Hello, 안녕하세요, my name is Jiwon. This is my very first post on the ‘Korea-Canada Blog’. Before I explain what ‘The Attic Playlist’ is all about, I would like to explain why I started this project.

K-Pop, short for Korean Pop or Korean Popular Music, is popular because for one thing it is easily accessible. Since the late 1990s, the upbeat singing and meticulous choreography of K-Pop have been the main factors for its popularity in various countries, from East Asia to as far as Europe and North America. In the last decade, idol groups have established themselves as the epitome of K-Pop, so not only their performance videos, but also many covers of their singing and choreography are available online for a wide audience. There are numerous online communities to share and celebrate K-Pop but rarely ‘the other’ types of Korean music that are less popular, making it difficult for non-Korean listeners to access them.

Here are some of the musicians I will be introducing in my issues of ‘The Attic Playlist’. Please see if you recognize any of them. I would love to see your answers in the comment below!

루시드 폴(Lucid Fall), 헤르쯔 아날로그(Herz Analog), 슈가볼(Sugarbowl), 페퍼톤스(Peppertones), 프롬(Fromm), 제이레빗(J Rabbit), 포티(40), 스웨덴 세탁소(Sweden Laundry), 원 모어 찬스(One More Chance), 스탠딩 에그(Standing Egg), 에피톤 프로젝트(Epitone Project), 윤종신(Yoon Jong-Shin), etc…

As much as I love K-Pop and idol music, I would like to introduce songs by musicians who are less popular to foreign listeners yet definitely worthy of recognition.

In each issue, I will introduce five songs by different musicians. For every song, I will provide the full lyrics in Korean. Then, I will pick out a few lines from the lyrics that capture the mood of the song and provide a translation of them, so non-Korean speakers can also enjoy the meaning of them.

As a student of English literature, I enjoy reading in depth, and the poetic expressions in these songs often amaze me. I hope this aspect of the issues will interest people who are learning Korean and encourage people who intend to learn Korean.

‘The Attic Playlist’ will ideally be published once every two weeks.

This week’s theme

This week’s playlist

1. 김동률(Kim Dong-Ryul) – 출발(Start)

The lyrics I chose are below. I have added the numbers beside the lines to indicate how their order changed in translation.

2. 어반 자카파(Urban Zakapa) – Like A Bird

3. 페퍼톤스(Peppertones) – 행운을 빌어요(Wish You Luck)

4. 랄라스윗(Lalasweet) – 완벽한 순간(The Perfect Moment)

5. 프롬(Fromm) – 불꽃놀이(Fireworks)

I hope you have enjoyed my first playlist, and feel free to comment below if you have any questions or concerns about my translation. I would also appreciate words of encouragement! All the Korean lyrics are from Naver Music, and all the videos are from Youtube. Special thanks to Jasleen who helped me with the translation.