CD02-09: Okgu, Song for Weeding Rice Paddy - Maengyeong-santaryeong
(Okgu, Jeonbuk Province/ Go, Pan-deok(92yrs)/ 1991)
◆ In this village, the rice paddy is weeded four times. The first three weeding are done with the hoe, and the final weeding, called 'Manduri' was done by hand. Songs for weeding the rice paddy were not differentiated for each weeding phase but instead, this song was sung when the weeding was done slowly with the hoe, and when weeding quickly with the hoe, the weeding songs in the order of 'Oho-taryeong' and 'Jajin Santaryeong' were sung, and finished off with 'Weyam-sori'. The title of this song holds the meaning that it is a farming song, sung in the Gimje-Mangyeong Plains of North Jeolla Province, and the singers of these regions assert that Gimje-Mangyeong Plains are the places where farming songs originated. The singer Go, Pan-deok, who took the lead in this song, was born in 1900 and was one of the rare singers who preserved the original form of the song that used to be sung in his youth. After recording this song, he passed away in 1992.
(Content of Song)
“The wind is blowing
The breeze of good harvest is blowing through the farming village
The sun sets upon the western mountains, and the moon rises from the east
As for the trees in the mountains, all the leaves within have sprouted, and in this rice paddy, the last leaf of the rice plant has sprouted
It seems that the wind will blow and the rain will come, so let us put on our raincoats and weed the rice paddies”