How Music Heals Historic Rifts

Let me begin by saying that this blog post will not be like my others. In my professional mode, I am usually focused on specific areas of history: Biblical, Ancient, European, or Modern history. Rarely though, do I engage with the history of the Far East, unless it is in the context of European colonization or Imperial Japan’s invasion during the first half of the 20th century.  However, an encounter and discussion with my daughter, her best friend, and my students left me quietly contemplating how rifts in history are healed, and how lessons from history are learned from. I am not an expert on Korean or Japanese history, and yet, what I learned from my discussion with them, as well as going down the proverbial rabbit hole, has left me with hope that current generations sitting in history lectures can learn how to heal historic rifts between nations.

I have always centered my teaching on the idea that we must learn the lessons of history in order to not repeat its mistakes. However, after the discussions, and as I sat on my couch watching the television with my daughter and her friend, I realized that I was truly watching a contentious history between two nations being healed in a most unconventional way.  It was a music concert, touted as the long awaited return of a group of seven men, who had just served in their nation’s military, reunited, and released a new album.  I watched how a proud group of men, in one moment, with one song, healed a historical rift and demonstrated how all of humanity can rise above animosity and hatred to learn the lessons of history.

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Original Photo from Howard depicted.

Arirang BBTS depicted in photo.

The group is BTS, or Bangtan Sonyeondan, with their new album Arirang. Again, I own that this is not my usual post, but I think it will have an important message about how we handle history.  Archaeologists tend to focus their work on all aspects of culture, and hypothesize how different aspects can create a complete narrative of a particular people.  Their architecture, art, artisanry, and music often help to paint a full picture of their culture and lifestyle.  Turning to the music group BTS, with this album, they chose to create music centered on their Korean musical heritage, including their people’s struggle with racism, colonization, invasion, and occupation.  I was admittedly intrigued about this album concept.

Arirang is a Korean folk song intertwined with Korean cultural identity. Arirang invokes expressions of sorrow, separation, longing, endurance, and love.  The song came to the cultural forefront during the Japanese Imperial occupation of Korea, dating from 1910 to 1945.  The quest for resources sat at the heart of Japan’s invasion of not only Korea, but also most of Southeast Asia.  The time period was filled with civil conflict and colonial rule. During the occupation, Japan ruthlessly suppressed Korean culture and language.  This included the strict and sometimes violent censorship of books, music, and the arts. Ironically, Japan in recent years, through pop culture, has suppressed a global awareness of the violence it inflicted on Korea. Although Arirang served as a symbol of resistance against Japanese violence throughout the 1900s, on April 18th, 2026, it was in Japanese-accented Korean that the unfurling melodies of Arirang were chanted (with love, no less) across a stadium over 100-thousand people wide. The history of the song itself, though, is much older, and goes much deeper.

The earliest known reference to Arirang is in a 1756 manuscript dated to the Joseon era of Korean history. Scholars have suggested the term Arirang, can be broken down as follows; “Ari-” can be translated as ‘beautiful’ or ‘long,’ while “-rang” potentially meant ‘beloved one’ or ‘home.’  The origin of the song has been traced to the mountainous region of Jeongseon in present day Gangwon province.  A local tradition in that region has suggested the song may even date to the earlier Goryeo period (935-1392 CE). There are two legends associated with the song, but both are centered on a bachelor and a hand-maiden who fall in love while picking Camellia blossoms near lake Auraji.  In the first version, the bachelor can’t cross the water to meet the maiden because the water level is too high.  The song is sung to express their sorrow at not being able to reach one another.  The second version describes the drowning death of the bachelor as he attempted to cross Auraji.  The song takes on a melancholy and mournful expression over the separation of the two lovers.  The themes of longing, sorrow, separation, and love are quite clear. Further, historians believe the song spread throughout Korea when workers from Gangwon were sent to Seoul to build Gyeongbokgung Palace (1395 CE) during the Joseon Dynasty. 

The song came to America through Howard University in 1896.  Then, in manner similar to the makeup of BTS, seven Korean students gained popularity on the campus for their soulful performance of the song Arirang.  The ethnologist Alice Fletcher, struck by the harmoniousness of the melody, was so interested in the history and concept of the song, she formally recorded two of the students singing Arirang and documented its origin.  That recording can be accessed through the Library of Congress today.  Finally, the US Army’s 7th Infantry Division, stationed in South Korea after the armistice in 1953, received permission from President Syngman Rhee to adopt Arirang as its official march song in May 1956.  This was their official song for almost two decades.

On April 17th and 18th, 2026, in a stadium in Tokyo, Japan, the air was filled with the song Arirang, blending both Japanese and Korean voices. As their voices rose in a unified harmony, a healing occurred. It seems as though an unspoken acknowledgement flowed alongside the lyrics.  In an era when many adults across the globe are unaware of their own distinctive histories, the seven members of BTS, through their music, are a solemn reminder to pay attention to our history, learn from it, and to recognize that music does heal. 

Maybe I am giving the group BTS more credit than they deserve, but nevertheless, they provided a blueprint for how to heal historic rifts through music in the modern day.  They showed us that by adapting a historical and cultural narrative in an inventive new way through song, future generations can learn from history and quite literally heal it with their voices.