The March For the Beloved () is a Korean protest song that was composed in 1981 for the soul wedding of Democracy activist Yoon Sang-won and labor activist Park Ki-soon who were sacrificed during the Gwangju Uprising. The original author of the lyrics is Baek Ki-wan, and the composer is Kim Jong-ryul.
History
In 1981, novelist Hwang Sok-yong and musician Kim Jong-ryul(who was a student at Chonnam National University at the time) and 15 Noraepae(musical groups that composed minjunggayos) in the Gwangju region jointly created the song. The song was inserted in a "song play" (musical) called the <Excitement - Wedding of Light>. This song play was dedicated to the soul wedding of Yoon Sang-won(Spokesperson for the civil army during the Gwangju uprising) and labor activist Park Ki-soon who died while running the 'Deulbul Night School'(A night school that taught labor laws to the workers) at the end of 1978 at the labor site. Yoon Sang-won and Park Ki-soon worked together at Deulbul Night School. March for the Beloved was composed to be used as a chorus to decorate the end of the song play. The song was written by Kim Jong-ryul at Hwang Seok-young's house in Gwangju in May 1981, and the lyrics are based on a long poem called the "Moitbinari-dedicated to the young dancers of the southern lands" composed in prison by civic activist Baek Ki-wan at Seodaemun Detention Center in December 1980, while he was imprisoned for the fake wedding at the YMCA incident.which Hwang Seok-young borrowed. In February 1982, the remains of Yoon Sang-won and Park Ki-soon were transferred to the Mangwol-dong Cemetery in Gwangju (currently the May 18th National Cemetery). It was first released when the soul wedding ceremony was held while putting one's palms together, and the song was quickly circulated as a so-called 'minjunggayo' among labor movement forces through cassette tape copies, sheet music transcriptions, and word of mouth, and became a symbolic representative song of the Gwangju Uprising.
Sheet music
The song is composed as a march in the minor key, typical of 1980s protest songs in Korea. Initially it was composed in A minor, but the sheet music in D minor is commonly used.
Usage and international outreach
Minjung rites and domestic protests
The song is used as a song for remembering the gwangju uprising,and is frequently used by labor figures in Korean politics. The rite is called the minjung rite by the labor leaning parties. The song was notably used in protests against president Park keun hye.
International usage
The song is also circulated abroad through migrant workers who returned to Korea after being dispatched to Korea, and it spreads at the Labor Movement sites in each country. It is known that it has been adapted and sung in the local language of Hong Kong, People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia,and Myanmar (Burma).
Taiwan
In 1988, Ke Zhenglong, executive director of Taiwan Taoyuan Airline Labor Union, went to South Korea to exchange labor movement experience, and heard this "March for You" during the factory strike movement in Mashan City . After returning to Taiwan, he took the car of Zheng Cunqi, a well-known Taiwanese labor activist who was an advisor to the Taoqin trade union at that time, to Shitou Mountain in Hsinchu City to participate in training related to autumn fighting . He mentioned this song to Zheng Cunqi, which impressed him deeply. s song. Under the suggestion of the other party, Ke Zhenglong wrote down the melody from memory, and composed the Chinese version of "Battle Hymn of Laborers ": 130 with Jiang Jintai, a trade union member, and taught them to the trade union members. It was sung in various Taiwanese labor movements: 144 . The "Battle Hymn of Laborers - Song of Gwangju, South Korea" included in the 2008 album "Black Hand Ginseng" by the Black Hand Nakashi Workers Band sings "Battle Hymn of Laborers" written by Ke Zhenglong and Jiang Jintai in Chinese and Korean, and the original version "Dedicated to Your March" also greatly promoted this song in Taiwan. Occupy Taipei Movement in response to Occupy Wall Street in 2011, Hualong Self-Help Association parade in 2014, EVA Air flight attendant strike in 2019 As well as Taiwan's May 1st Labor Day parade and many other movements over the years, demonstrators sang the "Battle Hymn of Laborers" in chorus. Taiwan's Hsinchu Female Workers Choir also wrote lyrics and sang another version of " Taiwan Laborers' Battle Hymn ".