Many people are bothered by the loud sound of cicadas in summer. This insect is called “sseureurami쓰르라미” in Korea. The reason the cicadas cry so loudly is for mating. Cicadas stay underground as nymphs for many years before emerging as adults. But the insect doesn’t have very long to live, only two or three weeks. So cicadas don’t have much time to mate and lay eggs before they die. People in the old days must have realized how desperate these insects were, because there was a folksong about cicadas that went something like this.

Ssareum싸름, ssareum, at a gazebo under a zelkova tree

Ssareum, I can hear the sound of the insects calling.

Ssareum, Ssareum, both you and I are melting.

Ssareum, Ssareum. Why are you crying?

Is it because you’re sad after your beloved has left? 

Here “ssareum” is the sound a cicada makes in its mating call. Let’s listen to vocalist Chu Da-hye singing “Ssareum,” a folksong from the western region. 

Ssareum/ Sung by Chu Da-hye

Next Monday is malbok말복, the day when the hottest season supposedly ends. The three ‘bok’ days in Korea – chobok초복, jungbok중복, and malbok – traditionally mark the hottest period in summer. Koreans in the old days used to take breaks at those times. One of the best ways to avoid the heat was to fish in a river and make soup with the catch right there by the riverside. This activity was called cheollyeob천렵. Koreans enjoyed this recreational activity because it was fun to not only fish with their friends but also drink makgeolli while eating protein-rich food like fish back when there wasn’t much to eat. Next piece we’re going to listen to is fast paced a hwimori japga 휘모리잡가song titled “A Cloudy Day in June July.” Hwimori is a term for fast tempo, much akin to allegro or vivace in western music, derived from a Korean word for storming or sweeping, and japga refers to folksongs sung by professional singer. A singer sings a long narrative extremely fast, which sounds like today’s rap music. “A Cloudy Day in June July” is about a man fishing in the river on a cloudy day in summer. He spots a boy herding a cow and asks him to take the fish to his wife so that she can make fish stew. The boy ponders aloud if he has time to do the man a favor, perhaps implying that he would like a few fish for himself in return. Here is Lee Hee-moon singing “A Cloudy Day in June July” with jazz band Prelude. 

A Cloudy Day in June July/ Sung by Lee Hee-moon, accompaniment by Prelude

Kongguksu콩국수 or soybean noodles is a summer food popular among Koreans. Soybeans are soaked in water and cooked before they are ground with a bit of salt to make thick, nutty and nutritious soybean juice. Just add some noodles and you have a bowl of tasty and nourishing kongguksu. You may think it’s easy to make kongguksu but it actually wasn’t easy to soak, cook and grind the beans. Since there wasn’t a blender in the old days, Koreans used a millstone called maetdol맷돌 made of heavy basalt rock. The upper stone was spun manually against the lower one to grind grains or beans. Water and cooked soybeans were poured into an opening in the upper stone and out came the soybean juice through the crack between the two stones. Many generations lived under one roof in the old days, so imagine how much work went into making konguksu for all those people. Next up is Jeju folksong “The Grinding Sound of a Millstone.” The song was probably sung to relieve the burden of hard milling work. Today’s version contains the sound of a maetdol, so pay attention to catch that sound. Here’s Koh Sung-ok singing “The Grinding Sound of a Millstone.”

The Grinding Sound of a Millstone/ Sung by Koh Sung-ok