What is ARIRANG anyways?

So, BTS came out with a new album — even if you don’t listen to BTS, here in Korea this kind of news always seems to get to you anyways.

To celebrate their new album, they had a concert here in Seoul which had huge traffic advisories and getting in and out of the city would be absolutely nuts.

But we’re not here to chat about that — we’re here to talk about the name and history of what the album is named: ARIRANG (아리랑).

Let’s dive in!

So, first thing is that 아리랑 is named after an old Korean folk song and is actually listed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural heritage list. If you want to take a listen to the song, check it out here. But there are over 3,600 different variations and 60 different versions of the song — this is just one of the many!

Funnily enough, the first recording of this song was made in America in 1896. Korean students that were studying at Howard University were recorded singing this song. This recording currently resides in the U.S. Library of Congress!

But anyways — what does 아리랑 actually mean?

Unfortunately there is no agreed-upon meaning, but there are a few theories!

1. 아리 means “beautiful” and 랑 refers to a “beloved one”, so combined they can mean “my beautiful beloved one”
2. 아리 in an old Korea indigenous word that means “long” and 령 which means “hill”
3. Could be based on the name 아령, who was the wife of the first king of the 신라 dynasty

The lyrics of the “Standard 아리랑” from Seoul are below.

아리랑 아리랑 아라리요
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다

나를 버리고 가시는 님은
십리도 못가서 발병난다

And here is the translated version of it:

Arirang arirang arariyo
You are going over Arirang hill

My love, if you abandon me
Your feet will be sore before you go ten ri

This song is also a textbook example of the Korean concept of 한, which doesn’t have a direct translation but is a combination of sorrow and hope. This concept really came to the forefront of Korean culture especially after the Japanese occupation and encapsulates the way Koreans thought about Korea coming out of that time.

So, given all this history of 아리랑, do you hear BTS’s new album any differently? Let us know! 🎶