Gwangju once again welcomes its native musical son

Once clouded by ideology, music community embraces Korea-born composer that worked in China

Gwangju is planning festivals and buildings to commemorate the late Jeong Yul-seong (1918-1976), who is considered the godfather of Chinese revolutionary music.

Jeong, who was born in Gwangju, graduated from Sungil School there and then went to China to join the independence movement against Japanese rule. After studying composition at Luxun Art School in Yunan in 1937, he joined the Communist Party.

Jeong went on to write more than 360 songs. He was once persecuted by Chinese authorities because he continued to be absorbed in composition even during the Cultural Revolution, when artistic activities were completely prohibited.

Such a creative spirit has placed Jeong - although foreign-born - into the ranks of China’s top musicians. One of his songs was played during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Asian Games in 1990, and an estimated 80 percent or more of the Chinese population remembers his songs.

His native country, after long disregarding his achievements due to his ideology, began to gradually take interest in him with the end of the Cold War.

Gwangju, his birthplace, was the first place in Korea to recognize his musical accomplishments. Since the beginning of the millennium, districts of the city have been holding seminars and music festivals based on Jeong’s contributions. Due to financial difficuties in those districts, however, Gwangju, which aims to become the nation’s cultural hub, has taken over the helm of such festivals.

Oh Seung-hi, a Gwangju city official, said, "Jeong is a great musician, who sang of peace and friendship in Northeast Asia. Gwangju plans to use the projects commemorating the musician to be reborn as an international city of music."

Gwangju is going to hold the first annual Jeong Yul-seong international music festival for three days sometime during October 1-7, timed with China’s National Day holidays. To remember the artist, the city is going to present music awards as well as establish music competitions and hold academic forums. The city has already secured a budget of 900 million won (US$970,000) for the festival.

In addition, Gwangju will build a 13.5-billion-won memorial hall near Jeong’s birth site by 2015. The city also plans to establish an Internet site and operate musical education programs, as well as producing a South Korea-China joint classical opera and film and setting up a musical research center.

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