The Grand Narrative

(Update: If you’re after the lyrics of and a translation and explanation of “Oppa”, go here) 

Coming from New Zealand to Korea in May 2000 was bad timing in many ways, for rabid Chinese growth was about to suck up everything NZ could export and then some, but against that Korea was still suffering from the after effects of the Asian Financial Crisis. In hindsight, its a wonder that there were ESL jobs to go to at all, but actually they increased after ’97 as the job market became much less stable and more competitive. But successive Korean governments were ’solving’ the social consequences of that by allowing everyone and their small yappy dogs easy access to credit cards…creating a bubble that finally burst in 2002. Boy, those were cold dark days, with my apartment door covered in junk mail advertising loan services every time I came home. Things didn’t seem to definately perk up, at least from what I could see, until last year.

But being at my institute on November 1 2000, did mean I got to meet my future wife, so if I could go back in time I’d still go there then (and promptly quit, but that’s another story). Then, a few weeks later the song 오빠/Oppa came out by the Korean singer 왁스/Wax and made her famous. To most foreigners, it sounded strangely familiar. Jumping ahead, here is a shortened version on the first half of this (good quality) video; see if you can place it. To stop you seeing the spolier underneath as you click on it, I’ve placed a completely random picture and then some more information about the video underneath to make you have to scroll down for the answer.

The woman singing in it isn’t actually Wax but 하지원/Ha Ji-won, as she was much more famous then and it was felt that she would get the songs more recognition (Wax performs herself now). Although Ha Ji-won has been in many movies, most notably Sex is Zero/색즉시공,  I think her acting skills are pretty average, and from personal experience wouldn’t recommend seeing a movie like Love So Divine/신부수업 solely because you saw a poster like this:

Having said that, there’s much more eyecandyfor you here, and here.

Back to the song. It’s based on the 1984 hit She bop by Cyndi Lauper, who of course needs no introduction, although my father (and now me) having most of her albums probably helped me remember that specific song. Unusually for this part of the world, Wax acknowledges in her CD cover that Oppa is based on it and probably pays royalties. Given that their music is so similar, I’ve bought (yes, bought) all of Wax’s CDs too (although v.5 and 6 were mistakes, she’s gone waaaay too mellow), and went to her pretty cool concert down the road 2 years ago.

(Here’s the poster of the concert, which framed and put on my wall - it was goooood)

“Oppa” literally means “older brother” by the way, but is used by young Korean woman to address virtually any unmarried guy under 35. With being cute not dropped at 20 but instead honed to a fine art by the time they’re 25, like I’ve said in earlier posts, being called by it by virtually any Korean woman will make you weak at the knees. Hence, it became one of the most popular songs in Korea ever, played all the time, and is virtually mandatory at any round at a noraebang/노래방, the Korean word for Karaoke (it literally means ‘Songroom’).

For that reason alone you should learn it, but its both quite easy and the subtitles in the video help (but I’ll be nice and put up something you can print off soon) . Another reason is because Korean women (well, everyone really) are inordinantly impressed by any foreigner who can do more than order beer in Korean. Eventually that is ultimately demotivating actually, but I won’t bring down the peppy tone of this post and discuss that here; you can see my rant (as JamesinBusan) about that here instead. And speaking of not bringing down the tone, at the noraebang you can mention where the song came from to your your nubile 20-something companions, but, no matter how swinging and liberal you drunkedly think they are, I wouldn’t recommend telling them that She bop was totally about female masturbation until a few hours later at your place.

If you’re serious about studying Korean, all of this will come in good stead later, because you’re soon going to hit the Korean learning brick wall that is that most Koreans will refuse to speak to you in Korean, or will do so but treat you like a native, although neither of these necessarily mean that they are evil fiends out to thwart you; again, see the link to my rant above. But sooner or later, you’re going to be on a very desperate search to find Koreans who a) Don’t know enough English to use it with you, b) Can’t run away, c) Are so bored they actually want to chat with you, d) You’d like hanging out with and chatting with them, and e) May have a financial incentive to figure this out and so keep doing it. Who could I mean…?

No, not prostitutes, but even cheaper: people who work in bars. I’m being perfectly serious, It’s the best advice I could ever give about learning Korean. If you’ve no idea what I’m on about above, you haven’t been here long enough, and you soooo will sooner or later. I learned this method of a friend and started doing it myself until my Korean classes started recently.

I think anyone still loosely following me by this stage should definately read the rant before continuing, to see why I place so much emphasis on this. After that, here is some bar Korean to get you started:

http://kr.blog.yahoo.com/kimcheegi/363

Like the real thing, she doesn’t always understand you (only the English works for me), but the rewards for trying are great. Have fun!

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