Song of Diaspora : Arirang RoadSong of Diaspora : Arirang Road

In the late 19th century, the Korean asylum seekers who took refuge from the Japanese invasion in the Soviet Union were forcefully deported by Stalin to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and other parts of Central Asia. Even those who were remaining were eventually dragged to Japan, China and Southeast Asia to face miserable lives in unfamiliar lands. Through the life of Korean-Japanese pianist and composer YANG Bang Ean, the film uses connections made through “Arirang” to chase after the sorrow and will of the Koreans who had to become diaspora. From Jeongseon to Jindo and individual nostalgia, the sound of the people who spread outwards from their childhood hometowns, spread across of the world like dandelion seeds to bloom into individual interpretations of “Arirang”. Under the name of “Arirang”, there are 3,600 oral folk songs spread across 60 categories, but is this it? If the lives of 100people can equal to 100 books, 7 million Korean migrants would have poured their stories into 7 million counts of “Arirang”. This is why seeing the interviewees revisit their scribbled lyrics and faint memories to mumble “Arirang”emotionally move those seeking to understand the history and sentiment of the song. When YANG Bang Ean, who had seen himself as a person on the border, reveals one by one the sounds of either side of the border to eventually burst out with “Arirang Road Diaspora”, the people who were being exploited in mines and digging holes in the ground to escape the harsh cold will be consoled about their rough past, and we, who are living in a new age of diaspora, will find a small hint about the road towards coexistence. (KI Hyungmin)