Before I left for my research trip to the southern port city of Mokpo this weekend, a Korean frind of mine reminded me to go prepared with the requisite ethnographer's accoutrement - the #18(俗稱, we are called 18(十八番)).
In addition to field equipment, recording devices, cameras, and notebooks, a fieldworker studying the erforming arts in Korea should always have a memorized song (preferably trot or p'anson in their ethnographic toolkit. At any given moment, the ethnographer can be summoned to sing their #18 (one's favorite song") standing alone, in a very public space - without the benefit of lyrics to follow on a karaoke TV screen. once the singing has begun, the duipuri(뒤풀이) has already gotten into full swing and participation becomes mandatory. The singer is evaluated by how much emotion he/she puts into the performance, and in the case of foreign researchers - the singing is often viewed as a test of how well one can hang with the crowd.
Over the years, I've acquired a small number of songs in my repertoire. This time, I was hoping to add a new song - the famous "Tears of Mokpo" {목포(木浦 : 地域名)의 눈물(眼水)} to my bag of tricks, but alas, time did not permit. (It turned out that there was no singing session anyway, somewhat to my relief.)
While frantically packing for the trip, a quick internet search led me to YouTube and this lovely clip of Lee Nan Young herself, performing her #18.
On view Mokpo- The city of old local famous port.
