ABSTRACT
Most urban youths in the second half of 1970s Korea would be familiar with the acronym “t’ongpul-saeng” referring to the three identifiers of youth culture at the time: t’ong (guitar), pul-luchin (blue jeans), and saeng-maek-ju (draft beer) (Kim 2013). T’ong-guitar, the first identifier, is a portmanteau of the Korean word “t’ong,” meaning “a container,” and the English loan word “guitar.” Koreans called an acoustic guitar a “t’ong-guitar” because the resonating body of the acoustic guitar resembled a hollow box. This term was then used to designate a particular period in Korean cultural history known as the t’ong-guitar boom. As t’ong-guitar singers enjoyed great popularity, the young Koreans, clad in blue jeans and exhibiting long hairdos, would emulate these singers by learning to play acoustic guitar while listening to their favorite t’ong-guitar singers and drinking draft beer at music halls in Myŏngdong, a downtown area in Seoul (Chŏng 2006, 83).
