■ Kim Gyu-hoe’s Rethinking Common Sense
Trot stars have been thrust into the spotlight by a wave of audition shows and music-variety programs. Once seen as the preserve of middle-aged and older listeners, trot now spans generations and is helping shape a new cultural current. Many people trace trot’s roots to Japan’s enka. That claim has some basis: during Japan’s colonial rule, Japanese popular culture flowed into the peninsula and enka exerted an influence. Early trot does show similarities to Japanese music in scale, vocal technique and emotional expression. Still, it’s an overreach to treat enka as trot’s sole or direct origin.
Musically, trot is defined by the rhythm known as ppongjjak — a lively, repetitive duple-time pattern that audiences learn and remember easily. But that groove aligns more closely with early-20th-century Western popular styles than with anything uniquely Japanese. You can find comparable structures in contemporary dance tunes and chanson-like songs of the period.
The name trot reflects the same blended history. The term comes from the foxtrot, a social dance and musical form that gained popularity in the United States. The foxtrot’s duple-time, upbeat rhythm developed within European and American popular culture. In other words, the name itself carries Western influence.
Scholars typically view Japanese enka not as a purely traditional form but as a modern popular genre shaped by Western elements. So it’s more accurate to see the music that reached Korea as a hybrid influenced by Western trends rather than as an exclusively Japanese product.
CEO, Dosogwan.com
