Onara (song)

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Onara 오나라 呼唤 (Theme Song to Dae Jang Geum)

Onara 오나라 呼唤 is the theme song to hugely popular television drama series Dae Jang Geum. Im Se Hyun(林世賢)composed the song in ancient Korean, and it is unintelligible to most Koreans today. The style of the song is called "pansori", also called "Korean Opera". Pansori is a particular style of Korean music that emerged during the Joseon era and was very popular in the 19th century. It utilizes the vocals of one singer, a Soriggun, and one drummer, a Gosu, to tell a themed story. The chorus (헤이야 디이야 헤이야 나라니노 he i ya di i ya he i ya na ra ni no) is called "choo-im-sae” in Korean. In traditional Pansori, choo-im-sae is supplied by the drummer to give rhythm to the song in addition to the beat. Choo-im-sae consists of vowel sounds with no meaning or short words of encouragement. Choom-im-sae is analogous to singing La, La, La, or Shoop, Shoop ba doop in a song.

Song Meaning: Since the song is in Ancient Korean the meaning of the song can be ambiguous. But one explanation is that the song depicts a girl who longs for a man that she cannot be with. So she accepts the way it is and moves on with her life.

Lyric Notes:The first line is in Hangul, the second line is the pronunciation of the Hangul, the third line is Chinese translation and the following lines are a translation from Korean to English.

Lyrics:

오나라 오나라 아주 오나

o na ra o na ra a ju o na

伊人欲來 何時歸來

Come! Come! Come to stay. (Would he come would he come, if I told him to come?)

가나라 가나라 아주 가나

ka na ra ka na ra a ju ka na

伊人欲去 何時離去

Leave! Leave! Leave for good. (Would he go, would he go, if I told him to go?)

나나니 다려도 못노나니

na na ni ta ryo do mou no na ni

我欲乘風飛翔 卻遍尋不著伊人蹤影

Even we fly around to pass by, we cannot play around together. (Even if I wait a thousand years we could never keep accompany)

아니리 아니리 아니노네

a ni ri a ni ri a ni no ne

伊人何在 留我獨自失落

No! No! We cannot stay together! (No, no, we could never be)

헤이야 디이야 헤이야 나라니노

he i ya di i ya he i ya na ra ni no

오지도 못하나 다려가마

o ji do mo ta na ta ryo ka ma

伊人你若不歸 請帶我一起離去

Even though you will not come, I will go! (You might as well take me out of here, since he won’t come)

헤이야 디이야 헤이야 나라니노 he i ya di i ya he i ya na ra ni no

오지도 못하나 다려가마

o ji do mo ta na ta ryo ka ma

伊人你若不歸 請帶我一起離去

Even though you will not come, I will go!