Arirang Association on 13th  Mungyeong Saejae Arirang Festival.

After the successful conduction of Mungyeong Saejae Arirang Festival, one of the main organizers of Festival, Ms. Ki Mee Yang, representative of the Arirang Association, gave a brief overview of the Festival goals:

First of all, our goal is to contribute to the development of the Arirang culture by helping the transition from local refrain ‘Arari’ to the more general ‘Arirang’. 

Secondly, we want to reinforce the humanistic and geographic values of Mungyeong Saejae, the provincial park as an actual location of the ‘Arirang Path’ (Arirang gogae), which all Arirang songs sing about.

Thirdly, we want Mungyeong Saejae Arirang to unite local citizens, providing them with the sense of community and solidarity. 

Fourthly, we want to keep the tradition of hosting the Annual Mungyeong Saejae Arirang Festival, taking place since 1998. 

Fifthly, we wanted to bring the foreign artists from Japan, China and Vietnam to share their folk songs about mountains and hills as parallels of the Arirang song in other cultures. 

Sixth, we wanted to alleviate the fatigue from the pandemic by performing traditional musical rituals Yeonggo / Dongmaeng aimed at driving away the evils, where people gather together, sing and dance.

What we hope to achieve:

1.Arirang can unite people around the world being a ‘song that helps to overcome pain and sufferings’ with one’s will. 

2.Spreading the notion that the famous ‘Arirang Path’ is an actual Mungyeong Saejae.

3.Representing other countries and their songs about mountains and hills will contribute to the uniqueness of Mungyeong Saejae.

4.Consistency in hosting Mungyeong Saejae Arirang Festival and building up its reputation. 

5.Raise awareness of Mungyeong worldwide as the ‘Arirang City’ and make it a new tourist and cultural spot. 

The 13th Mungyeong Saejae Arirang Festival took place on June, 13th in Mungyeong City and received high appraisal from the audience and press.