The Politics of Arirang as seen the Pete Seeger s reception of Arirang

The purpose of this study is to confirm the multi-layeredness and potential of Arirang through the "Ariran" recorded in the early 1950’s by American singer-songwriter Pete Seeger (1919 \textasciitilde 2014). As is well known, Arirang is a representative song of the Korean people. The debate about ‘Arirang in the world’ or ‘Arirang globalization’ has been continuously from around the time of the UNESCO listing ofArirang as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012. At the same time, ‘cultural competition’ between local autonomous entities that claim to be ‘the originator of Arirang’ or ‘vein of Arirang’ has been developed in various ways. This study named the dynamics surrounding the reception of Arirang and the diverse cultural practices of different subjects as ‘the politics of Arirang’. Arirang, a concise and lyrical melody, has been exhibiting a powerful force of transmission in its own narrative after it was used as the theme song of a movie of the same name in 1926. The purpose of this study is to figure out the way in which Arirang crosses national borders to combine with the cultural area of the recipients while exploring the course and context through which Pete Seeger accepted Arirang with a view to preparing opportunities to rethink about Arirang as a glocal contents.In order to clarify the meaning, the context through which Arirang went to the USA around the era of Korean War, was contained in Pete Seeger s album, and settled as a repertory of performances will be traced and explained in relation to the musical trace and practice of Pete Seeger and the genre customs of folk music selected by him. In particular, that fact that the processes of fetal movement and formation of folk music scenes in the American popular music sector in the 1930s, and the method of practice and motility of the folk revival in the 1950s and 1960s became the main basis of Pete Seeger s musical practice and acceptance of Arirang was watched. The fact that, through this process, Arirang combined with the will and world view of the recipients to give birth to diverse variants while being enriched in its nest and ultimately deepening and expanding its politics, was identified.