Kim Won-gyun

Kim Won-gyun (Korean: 김원균; 2 January 1917 – 5 April 2002)[4] was a North Korean composer and politician. He is considered one of the most prominent,[5] if not the most celebrated,[6] composer of North Korea. He composed "Aegukka" — the national anthem of the country — and "Song of General Kim Il-sung", in addition to revolutionary operas.[5]

In this Korean name, the family name is Kim.
Kim Won-gyun
Portrait of Kim Won-gyun
Born(1917-01-02)2 January 1917
Wonsan, Kangwon Province, Korea[1]
Died5 April 2002(2002-04-05) (aged 85)
Occupation(s)Composer, politician
Era20th century
Kim Won-gyun
Chosŏn'gŭl
김원균
Hancha
Revised RomanizationKim Won-gyun
McCune–ReischauerKim Wŏn'gyun
[1][2][3]

Career

In his youth, Kim Won-gyun attended high school but dropped out after three grades.[4] After the liberation of Korea, he wrote his first composition: "March of Korea".[7] Before his musical career, Kim had been only "a farmer who just happened to write [the] 'Song of General Kim Il Sung'".[6] That was in 1946, very early into the cult of personality of Kim Il-sung; the song was the first work of art that verifiably mentions Kim Il Sung, then leader of Workers' Party of North Korea, one of precursors of WPK.[8] After the success of the song, he was asked to compose "Aegukka". As a musician, he was initially self-taught but went to Moscow in order to study there.[9] At some point he attended a music school in Japan.[5] By 1947, when "Aegukka" was adapted as the national anthem of Provisional People's Committee of North Korea,[10] he had risen in status.[6] Other compositions by Kim include: "Democratic Youth March", "Our Supreme Commander", "Glory to the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK)", "Sunrise on Mt. Paektu", "Steel-strong Ranks Advance", "Song of Great National Unity",[11] "We Rush Forward in Spirit of Chollima", and "Song of Anti-Imperialist Struggle".[12]

Kim is credited with contributing to "the creation of the 'Sea of Blood' -type revolutionary operas".[11] It is possible that he worked on the operatic version of Sea of Blood and a symphony based on music from the opera.[13] He is also credited with the opera Chirisan.[14]

Kim served as a composer to National Art Theatre.[7] He also became the head of the Central Committee of the Korean Musicians Union in 1954, and would later become the vice-president and president of the Union.[5] He was the president of the Pyongyang University of Music and Dance since 1960. In 1985, he became the general director of the Sea of Blood Opera Troupe.[5][11] He was the North Korean chairman of the Reunification Music Festival in September 1990.[5] He was also the chairman of the National Music Committee of Korea[15] and honorary member of the International Music Council.[16] Besides his musical activities, he was a deputy to the ninth and tenth Supreme People's Assemblies (SPA).[5] Upon his death in 2002, he held the posts of deputy to the SPA and adviser to the Central Committee of the Korean Musicians Union.[17]

He received many prizes and honors, including Labor Hero, Merited Artist, People's Artist, recipient of the Order of Kim Il Sung and a Kim Il Sung Prize winner.[5][16] The Pyongyang Conservatory was renamed the Kim Won-gyun Conservatory on 27 June 2006.[5][11]

Kim Won-gyun died on 5 April 2002 of heart failure. Kim Jong Il sent a wreath to his bier on the day following his death.[17] Kim Jong Un paid homage to Kim Won-gyun by organizing a concert on the centenary of his birth in 2017.[7]

See also

References
  1. Yonhap News Agency, Seoul (27 December 2002). North Korea Handbook. M.E. Sharpe. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7656-3523-5. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  2. "Gukka" 국가(國歌). JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  3. George Ginsburgs (1974). Soviet Works on Korea, 1945-1970: Prepared for the Joint Committee on Korean Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council. University of Southern California Press. p. 137. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  4. 내나라 [Kim Won-gyun]. Naenara (in Korean). Archived from the original on 13 August 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  5. James E. Hoare (13 July 2012). Historical Dictionary of Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Scarecrow Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-8108-7987-4. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  6. Marie Korpe (4 September 2004). Shoot the Singer!: Music Censorship Today. Zed Books. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-84277-505-9. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  7. "Kim Won Gyun, World-famous Composer". KCNA. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018.
  8. Jae-Cheon Lim (24 March 2015). Leader Symbols and Personality Cult in North Korea: The Leader State. Routledge. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-317-56741-7. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  9. Portal, Jane (15 August 2005). Art Under Control in North Korea. Reaktion Books. pp. 92–93. ISBN 978-1-86189-236-2. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  10. IBP, Inc. (13 April 2015). Korea North Country Study Guide Volume 1 Strategic Information and Developments. Lulu.com. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-4330-2780-2. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  11. "Famous Musician Kim Won Gyun". KCNA. 30 June 2006. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  12. "Kim Won Gyun concert". KCNA. 10 March 1997. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  13. Keith Howard (22 December 2004). "Dancing for the Eternal President". In Annie J. Randall (ed.). Music, Power, and Politics. Routledge. pp. 130, 178. ISBN 1-135-94690-6. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  14. "Korea". The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). The Gale Group. 1970–1979. Retrieved 5 July 2015 – via TheFreeDictionary.com.
  15. Yonhap News Agency (2000). Korea Annual. Yonhap News Agency. p. 284. ISBN 9788974330514. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  16. "Composer Living along with Conservatory". KCNA. 10 August 2009. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  17. "Kim Won Gyun passed away". KCNA. 6 April 2002. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2015.

Further reading
  • Kim Sunnam; Kim Won-gyun (1953). "Iskusstvo sluzhit narodu (O razvitii muzykainoi kultury Koreisko Narodno-Demokraticheskoi Respubliki)" [Art Serves the People: On the Musical Culture of the Korean People's Democratic Republic]. Sovetskaya Muzyka (in Russian) (3): 109–111.
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