Children’s songs bring Asia together
Seven Asian countries — Korea, Mongolia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and the Philippines — have recently made a children’s song book together.
“Singing Asia to Live Together” was recently published by the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU), under the auspices of UNESCO and supported by the Korean Ministry of Education. The book was designed to be used by teachers who teach multiculturalism across the Asia-Pacific region.
“Singing Asia to Live Together” introduces children’s songs from seven countries across the Asia-Pacific region.
The 160-page book contains the scores to a total of 35 songs. It introduces five children’s songs from each of the seven countries. The songs are popular among elementary school kids in each country. The lyrics are written in the song’s native language as well as in Korean. Each of the songs and related material were provided with the cooperation of song writers and lyricists from the seven countries.
The themes of the songs range across toys, food, traditional holidays, school, animals, family members, nature, friends and markets. The topics cover the same common interests among children in all countries, regardless of borders. Tucked into the last page of the book is a DVD enabling readers to learn and listen to the songs.
The book has a brief explanation of the culture and historic background for each of the songs, in Korean and English. Each song comes with an illustration and some related play activities, such as dances, how to make a crown out of colored paper, how to draw traditional costumes and even a quiz.
For the Indonesian song “Ampar-Ampar Pisang,” or “Arranging Bananas,” the book includes a recipe for the dried bananas mentioned in the song.
Each of the songs in the book is introduced in Korean and in its native language, along with a Korean or English explanation. The above pictures show the song from the Philippines “Bahay Kubo,” or “Nipa Hut.”
APCEIU Director Chung Utak said that music is a powerful tool that enables communication between cultures. “I hope the songs in this book can become important resources to realize the value of living together in a global community,” he said.
To download the PDF of the book, click https://www.korea.net/pdfcontent/news/singing_asia_en.pdf or visit the APCEIU homepage serviced in Korean and English. https://www.unescoapceiu.org
By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr