What’s bigger than K-pop? 什么比K-pop更重要？Hot for trot   trot熱 trot是韓國歌謠的主要節奏類型; trot就是一種韓國傳統流行

What’s bigger than K-pop? 什么比K-pop更重要？

Hot for trot trot熱

trot是韓國歌謠的主要節奏類型; trot就是一種韓國傳統流行樂風格

Among older South Koreans, a fustier, more sentimental musical genre reigns

在年長的韓國人中，一種更過時的、更感傷的音樂流派占據主導地位

K-pop: 韓國流行音樂

Fustier 腐臭的 ; 霉濕味的 ; 【 = stale;stuffy】 過時的 ; 守舊的 【= old-fashioned】

more sentimental 情感的 ; 傷感的，充滿柔情的 ; 多愁善感

Reign 占上風；盛行 【= prevail 】

Peace reigns in the house. 房子里一片寧靜

Chaos and confusion reigned 充斥著混亂與迷茫

Nov 5th 2020

AT A CINEMA in Seoul eight middle-aged women in matching sky-blue hoodies, hair bands and face masks are sharing dried figs and persimmons as they chat and snap selfies. They have travelled from all over the country for the opening weekend of “Mr Trot”, a film based on a South Korean television show that aired earlier this year. In the show, a mix of washed-up and aspiring male crooners chosen from 15,000 applicants dress up in pastel suits and semi-unbuttoned silk shirts and sing old South Korean ballads to compete for the title of “Mr Trot”. The women, whose hoodies read “Lim Young-woong, you are my hero”, are members of an online fan club for the winner. They are not alone in their obsession: more than 30% of South Korean television-viewers tuned into the show’s final episode in March.

Hoodie 兜帽上衣

Fig 無花果 Dried/fresh figs 干/新鮮無花果

Persimmon 柿子（樹）

snap selfies 自拍

Air 播放

Washed-up 筋疲力盡的

Crooner 情歌手

Ballad 民謠; 情歌

在首爾的一家電影院里，八名中年婦女穿著相配的天藍色連帽衫、發帶和口罩，一邊聊天一邊自拍，一邊分享著干無花果和柿子。他們從全國各地趕來參加根據今年早些時候播出的韓國電視節目改編的電影《Mr Trot》的首映周末。在節目中，從15000名申請者中挑選出一批衣衫襤褸、志存高遠的男歌手，身著柔和的西裝和半解開紐扣的絲綢襯衫，唱著古老的韓國民謠，角逐“Mr Trot”的頭銜。這兩位女士的連帽衫上寫著“林煐岷，你是我的英雄”，她們是優勝者網上粉絲俱樂部的成員。他們并不是唯一一個沉迷其中的人：三月份，超過30%的韓國電視觀眾收看了該劇的最后一集。

Trot, which emerged in the early 20th century when the Korean peninsula was a Japanese colony, blends traditional Korean music with elements of the Japanese and Western popular songs of the era. It has long been ubiquitous in South Korea, but it has been a long time since it was considered cool—if it ever was. The ballads, with their cheesy melodies, melodramatic lyrics and repetitive beats are perennial favourites with drunken revellers in noraebang, or “singing rooms”, the South Korean equivalent of karaoke parlours. Songs about doomed romance, lost hometowns and the general tragedy of life blare from speakers at motorway service stations and from the radios of buses and taxis driven by older men. The more up-tempo numbers are beloved of political parties at election time, when candidates and activists regale voters with clunky dancing set to trot blasting from campaign lorries.

Cheesy 粗俗的；劣質的

Melodramatic 夸張的；情緒化的

Perennial 長期的；持久的

revellers 狂歡者

blare 發出 ; 響亮刺耳的聲音

service stations 服務站，服務區

Up-tempo 快節奏的

Numbers 舞曲

Regale sb with sth 用某物逗某人開心

Trot，出現在20世紀初朝鮮半島是日本殖民地的時候，融合了朝鮮傳統音樂和當時日本和西方流行歌曲的元素。在韓國，它早已無處不在，但它已經很久沒有被認為是酷的了。這些民謠旋律粗俗，歌詞夸張，節拍重復，一直是朝鮮半島醉酒狂歡者的最愛，也就是韓國相當于卡拉OK廳的“歌廳”。

高速公路服務站的演講者、老年人駕駛的公共汽車和出租車的收音機里，響起了關于注定的浪漫、失落的家鄉和人生悲劇的歌曲。

競選時，競選人和活動人士會從競選卡車上跳起笨重的舞蹈，以取悅選民，這些節奏較快的音樂深受政黨的喜愛。

But partly thanks to the popularity of “Mr Trot” and its predecessor “Miss Trot”, a similarly popular programme with female contestants that aired last year, the genre has gone from a sentimental throwback to a potent cultural force. The shows’ stars have become celebrities. In 2019 two of the three most popular music acts in South Korea were trot singers, eclipsed only by BTS, the world’s biggest boy band. Trot singers top the charts for streaming and record sales. Several new trot-themed television shows are trying to emulate the success of their famous predecessors. Companies selling everything from coffee to gas boilers have recruited trot stars to front advertising campaigns.

Throwback 返祖者；有舊時特點的人；

A lot of his work is a throwback to the fifties 他的許多作品有50年代的風格

eclipsed 遮住…的光 ; 使失色 ; 使相形見絀 ; 使喪失重要

Be eclipsed by 被..大大超過

The charts 每周排行榜

advertising campaigns 廣告戰，廣告宣傳活動

但部分原因是“Mr Trot”和它的前身“Miss Trot”的流行，Miss Trot是在去年播出的一個同樣受女性選手歡迎的節目，這類節目已經從一種感傷的倒退變成了一種強大的文化力量。這些節目的明星都成了名人。2019年，韓國三大最受歡迎的音樂表演中，有兩個是trot歌手，僅被世界上最大的男孩樂隊BTS超過。trot歌手在流媒體和唱片銷售排行榜上名列前茅。幾部以trot為主題的新電視節目正試圖效仿其著名前輩的成功。從咖啡到燃氣鍋爐的銷售公司都招募了trot明星來做廣告宣傳。

The trot renaissance owes a lot to South Korea’s other big musical genre, K-pop, as well as to covid-19. At the cinema in Seoul, the blue-hooded women explain that in running their fan club, they have been inspired by devotees of K-pop, who are notable not just for their ardour, but for their organisation. “We co-ordinate on social media to vote for our favourite candidates and stream their songs every day to make sure they make the charts,” says the 50-something woman with long hair and big glasses who has organised the outing and who became a trot fan while bored at home during the early days of the pandemic. Members’ age ranges from 40 to over 80. “If someone older doesn’t know how to do the right thing on their phone, we teach them.” This sort of activism is new for the middle-aged people who tend to listen to trot, says Son Min-jung of Korea National University of Education, who studies the history and cultural significance of the genre. “They used to be passive listeners—trot has always been popular, but now it’s visible,” she says.

Devotee 愛好者；獻身者；崇拜者

Stream 流播

If you visit their website, you can stream the whole album.

如果你瀏覽他們的網站，你可以通過流播在線收聽整張唱片。

Something 大約

Outing 郊游

Activism 激進主義

trot的復興在很大程度上歸功于韓國另一個大型音樂流派，K-pop，以及covid-19。在首爾的電影院里，這些戴藍帽的女性解釋說，她們在經營粉絲俱樂部的過程中，受到了K-pop愛好者的鼓舞，這些愛好者不僅以熱情著稱，而且以組織著稱。“我們在社交媒體上協調，為我們最喜歡的候選人投票，每天播放他們的歌曲，以確保他們登上排行榜，”這位50多歲的婦女說，她留著長發，戴著大眼鏡，她組織了這場郊游，在流感大流行初期，她在家里無聊的時候成了trot迷。會員年齡從40歲到80歲以上不等。韓國國立教育大學（Korea National University of Education）的Son Min jung研究trot的歷史和文化意義，她說這種激進主義對于喜歡trot的中年人來說是新鮮事。“如果年長的人不知道如何在手機上做正確的事情，我們會教他們。” 她說：“他們以前是被動的聽眾, trot一直很受歡迎，但現在它是可見的，”

And even though trot fans are much older than K-pop groupies, they are no more level-headed or dispassionate. The cinema in Seoul is full of middle-aged women who alternatively whoop and weep as their hero and his fellow contestants sing, dance and change into a dazzling array of costumes for two and a half plodding hours. Their only complaint is that “there could have been more about them hanging out together, just like brothers—because it’s not just about one of them winning, but all of them together.” That remark, too, could have come straight from a hardened BTS fan. ■

level-headed 頭腦冷靜的

Dispassionate 客觀公正的；冷靜的

Whoop 高呼

Weep 哭泣

盡管trot的粉絲們比K-pop的粉絲們老得多，但他們的頭腦并不冷靜。漢城的電影院里擠滿了中年婦女，在漫長的兩個半小時里，她們時而高聲叫喊，時而哭泣，看著她們的男主角和他的同伴選手們唱歌，跳舞，換上眼花繚亂的服裝。他們唯一的抱怨是，“本來應該有更多的他們聚在一起，就像兄弟一樣——因為這不只是一個人贏，而是他們所有人一起贏。” 這句話也可能直接來自于一個鐵桿的BTS粉絲。■