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| Subject |
Local Songfests Strike a Chord with TV Viewers |
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997 |
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| Author/Position |
Lee Young-mee Pop Culture Critic; Adjunct Professor, Sungkonghoe Univ |
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| Photographer |
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The average viewership ratings for “Nationwide Singing Contest” surprisingly exceed 11 percent. Compared with pop music shows like “Music Bank,” which features K-pop singers performing their latest hits, which still struggle to attain 8 percent ratings, the song contest for amateurs remains a leader of the pack for Korean music programs. Its ratings are comparable to “I Am a Singer,” a primetime Sunday evening “survivor” show in which professional singers engage in such fierce competition that viewers are led to discuss their creative interpretation and nitpick even the most minor slipups. How, then, does this amateur contest program continue to enjoy such widespread popularity, even though it is rooted in a bygone era of Korean TV music programming?
Stairway to National Stardom
Although the program’s appeal today is indebted to the countless performers who put all their heart and soul into their brief moment in the spotlight, the program began 40 years ago as a serious audition program to discover unknown singers. Launched in October 1971 as “Nationwide Singing Contest for the KBS Champion Cup,” the program’s publicity materials included the following information:
“At each local KBS broadcasting station, a top singer is selected every week, and these singers will participate in a monthly contest, after which another round is held every four months to select the finalists. Those who reach the finals will compete in the year-end nationwide contest for amateur singers. A new professional singer will be born this way, as the final winner receives the KBS championship cup and becomes a member of the Korean Singers’ Association. This program discovers the hidden talent of amateur singers, contributes to the development of the pop music and entertainment field, and serves as a gateway to a singing career.”
The program was thus a “survivor” singing contest for amateurs in the 1970s, and kind of a precursor to today’s “Super Star K” and “A Great Star Is Born” (Widaehan Tansaeng), in which young people compete for a chance to become a star singer. The program was aired at 7 p.m. every Saturday, an ideal time for family group viewing. At a time when TV viewership in Korea was still on the rise, unknown local singers from all over the country could appear on the program for a chance to receive the champion’s cup and even pursue a professional singing career. You can imagine its appeal to participants and popularity among viewers. Another TV broadcaster, MBC, launched a similar contest program that featured promising new singers.
However, more often than not, the contest winners did not actually realize commercial success thereafter. Viewer interest in the program eventually waned, and it went off the air in 1977. A revival was attempted a couple of years later, but to no avail. Around that time, other pathways were being opened for singers to pursue commercial opportunities, making the program’s failure all but inevitable.
Soon after MBC’s “College Singing Contest” was first broadcast in 1977, other TV stations joined the competition with talent contest shows for college students and other young people. While competitors at “Nationwide Singing Contest for the KBS Champion Cup” would perform already well-known songs to demonstrate their singing ability, the new contest programs became platforms for young singers to introduce their original works, thereby contributing to the development of Korean popular music by homegrown talents. The decline of the song contest for amateurs was thus understandable.
A Veteran Comedian Emcee
In November 1980, the song contest was successfully revived — but with a revised format. “KBS Champion Cup” was dropped from the program title. And while the final year-end competition was still held, there were no expectations that the winner would go on to musical stardom. It became a competition just for amateurs who loved to sing. It thus emerged as a distinctive form of program, unlike the “College Singing Contest” and other similar singing competitions. And when the veteran comedian Song Hae became its emcee in 1988, the program clearly carved out its own niche in the local entertainment scene.
Song Hae, born in 1927, was already 60 years old at the time. The selection of a senior comedian for the show was indeed unexpected, particularly since his popularity had peaked sometime before. Yet, his gregarious personality was exactly what the revived program needed to connect with the local audiences and TV viewers countrywide.
In short, the program gave up its quest to be young, refined, cool, or serious. Instead, it became a fest in which ordinary people, mostly middle-aged and older, with no pretense at sophistication, could take the stage to whole-heartedly give their all in song and dance. The contest was no longer about local singers who might become the envy of their neighbors by advancing to the finals. They would sing popular tunes and common drinking songs, which everyone was familiar with. The grandfatherly Song Hae, a familiar face to generations of TV viewers, has crisscrossed the country several times over to host the songfests in even the most remote villages in the countryside and along the sea coasts.
Secret of the Program’s Longevity
This is not a show that seeks to entertain the audience with impressive singers. As soon as a participant introduces himself/herself, with their name, place of residence, occupation, and age, the performer on stage is embraced by the audience as one of their own. After all, everyone is from the same village or a nearby area. They simply want to sing with gusto, with little concern about how they might sound, and dance freely with vigorous gyrations. Even though the chimes might go off, to cut short the performance midway through, the singer never shows any sign of disappointment or hint of embarrassment. From the very outset, they have no intention of “singing like a singer,” while the audience, consisting of fellow villagers and local residents, is indeed an extended family. The program is an opportunity for the audience to welcome the popular emcee to their hometown and to publicize their local specialties. During the program, Song is often presented with various gifts of local produce and treated to a sample of the local cuisine.
Typically, an elderly woman will come on stage to give a taste of some local specialty to Song, who uses exaggerated facial expressions to make known his delight with its tastiness or excessive spiciness, invariably causing the audience to burst into hearty laughter. As the emcee, Song smoothly performs his role both as program host and guest of the hometown audience. His endless banter aside, he will even sneak onto the stage to mimic an elderly woman performer, who, engrossed in her own world of rapture, might hardly notice his presence. He might use the same old routines, but people seem to never tire of his act.
Though a rather outdated format, this singing contest program has managed to endure all this while with a heavy dose of folksy charm. When everyone else aspires to exhibit excellence and professionalism, this program is a showcase of how ordinary folks of the countryside can give and take such delight in each other’s love for laughter and community togetherness. |
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