Wednesday, December 21, 2011

색다른 캐롤송

"나는 꼼수다" (I'm a Petty Creep), a left-leaning highly popular South Korean podcast, released four Christmas carol songs recently just in time for Christmas. These songs are specially 'dedicated' to "가카" (original word: 각하, 閣下, His Highness), a sarcastic title they gave president Lee Myung-bak.

You can read more about the podcast in this Voice Of America's article: Hit South Korean Podcast Sparks Controversy

"가카 할아버지" Grandpa "His Highness" celebrating 2007 Christmas with children after winning the presidential election that year.

Below are 2 of the 4 songs. Translation of the lyrics is provided to give a gist of the songs' messages. If the messages are not clear, it is alright to take them as Christmas carol songs (:

1. 쫄면 안 돼



Background of this song: The Korea Communications Standards Commission plans to set up a new media review office to filter harmful or illegal content on social network services (SNS), such as Twitter, Facebook and Me2day, or apps registered at Apple’s App Store or Google’s Android Market. Harmful or illegal content refers to pornography, gambling, drug abuse, false information spreading, libel, and comments that violate the National Security Law or instigating crime. (Source: The Korea Times)

(In Singapore context: National Cyber Security Centre will be set up to detect and prevent cyber security threats, and serve as a focal point to coordinate and implement measures between the public and private sectors. Whatever it means.)

쫄면 안 돼

쫄면 안 돼, 쫄면 안 돼!
가카 할아버지는 쪼는 애들에게
빅~엿을 안겨주신대
[Don't chicken out, don't chicken out! They said grandpa "His Highness" gives big malt candy to children who chicken out.]

가카 할아버지는 알고 계신대,
누가 쪼는 앤지 안 쫀 앤지,
오늘 밤에 잡아 가신대
[They said grandpa "His Highness" knows who chicken out and who don't. He will come and catch you tonight.]

댓글 달 때 블로그 할 때,
트윗 할 때 페북할 때도,
가카 할아버지는
모든 것을 알고 계신대
[When you post a comment, when you blog, when you tweet, when you facebook, they said grandpa "His Highness" knows everything.]


2. 기쁘다 가카오셨네



기쁘다 가카오셨네

기쁘다 가카 오셨네
만백성 망했다~
공항도 다리도 터널도 도로도~
재벌에 팔아라~
외국에 팔아라~
다 팔아~ 팔아 버려라~
[We were happy when "His Highness" came and ruined the nation. Airports, bridges, tunnels and roads were all sold to 'Chaebols' and foreigners.]

기쁘다 가카 오셨네
만백성 망했다~
방송도 신문도 블로그 트윗도
다 장악하여라~
다 장악하여라~
다 입을 틀어 막아라~
[We were happy when "His Highness" came and ruined the nation. All TV stations, newspapers, blogs and twitters came under control and all lips were sealed.]

기쁘다 가카 오셨네
만백성 망했다~
전국의 백성들 총선과 대선 때
다 투표하여라~
다 투표하여라~
우리 표~로 바꿔 버리자~
우리 표~로 바꿔 버리자~
[We were happy when "His Highness" came and ruined the nation. Everyone must all vote. Use our votes to effect change during the general election and the presidential election.]

(In Singapore context: Power stations were sold to foreigners and public transports privatized. As for media control, 'lips' were more or less sealed from day one.)

I like a remark made by G. K. Chesterton:

"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." 

Anyway, politics is a bit too heavy for Christmas, haha. Merry Christmas!

2 comments:

  1. though seollal is a few weeks ahead, happy new year equinox. if you liked il mare you might like the book by helene hanff, 84 charing cross road. maybe a must read for the people @ books actually.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thank you for the recommendation

    ReplyDelete