아리랑은 본디 강원도와 그 인근지역의 향토민요로서 나무하기, 나물뜯기, 모심기, 논매기, 밭매기, 삼삼기 등과 같이 산과 들, 그리고 집안에서 이런 저런 일을 할 때, 그리고 여럿이 어울려 놀거나 혼자 있어 무료할 때 부르던 노래이다. 다시 말하면, 아리랑은 향촌사회의 일반 주민들이 일상 속에서 흔히 부르는, 특별하지 않은 노래인 것이다.
삶의 어려움이 어느 사회나 존재하는 것이라고 한다면, 어려움을 말하고, 또 어려움을 견디게 하는 문화적 기능의 수요 또한 늘 존재하는 것이다. 그러므로 아리랑은 어려운 자들을 위한 문화, 그리고 어려운자들의 문화로서 계속 유효한 가치를 지니고 있음을 말할 수 있다.Arirang is originally a rural folksong that originated from Gangwondo and has been distributed to the surrounding area. The residents in the area have sung Arirang on a daily basis as they worked in their fields and home:rice-planting, weeding the rice paddy and the dry rice field, gathering firewood, picking herbs, spinning hemp for clothes, etc. They also sang this song for pleasure or to pass time. In short, Ariang was considered an ordinary work-song that residents routinely sang in the countryside.
There are three classes of rural Arirang songs; Ararai, Jajinarari, and Yokkumarari. Arari is a variety of Arirang that was transformed into a popular folksong in urban areas in the middle of 19th century by Sadangpae, wondering troupe. The Sadangpae performers arranged Arari to fit the troupe’s professional and urban music style. In this process they called new arranged song Arirangtaryong. The current scholarly name of this song is Jajinarirang.
Jajinarirang gained popularity with Korean laborers during the reconstruction of Gyungbok Palace(1865~1867). Many of them would sing it after they went home. As a result, this song had become vogie nationwide. Because of Jajinarirang’s popularity, a movie based on the song was made in 1926, called “Arirang”. In this movie, the theme song was a specially arranged version of Jajinarirang called the Bonjoarirang. This particular song, as did the movie, became a huge it. Under the inspiration of enthusiastic response to Bonjoarirang, musicians in the 1930s began making pop versions of the Arirang Recently pop song Arirang is producing in diverse genres; trot, ballad, rock, hip-hap, dance etc.
Though there is high diversity of Arirang songs today, Arirang at its core is a sociocultural song. Arirang is the song of the weak, or person faced life’s difficulties. Usually, people who were seen to have sung the Arirang were considered nonpersons or poorer, lower-class citizens as deemed by the status system in the traditional Korean society and by the Japanese military during the colonial period. Despite all this, Arirang has persisted in the Korean national mindset and will probably never leave anytime soon.