From diving for a living to singing onstage, the women spent decades as haenyeo in Busan's coastal villages
Eight women who have spent decades working in Busan's fishing villages have formed a trot group, turning their stories into a song.
The Moon-o-seong Trot Girls, made up of women born between 1950 and 1956, have released their debut song, "Story of Moon-o-seong," which draws on their experiences in eastern Busan's coastal villages.
Moon-o-seong refers to five towns — Mundong, Munseo, Munsang, Munjung and Munha — in Illgwang-eup, Gijang-gun in eastern Busan.
"The dreaming sea, seaweed and kelp, full of happiness. This is our Mun-o-seong story."
The song captures the joys and sorrows of fishing village life. The members participated in writing the lyrics, while composer Cho Tae-joon wrote the music.
Most of the members have spent their lives in the area, working on scallion farms in Gijang. One member, Noh Young-ae, has been a haenyeo, Korea's traditional female diver, for around 40 years.
The song's music video features six members in matching black dresses, performing synchronized choreography in a format familiar to K-pop.
The project was initially designed to encourage older residents to write poetry as part of the Fishing Village New Vitality Enhancement Project led by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The idea took a different path after the organizer noticed that seniors enjoyed singing karaoke for five or six hours at a time, prompting them to hold trot classes instead, which eventually led to the formation of the group.
The members' journey to their debut was documented online on the Mundong Community Area's Fishing Village New Vitality Enhancement Project Instagram page, sharing glimpses of the members taking singing and dancing lessons and recording the album.
The organizing committee is reportedly working on a documentary film about the history of women in Mun-o-seong, with the group's debut process at the center.
mjcha@heraldcorp.com
