Turning National Instrumental Ensemble into haegum System

Chairman Kim Jong Il said:

"The musical instruments of the kind of haegum, too, sound very gentle, going well with the feelings of our people."

Chairman Kim Jong Il put forth the orientation and ways for upgrading and developing the national musical instruments as required by the times and wisely led this work.

The Chairman, who paid deep attention to developing the national musical instruments in his early years, wisely led the work not only to upgrade the haegum (a Korean four-string fiddle) into the musical instrument for playing modern music wonderfully while keeping national timbre, but also to turn the instrumental ensemble into haegum system.

First of all, he ensured that haegum should be upgraded and developed in a modern style.

Before the 1960s, researches into national musical instruments, including the musical instruments of the kind of haegum, became an important issue in opening up the heyday of Juche-oriented music.

In those days, some progress was made in the work to upgrade the musical instruments of the kind of haegum, but it was not perfect enough to represent any genres of music.

He led the work to upgrade the haegum into the musical instrument with strong national character, so that various musical instruments of the kind of haegum, such as sohaegum (a Korean string instrument or a Korean small haegum), junghaegum (a Korean medium-size haegum) and johaegum (a Korean low-tone four-string fiddle) could be upgraded better to suit our national character.

In 1970s, Chairman Kim Jong Il saw to it that the work to standardize the haegum, an upgraded national musical instrument, should be also vigorously pushed forward.

He put earnest stress on standardizing the musical instruments in his classic work, "Artists should conduct their performing activities widely among the working people", a talk given to the officials in the field of culture and art on March 25, 1976.

He pointed out that various forms of musical instruments were made after he instructed the officials concerned to make musical instruments. He said that after he told them to upgrade the haegum some time ago, they made six forms of haegum, adding that difference in the quality of materials should be made in upgrading the national musical instruments, but their forms should not be changed. He stressed that national musical instruments should be standardized by keeping their own characteristic forms as they are.

In active support of the teachings of Chairman Kim Jong Il, in the manufacturing sectors of national musical instruments they standardized the musical instruments of the kind of haegum and drew up their standards in detail, and further increased the production, based on the standardization of quality of material and forms, thus producing not only more musical instruments of high quality for musicians but also various musical instruments of the kind of haegum for cultural and emotional life of the working masses.

He also wisely led the work to make sure the national instrumental music be played on the haegum with continuous upgrading of musical instruments of the kind of haegum such as sohaegum, junghaegum and johaegum.

Generally speaking, the musical instruments of the kind of haegum refer to the kinds of haegum with various timbres, such as sohaegum, junghaegum and johaegum.

While giving guidance to the work in the field of literature and arts in 1969, Chairman Kim Jong Il said that national orchestral music of the then Korean People's Army Song and Dance Ensemble was still played on the pipha (a Korean mandolin), which was an outdated way of playing national orchestral music, and that national orchestral music should be thoroughly played on the haegum.

He stressed that it was the basic principle for developing the national orchestra to play national orchestral music mostly on the haegum, saying that they should make sure that national orchestral music be played on various musical instruments of the kind of haegum for ensuring softer sound of national orchestral music and skillful playing of modern music.

With the musical instruments of the kind of haegum upgraded and the national orchestral music definitely played on the haegum, its position and role in developing the national music in our country have been further enhanced, and it has kept a stronger national character in its tones.

In October, 1975, while giving scrupulous guidance to the work of creating the revolutionary opera "Under the Bright Sun", Chairman Kim Jong Il said that actors and actresses should have a high level of acting and artistic ability, and he personally selected the pieces of music suitable for playing on the haegum.

As a result, excellent haegum solo pieces could be successfully played as a music of national emotions, and as a music of various and good expressions, and the level of musical description could be satisfactorily ensured.

Thanks to the wise leadership of Chairman Kim Jong Il, the national orchestral music is played mostly on the haegum in our country, and melodious tones of Juche-oriented harmonious mixed orchestra are very unique with the violin and haegum mixed in the ratio of 1 to 1, thus a third sound produced, which is admired by the world.

Today, as the musical instruments of the kind of haegum that have various melodious tones are produced, including sohaegum with clear, soft and good expressions, junghaegum with deep and gentle sounds, and johaegum with deep and meditative tones, their musical range gets much expanded. Thus, haegum plays an important role in keeping national tones better in playing orchestral music.

Indeed, thanks to the wise leadership of Chairman Kim Jong Il, the national instrumental music in our country has been played definitely on the haegum, and musical instruments of the kind of haegum have been successfully upgraded and developed into the musical instruments producing melodious tones of strong national emotions with clear, soft and melodious sounds.