Emotion Stimulation and Aspiration of the Folk Songs: In Korean and Hungarian Folk Songs

Folk songs serve the function of giving the singer strength to live again by evoking his emotions and expressing his inner wishes. In traditional society, the common people were ruled and suffered from poverty, labor, and social inequality. While singing folk songs, a process of emotional stimulation occurred that allowed them to escape current negative emotions and adopt positive and optimistic perceptions. By expressing specific wishes, they overcame the difficulties of reality. Communal wishes were stated as well as personal wishes in case of a national or ethnic crisis. In this article, Korean and Hungarian folk songs are compared to examine how the people evoked their suppressed emotions and how they overcame them with their aspirations, thereby examining the universality and uniqueness of folk songs.