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▲This photo, provided by Park Sung-seo, a pop music critic, shows Pearl Sister's 'Soul Christmas' album. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE ) (Yonhap)
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| ▲This photo, provided by Park Sung-seo, a pop music critic, shows album "Like that Night" released in 1966. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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| ▲This photo, provided by Park Sung-seo, a pop music critic shows shim hyung-rae's comic carol released in 1984. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, December 25 (Yonhap) -- Exciting carols are flowing from every street this year, welcoming the end of the year and the Christmas season,
While the K-pop Hallyu is gaining popularity around the world, the carol history of the K-pop industry, which spent the year-end and New Year holidays with us, is also drawing attention.
Creative carols began to appear in Korea back in the late 1950s and that the history of K-carols has exceeded half a century according to Park Sung-seo, a pop music critic who studies Korean music history on December 25.
Yoon Il-ro's "The Night which the bell rings"(literal translation) (1958), Park Hyung-joon and Choi Hee-joon's "Lonely Christmas" (early 1960s), and Kim Yong-man's "Christmas Polka" (early 1960s) were released.
Christmas Eve was a special day for the younger generation in the 1960s and 1970s.
Commentator Park said, "At that time, young people stayed up all night to enjoy Christmas, which came with the winter vacation," adding, "In particular, Christmas Eve was a day when the curfew was lifted, making them feel freer." For this reason, young people prepared an "All Night" no matter what excuse they made, he explained.
Popular youth stars such as the group Key Boys, Shin Joong-hyun and Adpo's guest vocals Seo Jung-gil, Johnny Lee, Kim Sun, and actor and singer Nam Seok-hoon released an year-end party record called "Like That Night" in 1966.
In this album, Keyboys' lead vocalist Cha Joong-rak's "Love Following Fallen Leaves" was a big hit, which also served as an opportunity for him to become independent as a solo singer in the future.
Popular singers of the time released carols one after another and targeted the younger generation as the youth culture represented by acoustic guitar blossomed in the 1970s,
Pearl Sisters, which received the year-end Most Popular Singer Award, enjoyed the 1970s with a carol album called "Soul Christmas."
"Soul Christmas" has established itself as a steady seller since its first release in 1969 until 1979. The album featured "JINGLE BELLS", "Santacluause Is Coming", and "White Christmas". In addition to the Pearl Sisters, the duo Twin Folio, organized by Cho Young-nam, Choi Young-hee, and Song Chang-sik and Yoon Hyung-joo, who were considered "symbols of youth culture," participated in the album.
Another characteristic of carols in the 1970s was the emergence of a series of carols played by the group sound as the "Go Go Dance" boom broke out.
"Young people in the 1970s, symbolized by Go Go dance and flare pants, had radio gramophone as a necessity," critic Park said. "From Christmas to the end of the year, they gathered at their friends' homes to play the guitar or play records all night."
"In line with this trend, popular groups of the time released carols and performances arranged in Gogo or disco rhythms," he said. "Key Boy's 'Jingle Bell Rock' is one of the representative carols of the 1970s that enjoyed sensational popularity among young people with cheerful rhythms and lyrics."
Popular comedians and broadcasters joined to release carols In the 1980s.
Shim Hyung-rae, who made his name as the best comedian of the time, enjoyed great popularity by releasing "Jingle Bell" (1984), which is well known for its lyrics "Should I ride a sled through the white snow or not?"
In addition, Kim Han-guk and Kim Mi-hwa's comic duo, comedian Kim Hyung-gon, Kim Min-hee, who made a leap forward as a popular actor with the drama "Daldongne," and Bo-mi's sister Wang Young-eun of the children's program "Ppoppoppo" also released carols.
Critic Park pointed out, "It was a time when releasing a carol album was the standard of popularity at the time."
Carols are still gaining popularity this winter, hitting the top of the music charts among many hits.
Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," Sia's "Snowman," Ariana Grande's "Santa Tell Me," EXO's "First Snow" and IU's "Merry Christmas" were on Melon's "Top 100" chart as of December 23.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Dowon Kim.)
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