Korean trot is an older style of music apart of the folk genre that has been around for more than 100 years. Originally named after the American fox trot dance of the 1930s, this genre is no doubt uniquely Korean. It has been around since the Korean War in the early 1950s, and its many transformations are closely tied to major moments in Korean history. Shortly after the Korean War, for example, “[t]here were a lot of songs about separation –families separated because of the war, people calling out for their loved ones,” said John Lee, a freelance commentator on Korean politics and society. Trot music largely shifted from the melancholy, anguished folk to lovelorn or even jolly music because of the South Korean government’s oppressive postwar dictatorship, which blacklisted any music considered counterproductive to its propaganda. Trot music was also highly stigmatized at the time because of its historical influences from Japan, which brutally colonized the Korean Peninsula until the 1940s. It’s largely regarded as having been derived from the Japanese pop genre “enka”, however, it also reflects influences of Korean folk music from the southwestern region. The usually slow, melodic trot music is known for its vocal technique of bending the voice or kkeok-kki, 꺾기 [qɑ-qi], where the singer hits the lower notes with vibrato and voices the highs in a cracking pitch. Its lyrics have a raw appeal, no fancy similes just pure Korean words.
Nowadays, trot music is starting to attract the younger demographic, however Lee Taek-Gwang, a professor at Kyunghee University, said that much of the trot music young people enjoy today should be called “semi-trot”. More upbeat, semi-trot sounds a lot more like K-pop than historical folk trot—which makes sense, since some consider trot to be one of K-pop’s roots.
Growing up, I’ve always my mom humming some trot tune or singing along to a trot song. These days, there are music competition programs that are solely for trot music like “Mister Trot”, which have viewers vote in for their favorite acts in an “American Idol”-style format. These audition programs attribute much to its rise in popularity again in the nation. The singers who have won the broadcasted competition are now top stars, such as Song Ga-in and Lim Young-woong. I’ve watched the program before with my mother and noticed its wide range of fusion with other music genres. There were some songs that seem to represent the “classic” trot style, and others where it’s more upbeat, with the singers wearing some flashy, sequined outfit. I can see why the “semi-trot” genre is gaining popularity; the chorus is really catchy. I, someone who is not a “trot” listener, found myself subconsciously singing the chorus for the next two weeks after listening to it that one time. The flashy and high-energy performance definitely also makes for it to be an enjoyable viewing experience. It definitely is a very distinct singing style and is something, I believe, to be an acquired preference. I don’t think that I’ll ever start listening to it by choice, but it was interesting to understand where it came from and its style evolution.
References:
https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-05-25/move-over-k-pop-korean-youth-turn-old-time-trot-music
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2020/09/197_293555.html
Artifacts:
https://youtu.be/QMjkrcmo21Y (this is the song I couldn’t get out of my head)
Replies
Hi Erica! Thank you for sharing this interesting cultural post! I have listened to Trot several times because of the variety show, but I have never got a chance to learn about the history of it. I also did not know there were some differences between nowadays trot and trot in the past. According to your post, I think the trot I have heard is more like "semi-trot". I will find the real trot and try to listen to it!
I also watched a couple of episodes of "Mister Trot" it isn't my personal style of music but there is a couple of really good songs. Whenever I would watch variety shows they would always make sure to include a Trot BPM, I didn't know who Hong Jin-Young was until I saw her in "Sister's Slam Dunk", she is the only Trot artist I like listening to. Her song 사랑의 배터리 is one of my favorites!
Erica, thanks for sharing the history of trot music! Up until this year, I didn’t know much about it except that it existed and that it is mostly popular in older generations. Then, my mom, sister, and I watched “Mister Trot” together and we were instantly addicted to the show. The songs were so catchy and we would dance to “찐찐찐찐 찐이야 ~ ~ ~” all the time.