• december 13, 2024, mijin kim (sorikkun), busan conductors’ choir, kangkyu kim (cond), busan, south korea
program note
the north korean folk song saseum taryeong (deer song), discovered in 1980 in taecheon county, north pyongan province, expresses the perspective of a deer, lamenting how humans capture deer to make ritual implements, ropes, and other goods. while the melody of the original folk song has largely disappeared, the lyrics still resonate across time. the image of ourselves contained in this song, sung by a woman in her seventies in north korea forty years ago, remains unchanged.