The albums on the folk songs and the songs of Seodo region(서도소리) were released. These songs were officially acquired by MBC through North Korean regime. This recording is made up of total 10 CDs which are divided into four different categories. The first three CDs contain songs from Pyong’an Province, the city of Pyongyang and the city of Nampo. The second three CDs include pieces from Hwang’hae Region while the third two CDs are about songs from the provinces of Hamkyong, Jagang, Ryanggang, Kang’won, and Kyeonggi. The last four CDs are consist of the music of North Korean professional singers.
The Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) released ten compact discs of North Korean folk songs, compiled from recordings made in North Korea that the corporation procured after long effort. It was little short of miraculous to obtain hundreds of North Korean folk songs, considering how little material had been previously available to us. We now believe that this will make possible a more thorough study of folk songs of both Koreas, which has yet to begin.
352 songs on these discs are among those collected by the North Korean government that hired music scholars to record the songs from local residents during the years of 1972-1983. Of these, the first 305 are indigenous local songs while the remaining 47 are popular songs sung by professional singers. This is a painstakingly compiled selection based on recording quality, scholarly interest, and aesthetic value. It is a fraction of a significantly larger collection of some 6,000 songs that the North Korean government initially recorded from local residents. In addition to folk songs, this mass of music contains pansori, dan’ga, shamanic songs, and popular songs, which have been excluded from this selection.
The recording qualities of these songs were often poor or inaudible. Not only were they recorded using one sound channel, but also they were disturbed by various electric and mechanical noises, which make it difficult to understand some of the lyrics. It is assumed that the sound quality deteriorated during the process of making multiple copies. The newest computer technology, however, has remarkably improved the sound quality up to that of an average short play record.
These folk songs also tend to be short, particularly those that have constantly repeated long verses. This may be because the scholars who recorded the songs curtailed them with a rationale to understanding the structures of folk songs, or simply because they did not have enough time or recording tape.
Among the folk songs included on these discs are a large number of work songs that are essential to describing distinct regional characteristics and an assortment of entertainment songs and funeral songs. This wide variety will be sufficient to commence a systematic study of North Korean folk songs. The two Koreas share some of the same songs, but their differences in interpretation and style would make for a fascinating comparison between the two.