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Musician of The Empire, Je-Myoung Hyun

NohDongEun 1,  한윤정 1,  김문성 2

1중앙대학교
2김문성

Candidate

ABSTRACT

If politics is a rule and dominance which is applied to people’s life and to carry out an activity to create, maintain, modify and destruct governance, we can see these political activities in musician Je-Myoung Hyun. As a musician, he was a promising tenor, but his activities were not limited in the area of a vocalist. Rather, he carried out political activities and became the leader in the area of modern Western music. Je-Myoung Hyun was a musician who was carrying out his activities in the summit of Korean modern Western music. In his day, organizations he established or was involved in played the pivotal role of musical bands and he took the lead musical society as a musician and politician. Regardless of pure musical bands, political organizations or pro-Japanese entities, he was always at the summit of those organizations and took the lead in musical bands, thus cooperating with Japanese imperialists and taking the lead in the musical policy Japanese pursued in a national level. With the establishment of the Association of Cho-sun Musician(朝鮮音樂家協會) in 1931, he was elected as the first chief director, thus representing Korean musical bands. He was elected as an assistant administrator for the Federation of Association of Keijo(京城音樂協會) established in 1938 by the Government-General of Korea(朝鮮總督府) and Japanese musicians claiming to advocate the assimilation policy of Korea into Japan, thus representing Korean musicians. In 1942, he was the chief director for the Band of Keijo Chamber Music(京城厚生室內樂團), a restarted central performance organization as a group of comfort women for Japanese national music for the Government-General of Korea. And in 1944, he carried out activities as a director for the Association of Cho-sun Music(朝鮮音樂協會), a biggest musical band organization in Korea and organization of the Government-General of Korea, of which important positions were occupied by Japanese people. If his political activities could make him achieve his goals with his power, his devotion and endeavor deserve to be rightly evaluated. However, from just before announcing his statement of conversion of ideology in 1937, he had carried out political activities as a Japanese who was more than pro-Japanese musician in such quasi-state agencies, officially approved by the Government-General of Korea, as the Society of Cho-sun Liberal Art(朝鮮文藝會), the Society of Fellowship(大同民友會), the Federation of Cho-sun’s Total National Spirit(國民精神 總動員 朝鮮聯盟), the Federation of Cho-sun Idealogical Movement(時局對應 全鮮思想報國聯盟), the Lodgings of Yamato(大和塾), the Cho-sun Loyal’s Corps(朝鮮臨戰報國團) and the Federation of Cho-sun’s Total Strength (國民總力朝鮮聯盟). All those organizations advocated Japanism of which principles were Japan-oriented protection of Asia from Western imperialists and the integration of all the countries in the world into Japan like a family. In this vein, as a disciple of Japanese ideology, Je-Myoung Hyun carried out his political activities focusing on the construction of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere which would supposedly rescue Korea and Asia and become the guiding principle of people in the world. Those activities sublimated him into the summit of musical world in the Federation of Association of Keijo, the Association of Cho-sun Music, the Band of Keijo Chamber Music, the School of Keijo Music and so on. Therefore, he was highlighted as a best and greatest Korean musician and politician in his day.

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