Yi Suyong and the Quiet of “Korea's Hiroshima”
Author(s):
Joshua Pilzer
Publication Year:
2021
Type:
journal article
Journal/Book Title
Ethnomusicology
Publisher
Editor(s):
Pages:
644-670
Volume:
65
Issue:
3
Abstract:
Bicultural residents of the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Victims Welfare Center in rural southeastern Korea who were raised in Hiroshima and survived the bomb live in a complex world of quiet—of radiation-related vocal disability, Japanese and Korean cultural values of restraint and civility, religious practice and propriety, and traumatic memory. In this article, I musically encounter a world largely devoid of music, focusing on one survivor’s style of quietude. Manipulating rhythm, pitch, and silence in speech, testimony, and craftwork, she navigates between personal aims and the expectations she faces as a witness to Korean experiences of the atomic bomb.
Citation (Chicago Author-Date):
Pilzer, Joshua. 2021. “Yi Suyong and the Quiet of ‘Korea’s Hiroshima.’” Ethnomusicology 65 (3): 644–70. https://doi.org/10.5406/ethnomusicology.65.3.0444.