A Comparative Study of Trot and Reggae in the Context of Cultural Heritage

Trot, which has been represented by ‘all sorts of human emotions’ or ‘persistent vitality’, has been with the lives of ordinary people for a long time. Recently, studies examining the positive aspects of trot are appearing, but they are still not free from the tags of Japanese style and adult decadence. Even though its history has already exceeded 100 years, it is not treated as a unique culture of Korea. Recently, however, Jamaican reggae was listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Like trot, reggae is not only made by mixing musical language both of the ruler of the colonial era and the oppressed, but also has only about 50 years of history. Nevertheless, reggae is the pride of Jamaica and is accepted as a unique music culture, and its situation contrasts sharply with Korea’s trot. Therefore, this paper tried to compare the values of reggae and trot based on the context of cultural heritage and the spirit of the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage. Through comparative analysis of the two, we came to the conclusion that the spirit of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention applied to reggae can be applied to trot without discrimination. If discussions from new perspectives continue to emerge in the future, I think that it will be possible to save trot from the existing exhaustive dispute over Japanese style and to open up productive discussions outside of the national view.