Posts Tagged ‘korean’

BboBboBbo (PpoPpoPpo): Korean Children’s Song

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Perhaps the catchiest Korean children’s song: PpoPpoPpo or Bbo-Bbo-Bbo (“Kiss, kiss, kiss..”)

아빠가 출근할 때 뽀뽀뽀
엄마가 안아줘도 뽀뽀뽀
만나면 반갑다고 뽀뽀뽀
헤어질 땐 또 만나요 뽀뽀뽀
우리는 귀염둥이 뽀뽀뽀 친구
뽀뽀뽀 뽀뽀뽀 뽀뽀뽀 친구

It’s onomatopoeic — it’s the kissing sound that children make in Korean, though adults use it too. The other word for ‘kiss’ in Korean is a transliteration of the English: 키스 (ki-suh). Does that mean there was no kissing on the peninsula before the Western concept arrived? Sort of like the missionary position, I guess…

The reason I’ve suddenly become interested in kids songs is because I found this CD that contains 30 Korean children songs, and I found that the only song I was immediately familiar with was Bbo-bbo-bbo.

“When Dad goes to work, kiss, kiss, kiss. When Mom gives a hug, kiss, kiss, kiss. When you meet and you’re glad you do, kiss, kiss, kiss….”

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Korean Music | Comments Off

When is the Korean Thanksgiving Festival?

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Chuseok or Chusok (Hangul: 추석; Hanja: 秋夕) is celebrated on the 15th day of the eigth month of the lunar calendar. This year it falls on October 3rd according to the Western calendar. That’s Saturday!

Korean Shingo Pear What you see in the picture is my hand being dwarfed by a gigantic Korean shingo pear, one of the traditional fruits laid out during the holiday. This one pear will set you back $2.99 American.

Round fruits like grapes and humongous Fuji apples are other holiday favorites. Watermelon, cantaloupe (“melon”), pineapple, chame (muskmelons?) and even bananas show up on the table too. The more, the merrier!

One of the special foods prepared during the Chuseok holiday is songpyeon (송편), a crescent-shaped rice cake that is steamed on pine needles. Then of course there’s the now ubiquitous bulgogi and also mandoo, which are dumplings, and noodles called japchae.

Be sure to visit one of the Korean supermarkets in Los Angeles to snap up seasonal treats like those crispy rice thingies and especially song-pyeon!!!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Korean Food, South Korea | Comments Off

Final Day of 2009 Korean Festival in LA

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Fourth and final day of the Korean Festival in Los Angeles… Managed to make it this afternoon and catch several dance and martial-arts performances on stage. A few were lamely presented (it’s almost always a matter of packaging, ppl…) but it wasn’t a total waste of time to be in the audience.

Korean Traditional Dance with Drums

These girls were so good. They came on several times performing different traditional Korean dances — with fans, these drums they carry that you see in the picture, and later on with stationary drums. I do have video clips and I’ll be processing them in the coming days.

Also visited more of the booths and had time to chat more, compared to my just passing through last Friday. McDonald’s finally showed up, but I didn’t bother lining up for their giveaways. I headed across to Maeil and picked up samples of the new Enyo yogurt drinks, which I’ll review in another post. Didn’t spot the Maeil mascots today, though they still had the wheel and were giving away posters of Korean stars.

Of all the South Korean provinces showcasing their wares at the festival, I was most impressed with KyeongSangNam Do (경상남도). All their representatives were friendly and helpful; one lady in particular did an awesome job explaining to me what their raison d’etre was. I definitely will devote a full blog post to their local products.

For a few minutes, I was hooked watching men (and a girl) take on the Marine Corps challenge. I’ll post the video clips soon… Lots to process… which is good. I love material, I mean content.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Korean Festivals, Koreatown Los Angeles | Comments Off

2009 Korean Festival Parade in Koreatown

Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Korean Parade Sign in Koreatown
Just came back from watching the 2009 Korean Festival Parade on Olympic Boulevard. The entourage originated from Catalina Avenue near Vermont but I was stationed nearer to Western Avenue.

Took so many pictures and so much video. It’ll take me forever to process them. Here’s a few…


Girl in Stroller with Two Flags at Parade

Her Mommy is the one in the background trying to get a picture of her son in the parade. (He looked so embarrassed.) The child in the stroller is carrying two national flags! There were also a lot of Mexican flags and floats participating so that was really cool. And the people lining the street were something like 60% Latino (Salvadoran…) and 35% Korean. The announcements were mostly in Korean — it is the Korean Festival in a place called Koreatown, after all. The parade’s progress was slow but there were enough highlights that I didn’t find it a waste to go.



Korean Girls at Koreatown arade
These young girls worked their tiny behinds off. They were the most indefatigable group in the parade!

Will post the rest of the photos and video clips soon!

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Korean Festivals, Koreatown Los Angeles | Comments Off

Los Angeles Korean Festival – September 2009

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Finally made it to the Seoul International Park for the second day of the Korean Festival in Los Angeles. There are a lot of booths selling everything from traditional Korean food and ginseng to high-tech kitchen appliances. Took some legwork but I was able to track down a copy of the events schedule. (I dare you to try it yourself. Good luck if you don’t speak Korean. Harrumph.)

36th Los Angeles Korean Festival

FRIDAY (September 18, 2009)

3:00-3:30 Traditional Korean Band
3:30-4:00 Happy Band
4:00-4:30 Line Dance
5:00-5:30 Martial Arts Demonstration
5:30-6:00 Berendo Middle School (Traditional Korean Musical Performance)
6:00-6:30 Multi-Ethnic Line Dance
6:30-7:00 Korean Dance
7:30-8:00 UCLA Group Jazz Dance
8:00-9:50 Joong Ang Singing Contest
9:50-10:00 Raffle Drawing

SATURDAY (September 19, 2009)
12:00-3:30 Seniors’ Entertainment Variety Show
3:30-4:00 Hip Hop
4:00-4:30 Kimi Jazz Band
4:30-5:00 Performance by Jean Ballet School
5:00-6:30 Youth Talent Show
6:30-8:00 Singing Contest
8:00-9:30 Gag Show (Funny concert with Seo Weon-seob and Na Deok)
9:30-10:00 Raffle Drawing

SUNDAY (September 20, 2009)
12:00-3:30 Seniors’ Entertainment Variety Show
3:30-4:00 Hip Hop
4:00-4:30 Kimi Jazz Band
4:30-5:00 Performance by Jean Ballet School
5:00-6:30 Youth Talent Show
6:30-8:00 Singing Contest
8:00-9:30 Gag Show (Funny concert with Seo Weon-seob and Na Deok)
9:30-10:00 Raffle Drawing

Just noticed that the schedule for both Saturday and Sunday is the same. Don’t know if that’s on purpose.

*Night of Korean Music on September 18 (Friday) at Zipper Hall, located inside the Colburn School in Downtown Los Angeles at 200 South Grand Avenue, next to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA).

*The 36th Los Angeles Korean Parade will be at 3 PM along Olympic Boulevard on Saturday. No one’s sure where it’s going to start but it will likely be near the Seoul International Park (Ardmore) in front of Shinhan Bank at 3000 W Olympic Blvd.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Korean Festivals, Koreatown Los Angeles | Comments Off

Top 10 Korean Family Names in South Korea

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

According to South Korea’s National Statistical Office, these are the most popular Korean surnames in the Republic of Korea.

1. 김 (金; Kim, Gim)
2. 이 (李; Lee, Yi, I, Yee)
3. 박 (朴; Park, Pak, Bak)
4. 최 (崔; Choi, Choe)
5. 정 (鄭; Jeong, Chung)
6. 강 (姜; Kang, Gang)
7. 조 (曹; Cho, Jo, Joe)
8. 윤 (尹; Yoon, Youn, Yun)
9. 장 (張; Jang, Chang)
10. 신 (申; Shin, Sin)

11. 한 (韓; Han, Hahn)
12. 서 (徐; Seo,Suh)
13. 권 (權; Kwon)
14. 손 (孫; Son, Sohn)
15. 황 (黃; Hwang, Whang)
16. 송 (宋; Song,Soung)
17. 안 (安; Ahn, An)
18. 임 (林; Lim, Rim, Im)
19. 유 (柳; Yoo, Yu)
20. 홍 (洪; Hong)

In parentheses are the Chinese hanja characters and the possible English transliterations.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in South Korea | Comments Off

Top 10 Websites in South Korea

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

1. 네이버 naver.com
통합 검색과 디렉토리, 웹페이지, 해외사이트, 멀티미디어, 뉴스 검색을 지원하는 검색 포털. Search portal featuring a comprehensive search directory of web pages both in South Korea and abroad as well as of multimedia and news.

2. Yahoo! Yahoo.com
Not just search, but also chatrooms and free e-mail.

3. 다음 (daum) daum.net
No. 1 우리 인터넷. 무료 이메일 서비스, 온라인 쇼핑, 동호회 서비스

4. Google google.com
Enables users to search the Web, Usenet, and images. Features include PageRank, caching and translation of results, and an option to find similar pages. The company’s focus is developing search technology.

5. YouTube youtube.com
The most popular website for sharing videos.

6. 싸이월드 cyworld.com
자신과 관련 있는 사람들을 학연, 지연, 혈연 동호회 등 다양한 주제별로 묶어 관리할 수 있는 인맥관리 전문사이트. 클럽과 가상공간의 방, 홈페이지를 만들수 있다.

7. Google Korea 구글 google.co.kr
웹문서, 이미지, 뉴스그룹, 디렉토리 검색, 한글 페이지 검색

8. Nate.com nate.com
SKT의 유·무선 종합 포털

9. Facebook facebook.com
FB is the “social utility” that connects people.

10. Windows Live live.com
Search engine from Microsoft

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in South Korea | Comments Off

The Most Famous Korean Song

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

아리랑 아리랑 아라리요
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다.

The classic folk song Arirang ~

아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요…
아리랑 고개로 넘어간다.
나를 버리고 가시는 님은
십리도 못가서 발병난다.

Arirang, Arirang, A-ra-ri-yo ~
Arirang gogae-ro neomeoganda.
Na-reul beorigo gasineun nimeun
Simni-do motgaseo balbyeong-nanda.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo…
Crossing over Arirang Pass.
Dear who left me here
Will not walk even ten li before his feet start to hurt.

The word li in “ten li” refers to a unit of distance that’s about 500 meters or 550 yards. You can find it in an English dictionary now, having been entered via Chinese.

The singer is metaphorically lamenting the conditional love of a person. If the person singing is a woman, then she is referring to a man. Arirang is the name of a mountain pass. Arariyo doesn’t mean anything — they’re just syllables to make the song beautiful.The Korean word arirang connotes something beautiful.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Korean Music | Comments Off