21, 1950) is a South Korean singer who is considered one of the most influential figures in Korean popular music. He debuted as a member of the rock band Atkins in 1968 and made his solo debut with the hit single "Co ...
, and used a faster paced and fun music style that evolved many times throughout modern Korean history to gain popularity amongst consumers.
Due to the skills necessary to sing trot songs, popular singers moved towards ballads for their "easy-listening" style. Unlike trot songs, which derive singing techniques like vibration and pitch changes from older styles like ''pansori'', ballad songs are slow yet simplistic in singing style.
Ballad and pop
Debuting in 1976, Hey Eun-yi's
pop ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cur ...
"You Wouldn't Know"
(당신은 모르실거야), with its slow, melancholic rhythm, became extremely well-received.
Ballad and rock
With a stronger emphasis on the rhythm, along with the inclusion of instruments more closely related to the rock genre, such as the drums and guitar,
rock ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cu ...
s can ramp up to a faster pace and higher power than classic sentimental ballads.
Yim Jae-beom
Yim Jae-beom (; also spelled Yim Jae-bum; born October 14, 1962) is a South Korean rock ballad singer who is widely regarded as one of South Korea's best vocalists. He debuted in 1986 as the vocalist for the heavy metal band Sinawe. After recordi ...
's song "For You" (
임재범 너를 위해; 2000), begins softly with a keyboard accompanying his singing. However, the song quickly builds with each refrain getting louder than before along with the inclusion of drum accompaniment. As the song continues, the emotion of the song is portrayed by an electric guitar solo. Other popular rock ballad groups include
Boohwal
Boohwal ( ko, "부활", lit=Born Again, is a South Korean rock band, formed in 1985 by the lead guitarist/songwriter Kim Tae-won.
History
Formation and the 1980s
Kim Tae-won changed the name of the group from "The End" to "부활" ("Boohwal ...
.
The initial wave of popularity in response to rock music in Korea ended before the rise of ballads in the 1980s. However, revivals of the genre since that have allowed to new experimentation within the genre.
Other intersections
Folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
in Korea arose from anti-government movements in the 1970s which consisted largely of college students.
Because of its simplistic nature (use of few instruments), it was easy to perform, alluding to its popular name ''t'ong
g'ita'' ("barrel guitar") named after the barrel which people would sit on while playing instruments.
Ballad & folk
Popular balladeer
Lee Sun-hee has numerous songs that represent a "Korean interpretation of American folk music" through the emphasis of acoustic guitar, such as her song "If You Love Me" (
그대가 나를 사랑하신다면; 1991).
This song elaborates on how someone should feel if they were truly in love and how that should manifest into their actions toward their loved one (the singer). Throughout the song, a piano melody accompanies Lee Sun-hee until breaks into slower, more melancholic refrains where the soft twang of an acoustic guitar takes the place of the piano.
References
{{K-pop
Korean styles of music
Rhythm and blues
Korean ballad