What is the Gwangju Uprising in 1980, the theme of performance?
Who is the ‘Hope Bird’?
Hope Bird is the only South Korean musical troupe that uses its art to work for the reunification of Korea.
Since the 1990s, ‘Hope Bird’ has been performing in various genres such as songs, plays, and musicals to contain the spirit of the fighters who fought for Korea’s independence, democracy, and reunification.
‘Hope Bird’ has not only sung the spirit, but has also fought in the front lines of the struggle. In the 1990s, Hope Bird was arrested for its anti-imperialist, anti-US activism by the fascist repression and harsh national security laws. Despite this repression, the troupe has been active in the country’s vibrant cultural movement for independence, democracy and reunification.
‘Hope Bird’ expresses the hope that Korea, which was divided by foreign powers, will be united again. ‘Hope Bird’ sings to empower the people in Korea and around the world who fight to realise liberation and democracy.
What is the Gwangju Uprising in 1980, the theme of performance?
The Gwangju People’s Uprising was a popular uprising of the people of Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, South Korea, in May 1980 to oppose the fascist dictatorship and to achieve democratic freedoms and rights. The Gwangju People’s Uprising took place over 10 days, from May 18 to 27.
The people’s uprising began with the protests of students at Chonnam National University. Young students in Gwangju, who had been protesting to demand the removal of “emergency martial law,” were enraged when the military ruling power brought out the most brutal public security forces (Airborne Force) to carry out bloody repression, and they violently protested the oppressors. The resistance movement of young students and all the citizens swept across Gwangju, as well as the workers and peasants around the city, and their number reached 3 millions on May 21. The uprising crowd stormed the government offices, city hall, and other institutions of martial law and took control of them, raiding their arsenals and seizing thousands of weapons, as well as many of the “martial army’s” tanks and vehicles, and by fighting valiantly, they drove out the “martial army” on May 21 and brought Gwangju completely under their control.
In Gwangju, the uprising crowds formed self-governing organizations, so-called “Gwangju Commune” and self-defense armed groups, the “Citizens’ Army”, and held large-scale rallies to condemn the dictatorship. The military fascists panicked by the resistance, reinforced the martial law forces and surrounded Gwangju in two or three layers, threatened military action and economic blockade, and tried to appease the uprisings. The uprising continued to fight against the Military Fascist under the supervision of US imperialism. They launched a vast army of tanks, armored vehicles, helicopters, and tens of thousands of regular troops at dawn on May 27, and ferociously suppressed the uprising by firing large-caliber artillery and suffocating gas attacks, which are unprecedented in the history of warfare.
The uprising crowd suffered more than 5,000 victims and 14,000 serious and light wounds, and they fought without bending their fighting spirit until the last moment, even under harsh conditions when food ran out and water and electricity supplies were cut off.
Through the Gwangju People’s Uprising, the South Korean people came to know more clearly the beastly nature, deceitfulness, unscrupulousness, and hypocrisy of the U.S., and who is the root cause of blocking the democratization of South Korean society and supporting the fascist military dictatorship and opened a new chapter in the anti-U.S. struggle.
The Gwangju Popular Uprising was a historic event that marked a brilliant chapter in the anti-fascist democratization struggle of the South Korean people.
The Lyrics of the songs
Song of May 1
Spring sun shining day
Hot windy day
Red petals fall and scatter
The scent of flowers lingers
On a tombstone-less grave,
Leave the big name
Here, to the life that did not die,
Leave this song
My love
My love
Spring goneLet it bloom and fall
At the far end of the May sky
Let the flower breeze be full
At the end of the grass fields of sundown
The penetrated soul becomes alive
Glare to the sky
What a dark May
My love
My love
Song of May 2
Your blood on the Geumnam Road looks like petals;
your beautiful breasts have been cut into slices like a tofu.
When the same day of the next May comes,
our chests will be filled with boiling blood.
Why shoot us?
Why bayonet us?
You force us into the military trucks—
and where are you driving?
At Mangwoldong,
the eyes of the dead open wide, bloodshot.
When the same day of the next May comes,
our chests will be filled with boiling blood.
O survivors!
Let us gather again and march on!
No progress without struggles—
let us march out of the humiliating history!
When the same day of the next May comes,
our chests will be filled with boiling blood.
When the same day of the next May comes,
our chests will be filled with boiling blood! blood! blood!
Song of May 3
Behold, there is a shining country in the south
A country of rebellion that bursts through the darkness
On fine days and on sad days
oppressed and afraid
There is a country built by bloody struggle
There is a fire burning in Mudeueg in May
The sky is still blue and peaceful
The sea still has waves of freedom
Behold, here is a country stained with blood
A country that shines brightly
Behold, here are the people, stained with red blood
There are people who shine like a bunch of flowers
Behold, there is a glorious country in the south
A country of reunification that rises through the darkness
On a fine day, on a joyful day
In the days of advancement, overwhelming days
There is a country built with blood love
There is a country of glorious resurrection of May
The sky is still blue and peaceful
The sea still has waves of freedom
Behold, here is a country stained with blood
A country that shines brightly
Behold, here are the people, stained with red blood
There are those who shine like a bunch of flowers
Behold, here are the people, stained red with blood
shining as a bunch of flowers
Behold, here they are, dyed red
glowing with a bunch of flowers
Stop, stop them. Never allow them
Stop them. Never allow them.
Extend martial law to stop the rally. Stop it. Stop it.
Stop political activity. Stop strikes. Stop freedom of speech.
Under the mountains and streams
It’s been a long night.
It was a night of oppression.
It was the silent wailing surrounding the Ugeumchi area.
Even if the dawn light is scattering in the burning mung beans field or the morning sunshine is dancing on the meandering river
I’m not dazzled.
It’s been a long night.
It was a night of struggle.
It was a night of disobedience filling in northern Manchuria.
Alas, the harsh years
Even if the blizzard is raging and this one breath is buried under these red mountains and streams.
I won’t fall down.
Tyranny upon tyranny upon tyranny
In this harrowing years
Be alive; this one body will be rotting.
Under these red mountains and streams,Live under the torch of liberation,
Under these naked mountains and streams.
Live under these mountains and streams.
Under this red mountain
We will live in these rotten bodies.
Burning as a torch of liberation
Don’t make it hurt
Don’t make it hurt. Don’t make it cry.
Don’t make scars and don’t make destructions.
Just leave the peaceful wind as it blows.
Leave it. Don’t make it hurt.
Don’t make it hurt. Don’t make it frustrated.
Don’t take away. Don’t make it tremble.
Just leave it see the beautiful things.
Leave it. Don’t make it hurt.
Never to us, never to our brothers.
Never to me. Never to any things.
Never to my neighbors, children, this world.
Don’t make us hurt anymore.
Never to us, never to our brothers.
Never to me. Never to any things.
Never to my neighbors, children, this world.
Don’t make us hurt anymore.
Don’t make us hurt anymore.
Listen yankee
It blooms from the heart of the torn peninsula
The blade of it is sharpened
Here, with strong heart
I stand before you
The peninsula of fatherland washed in purity
Who kindled the fires of aggression to the head of it
Look, I stand before you
with vengeance in the blood of shame.
Look, here is the peninsula
That broke the chains of tyranny
With one cry of command
Leave this land
Listen, Yankee,
Listen, the rage of the land
Listen, Yankee,
Listen, longing for the liberation and reunification of fatherland
The peninsula of fatherland washed in purity
Who kindled the fires of aggression to the head of it
Look, I stand before you
with vengeance in the blood of shame.
Look, here is the peninsula
That broke the chains of tyranny
With one united cry of command
Leave this land
Listen, Yankee,
Listen, the rage of the land
Listen, Yankee,
Listen, longing for the liberation and reunification of fatherland
Trail
Winding paths, beautiful roads, hand in hand on comrades, we walk side by side on this road
The truly beautiful thing is to see a place and feel it, so I love the way we go together
The winding trail is not easy, but I am standing on this path with a bright smile hahaha
I love the eyes of youth who stay in the beautiful motherland, the way we go together
The winding trail is the way to go together, and the heart-pounding longing will be cherished to the fullest
Even if the night falls, I love this path that we go along with the bright stars
Hope Bird
Lalalalala Lalala~ Lala, friends, let’s wake up and be renewed with hope
1. Our hearts are sweeter than the roses in those fields
When I look back, there is a lot of pain, but friends, let’s get up and have hope.
Lalalalala Lalala~ Lala, friends, let’s wake up and be renewed with hope
2. The world is rough and hard, but it can’t stop you and me from going
When I look back, there is a lot of pain, but friends, let’s get up and have a new hope.
Lalalalala Lalala~ Lala, friends, let’s wake up and be renewed with hope
Lalalalala Lalala~ Lala, friends, let’s wake up and be renewed with hope
3. Even if you dance in the spring sun, it will be as warm as the love of your friends.
When I look back, there is a lot of pain, but friends, let’s get up and have hope.
Lalalalala Lalala~ Lala, friends, let’s wake up and be renewed with hope
When I look back, there is a lot of pain, but friends, let’s get up and have hope.
Turn the earth and the sky over
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Dirty world where the value of labor disappears
What more do we need
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
You steel workers who get stronger when you are hit
Turn the world over!
Can you hear the ground crying toward the sky
If the world is growing up with the blood of a workers
A battle of discrimination and equality, impossible to withdraw
A battle of exploitation and dignity, impossible to withdraw
the history of workers, never-stoppable
The fighting spirit of our dead comrades cries out heaven and earth
The workers are the master of the land
The workers are the heaven
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Make the world ours
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Turn the earth over! Turn the sky over!
Make the world ours
Fly high, dove
The wings of hope spread across the blue sky
It dances and flies infinitely freely.
Pigeon, pigeon, fly higher
Don’t let my country’s blue sky become cloudy
High up in a blue sky wings of hope are spreading wide
a white dove is dancing and flying free and happily
white dove white dove flying higher and higher
bless my country and blue skys should be cloudy and gray
I love Pyongyang, the home you grew up in.
Carrying the sunset light, it dances and flies.
Pigeon, pigeon, fly higher
Your country is overflowing with happiness, even the clouds of fire can’t stop it
Pigeon, pigeon, fly higher
Your country is overflowing with happiness, even the clouds of fire can’t stop it
Let the morning shine
Protect what you observe, like a mighty mountain range
Who was the guardian of purity in white clothes?
People, light up for your country.
The soul of Joseon is in the red heart
Revived by history
To become the spirit of Baekdu
The sun is an exception
A dazzling morning, let the morning of the motherland shine brightly