BUSAN: Eight women who have spent decades working in Busan’s fishing villages have formed a trot group, turning their life experiences into a song.
The Moon-o-seong Trot Girls, made up of women born between 1950 and 1956, have released their debut song, Story Of Moon-o-seong, which draws on their experiences in eastern Busan’s coastal villages.
Moon-o-seong refers to five towns – Mundong, Munseo, Munsang, Munjung and Munha – in Illgwang-eup, Gijang-gun, eastern Busan.
“The dreaming sea, seaweed and kelp, full of happiness. This is our Mun-o-seong story.”
The song captures the joys and sorrows of fishing village life. The members took part in writing the lyrics, while composer Cho Tae-joon wrote the music.
Most of the members have spent their lives in the area, working on scallion farms in Gijang. One member, Noh Young-ae, has been a haenyeo, Korea’s traditional female diver, for around 40 years.
The song’s music video features six members in matching black dresses, performing synchronised choreography in a format familiar to K-pop.
The project was initially designed to encourage older residents to write poetry as part of the Fishing Village New Vitality Enhancement Project, led by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
The idea took a different direction after the organiser noticed that the seniors enjoyed singing karaoke for five or six hours at a time. This prompted the organisers to hold trot classes, which eventually led to the formation of the group.
The members’ journey to their debut was documented online on the Mundong Community Area’s Fishing Village New Vitality Enhancement Project Instagram page, offering glimpses of them taking singing and dancing lessons and recording their album.
The organising committee is reportedly working on a documentary about the history of women in Mun-o-seong, with the group’s debut process at its centre. - Korean Herald/ANN
