Pansori: A Story in Song
In an echoing theater, the beat of drums punctuates a haunting voice. As the singer narrates a tale of kings, deities, and heroes, her voice fluctuates with every scene, wavering with sadness and expanding with rage. This performance, called pansori (판소리), is a form of traditional Korean musical storytelling.
Pansori roughly translates into two parts: “pan” meaning a gathering of people, and “sori” meaning sound. Typically performed by a vocalist and a percussionist, this art form incorporates singing, speaking, rhythm, and motion to portray various stories. These performative tales can last from three to eight hours, often drawing from ancient literature to detail a character’s life. Pansori singers endure arduous training to learn the full range of vocal sounds, tones, and extensive repertoire, and many experienced performers are lauded for their mastery of a particular epic.
Originating during the Korean Joseon dynasty as a shamanistic ritual, pansori became a tradition of oral storytelling among villagers. Soon, the art form grew in popularity among elite circles, adding scholarly literary works to pansori’s repertoire. With the upper classes’ support, pansori glided through a golden age, developing vocal techniques and combining folk songs into the performances. Shin Jae-hyo, a pansori patron, paved the way for such advancements by collating and altering songs to the aristocracy’s preferences and by instructing Jin Chae-seon, regarded as the first female master of pansori. After the advent of recording technology and the Japanese occupation of Korea, live pansori performances faded in prevalence. However, in the 1960s, the South Korean government named pansori an Intangible Cultural Property, sparking a return to the genre.
In the 21st century, though the genre remains relatively niche, the growing number of pansori performers have found audiences among students, scholars, and the elite. Some have even ventured into pansori fusion music, including pansori-classical music and pansori-rap, evolving this ancient tradition with modern times.
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