Alright - it's Friday of a long weekend. Let's be happy and talk about something fun. Let's talk about music and K-pop. Let's talk about ... trot music. Here comes the thread.

Trot [트로트] is a way underrated genre in Korean pop music, unfairly denigrated as corny music for old people. No! Trot is the first Western pop music of Korea, and its influence is deeply ingrained in every aspect of Korean pop music, including idol pop, rock and hip hop.

Because of its long history, there is so many different angles to approach trot. In this thread, I'll focus on the music itself.

The one music term you need to remember about trot: the yona-nuki scale. This is what gives trot its distinctive sound.

As the name suggests, yona-nuki scale is a Japanese scale. It is a pentatonic scale, missing 4 and 7 of the seven note scale. This means yona-nuki major is: do-re-mi-sol-la (missing fa and ti). Yona-nuki minor is: la-ti-do-mi-fa (missing re and sol).

Chances are, you previously heard the yona-nuki major scale a lot - because it's the opening six notes of My Girls by The Temptations. Listen for it - it is do-re-mi-sol-la-do.

Pentatonic scales are globally common. You can hear it in folk songs, blues, and also - traditional music of Japan and Korea. When Japan began importing the Western music scale in the early 20th C, it adjusted the scale to fit its folk music, which is the yona-nuki scale.

Because Korea was Japan's colony at the time, Korea's pop musicians picked up Western style composition from Japan. The first music that they composed using the yona-nuki scale came to be known as trot: Korea's first indigenous genre of pop music.

When people think of the music of trot, the first thing they usually think of is the infamous duple beat (the "ppong-jjak" beat"). Archetype is Lady Camelia by Lee Mi-ja (1964). But make no mistake - it's not the beat but the scale that makes trot.

Specifically, trot music is predominantly composed on yona-nuki *minor* scale, whose progression of major third+minor second resembles Korea's southern style folk songs. This is important: in the most popular Korean pop music, you hear the la-ti-do-mi-fa over and over again.

Where might you hear the yona-nuki scale? You can hear it from 2NE1's I Love You (2012). Take away the dance beat and it's unmistakable.

Wanna hear yona-nuki minor scale applied to a hard-charging rock music? Here's Mirror by Gukkasten (2010). The opening riff is up and down the yona-nuki scale.

You can even hear it in hip hop. Here is Tasty San by San E (2010). Listen carefully to the underlying melody, which surfaces in the bridge.

The music of trot answers an important question for the study of K-pop: is there such a thing as a distinctive K-pop sound? Trot says yes. Korea's first home-grown Western style pop music lives through today's Korean pop music.

Last point about trot. Because trot originates from the 1930s before Korea was divided, trot is the only pop music genre that North and South Koreas have in common, since all other pop music genres (rock, hip hop) came through Americans stationed in Seoul.

Since North Korea doesn't have much pop culture where they could experiment with lots of genres, what little pop music NK produces leans way more on the trot tunes. It sounds a lot like... Jo Yong-pil, S Korea's 80s star who also enjoyed massive popularity in NK.

The two Koreas have been separated for over 75 years. If reunification does come, trot tunes will be the music that unites the pop music taste of the two Koreas. /end