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아리랑 아리랑
Arirang Arirang (아리랑 아리랑) is a Korean original musical created for the 1988 Seoul Olympic Arts Festival, weaving diaspora memory, national identity, and the symbolic resonance of Arirang into a large-scale musical drama. It stands as a representative late-1980s historical-cultural musical.
SYNOPSIS
(Full Synopsis)
Set in contemporary Korea and linked to memories of displacement across generations, the musical unfolds as a Korean Soviet third-generation journalist returns to his ancestral homeland during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Following his late grandfather’s wish, Lee Han comes to Korea in search of family roots and encounters Yeon at an Arirang festival by the Han River. Through a long-sought reunion with his uncle Son, he learns of his parents’ tragic history—his mother buried at Arirang Pass in Jeongseon and his father remembered as an independence fighter.
As the festival reaches its climax and his uncle is honored in the singing contest, Lee Han deepens both his emotional connection to Korea and his bond with Yeon. When his stay ends, he departs carrying hope of reunion, leaving behind love, memory, and a collective choral vision of homeland.
Through Arirang as both folk song and cultural symbol, the musical connects exile, separation, love, and national continuity.
제작 노트
Created for the Seoul Olympic Arts Festival and produced by the 88 Seoul Arts Company, the work was written by Kim Jin-hee, directed by Kim Woo-ok, choreographed by Park Il-gyu, and composed and arranged by Kim Hee-jo. With approximately 150 performers and subsequent regional touring, it exemplifies the cultural-national scale of Olympic-era Korean musicals.
REFERENCES
Synopsis Sources
Arirang Archive Script Record
MK News Article
https://www.mk.co.kr/news/economy/839411
Program Book PDF
Articles & Reviews
National Archives Photo Record
https://www.ehistory.go.kr/view/photo?mediasrcgbn=PT&mediaid=11754&mediadtl=97177
Arirang Archive Script Record
MK News Article
https://www.mk.co.kr/news/economy/839411
Program Book PDF
Copyright Archive Record
https://gongu.copyright.or.kr/gongu/wrt/wrt/view.do?wrtSn=698547&menuNo=200018
National Archives Photo Record 2
https://www.ehistory.go.kr/view/photo?mediasrcgbn=PT&mediaid=11754&mediadtl=97178
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