Chae Soo-jung, a professor at Korea National University of Arts, a master of the World Pansori Association
The performance started at 3 p.m. and ended at 7 p.m. I didn't feel like I had "watched" the work, but rather that I had "done it with" it. Chae Soo-soo Wanchang's pansori "Red Wall" at the National Theater of Korea earlier this year was a personal culture shock. Pansori Wanchang is a performance in which a single performer sings an entire courtyard for up to three hours or eight hours.
It was my first time seeing a wanchang performance in real time. Pansori Wanchang is often compared to a marathon. It requires stamina to keep going for long periods of time, memory to remember many lines, quick wit to make jokes so that the audience doesn't get bored, communication with the drummer, and breathing control. Chae Soo-soo's performance exceeded all expectations.
A professor at the Korea National University of Arts, Chae is a national intangible cultural property pansori hengbo, and is working to create the World Pansori Association in 2022 to promote pansori around the world. Where does he find the energy to perform, train students, and live a busy life that barely fills twenty-four hours a day? I wanted to find the answer to that question as I headed to the campus of the Korea National University of Arts in Seokgwan-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, where his lab is located.
Pansori is "the sound of a barrel."
When she knocked on the lab door, she greeted the reporter with a big smile on her face. One side of the wall was full of old books, drums, and janggu related to Korean traditional music CDs. As soon as I sat down, an article in the morning newspaper came to mind and made it a hot topic first.
The foreign artistic director who organizes the Gwangju Biennale said in an interview with the domestic media, "I will open a board where everyone speaks without boundaries like Pansori." I wondered how foreigners know Pansori sentiment, and moreover, Pansori in art exhibitions has become so globalized. The word "Pansori" must have become a common noun.
"There was such an interview. It's such good news as a singer."
I don't know if it's a question I can ask in front of a master singer, but in that sense, a fundamental question arises: "What is a pansori?" In dictionary language, it can be said that it is a performing art in which a singer with a fan mixes songs (chang), words (no), and gestures (balim) to the master's rhythm and weaves together a story.
"What is Pansori? I haven't heard that question in a long time (laughs). When I say 'Pansori,' Pansori is a spatial concept in which something happens, such as 'wrestling board,' 'play board,' 'play board,' 'kill board,' 'pan,' and 'eat board.' It's not just an objectified stage, but an open space. There's a sound in it. There's also the concept of 'the sound of the barrel,' which has an end to it from the beginning."
What is "the sound of the barrel".
"It's so-called storytelling. For example, the story of Simcheong going through trials since she was born, throwing herself in the water, and meeting her father again later is a whole story.
The most important thing is "sound." When we call a song, we mean singing the lyrics in the human voice. The sound of pansori is much wider. There are wind sounds, water sounds, birds sounds and even ghost sounds. For example, Chunhyang, who draws Lee Do-ryeong in Chunhyangga, is about to die tomorrow in prison, and there are many sounds of ghosts. How many sounds do you have to express when you have to make such a sound? In vocalization, people do not use their head or chest, but use breathing that pushes out from the danjeon, so they make sounds in caves and under waterfalls. Pansori's charm is that it hone in nature to get the sound of danjum."
While I was at it, I asked him back to the history of Pansori.
"The names that refer to Pansori come out in various ways, such as sounds, spears, and taryeong, depending on the literature. In the 20th century, the name 'Pansori' as we now call it began to be used in earnest. It is difficult to pinpoint when it was established, but it is widely believed that it was created mainly by the working class in the mid and late 17th century.
There is a view that it occurred mainly in the Honam area, but it seems true that it was spread nationwide. There was a genre called Dongpyeonjeni, Seopyeonjeni, and Yukjabaegi, shamanic music Ssitgim Exorcism, and many master singers, but there were also master singers in Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheong-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, and Gyeongsangbuk-do. Sound also has its own pattern.
For example, Chungcheong-do Pansori is a little calm, but the words themselves are like that. In Pansori, not only singers but also 'guimyeongchang' who listen to the sound properly are important, but there were many people in Hamgyeong-do. There was also a saying that 'I learned the sound in Namdo and went to Hamgyeongdo to clean the sound'. Anyway, the entire Joseon Peninsula was the land of Pansori."
What the trot craze is missing.
Not only is she a singer, but she is also a scholar of pansori. She studied at Ewha Womans University's Korean Music Department and became the first Ph.D. in pansori music, and obtained a master's degree at Kyung Hee University's Korean Literature Department by studying pansori editorials, a classic literature. It is said that her desire to study pansori as a literature was triggered by watching Korean literature scholars visiting his teacher (Park Song-hee, a human cultural asset) to learn sounds.
Dongpyeonje and Seopyeonje are so famous that there is a preconceived notion that only the Honam region flourished.
"It's a concept that came out as the theorists organized it, divided it regionally, and put the style within the framework."
Since there are few opportunities to appreciate pansori separately, I feel like I should study with my head, not my chest.
"In the old days, Pansori was criticized for obscene rumors, social satire, and corrupt officials. When people gathered naturally, they played drums and did it like a musical. The art director of the Gwangju Biennale, as mentioned earlier, properly understands the openness of Pansori in that respect.
Pansori flourished in the 19th century, and it had been a popular entertainment for ordinary people until then. Then, it became a culture where aristocrats also enjoy themselves. "Eojeon clown," which is sung in front of the king, also appears. As a result, the story becomes solemn and transforms into a Confucian content that the four godfathers like. Daewongun also liked pansori."
Speaking of clown, I can picture a singer singing in front of a noble class like an old Western opera.
"That's right. Pansori clowns, who were in the lower classes, are rising in status. It becomes motivation and fierce competition and training begins, creating a school, but on the other hand, they have lost their freedom of expression. Things like powdery taryeong and baebijangjeon have disappeared altogether because they are called male and female seniority."
How was it during the Japanese colonial era.
"It's ironic that we were in that era. With Western culture coming in and recording begins, master singers are making noises in front of the standing microphone. It has been preserved as a sound source, and thus research and guidance are possible. It is said that more than 100,000 copies of Im Bang-ul's album "Sugyeom" were sold during the Japanese colonial era."
She said it was most regrettable that Pansori lost its original form through Japanese colonial era and liberation.
"After the liberation of Korea, many masters defected to the North. The teachers who raised disciples including Oh Tae-seok and Jeong Nam-hee, as well as the Park Dong-sil master who wrote 'Yeolsaga', went up and the power was cut off. I started to sound around 1980, and I was so prejudiced that I immediately heard the sound of 'Are you trying to become a gisaeng?'" When I was young, I played the piano and started playing a choir when I entered Korean classical music high school. Originally, I was going to play gayageum, but the teacher said, 'You do pansori', so I changed my career path. One day, Ahn Sook-sun came to school and taught me folk songs by a farmer, and I was so touched that when I hear a good sound, that feeling comes back to me."
She met her teacher, Park Song-hee, when she was a second grader at Gugak High School, and studied there for more than 30 years until 2017, when her teacher passed away. Then, in 2011, she won the Presidential Award at the Imbul Gugak Festival and became one of the best singers.She frequently sang "Heungboga" and "Red Byeokga" in Korea and overseas including the U.S., Japan, the U.K., France and Brazil.
Chae Soo-jeong, a great singer at the 2007 Imbul Gugak Festival, won the grand prize. [Reporter Jeon Young-han of the Dong-A Ilbo]
Jindo is the hometown and the atmosphere of the house made pansori a daily routine.
"I grew up in a culture where my father and aunts enjoyed singing Jindo Arirang, Pansori, and Yukjabaegi from an early age. They were especially good at singing, and there were even full-song presentations when my family got together.
When I entered university, there was a boom in pansori creation as Madangnori was created, and there was an attempt to modernize it by creating an indoor band under the name of "Gukak song," but there was also a side effect of losing its original form. If the original form could have been saved more, the repertoire would have grown more and more abundant….”
She was more concerned about the Korean traditional music industry as a whole than about bragging about herself.
It seems welcome to see young people making and enjoying modernized Korean traditional music, including pansori.
"The situation is a little different. It may be due to the decrease in the population, but the number of people who are all-in in Pansori has decreased. With the trot boom, people go there a lot. Friends who can succeed in Pansori keep getting calls from outside, so they go there.
Of course, from my point of view, it's nice to see the disciples on television, and it's nice to see them sing in pansori, so it's definitely effective in promoting pansori. However, as a teacher, there are many times when it's sad that students who can be great singers use up their talents too quickly. It's natural to go toward newness, but I think about who will protect the original seeds.
Intangible cultural properties such as pansori will disappear when the holders die. Sound should be connected from mouth to mouth, from breathing to breathing, knees to knees. We said, "Teachers learn how to make sounds by eating saliva." I had pride in gaining the world by playing poetry for more than 20 years as if I were polishing my Tao. Pansori comes alive only when the so-called masterful singing continues."
The commentary published by Cha Soo-jeong, a singer and theorist
A lonely and arduous state of sound
Who judges that it is a state of sound.
"It's a difficult question. If the life of a singer is set at 60 or 70 years, he or she learns 20 years from a teacher and teaches solo for 10 years. And the rest of the time is teaching students and teaching pansori to people.
In any case, the point of attaining a high note is whether it is okay to study for 30 years or not, but how can people study for 30 years now? I can't force it. I'm actually in a huge dilemma."
As she poured out her words, she paused with a sigh and continued.
"It's very difficult to be at the level of acquisition. It's the same as asking the great monk, 'Did you achieve it?' Anyway, to answer the question, 'I don't know that level, but I know'. I have no choice but to say this."
I need an explanation.
"I don't know what that state is, but I can see a very subtle point of finding it."
Does it increase the range that you can digest.
"It's a level where you can make all the sounds you want to express. It's a level where you freely make high, low, loud, and small sounds, and sing with your heart beyond understanding the meaning of the lyrics. Pansori is a one-person play. From men, women, and the elderly, there are times when you have to make a baby voice, and there are various jobs. Aren't the characters in 'Red Wall Street' soldiers? Besides that, I said you have to make ghost sounds. I can say that I learned all these things when I wanted to express myself. In fact, it is difficult and difficult to get to the point of high-pitched sound, whether all art areas are tangible or intangible."
When it comes to sound, I often think of the image of training under a waterfall.
"It takes a process of choking and bursting to acquire. It's to destroy the throat and gain that energy during our "100-day study" training in the mountains. If you keep singing while your voice is hoarse because you're focused on waterfalls or caves, you only gain strength and no sound, but that's when you gain air power. Then, at some point, my stomach gets energized and makes a little sound. That's how you have to do it, but young people these days can't practice it."
For example, is Maria Callas a learned one.
"She has a very good vocalization with her waist down on the danjeon. I also like the sounds of Maria Callas and Pavarotti. I also love "The Saddest Thing" by Melanie Saffka (laughs). Pansori is not the only thing. It's unique that he sings for four hours, five hours, six hours and eight hours a day."
I was surprised too. It must be hard to memorize the lyrics. How is that possible.
"Because you speak as you speak. That's actually the essence of sound. Opera is not "as you speak." When I hear from vocalists, it hurts my vocal cords."
When "My Lovelyz" comes, it's going to be a big hit
Pansori has 12 fixed yards, including Chunhyangga, Simcheongga, Jeokbyeokga, and Sugungga. In a way, it's a repetition of the same song.
"My child teases me saying, 'My mom always does Heungbo.' Heungbo is Lee Soo-ja, and Park Rok-ju and Park Song-hee have been singing the same song for 30 years, and my daughter is now 29 years old, and she still listens to Heungbo that she used to hear from her stomach. But it's different every time she sings it. The 'Gwimyeongchang's songs say, 'Chae Su-jeong's sound is different from last year and it's different this year.' "
I love the word "gwisungchang." It makes the audience the main character.
"They listen to every single sound of singers without missing out." In the case of classical music, enthusiasts say Maria Callas knows the sound is different when she is put on weight and when she is out of it. It gives her perfection points based on how many times she spins and how beautiful she jumps. Pansori is a performance in which your emotions are mixed together with the audience. When bright-witted singers come, the game will be completely revived.
There are many expressions called Pansori as well, and noble singers follow them well and cheer for them together. If it goes well, they put in 'Eolshigu' and 'Good' chuimsae on the spot. If I express this visually, I have to go all the way to 'Red', but when I can only go red pink, I cheer for 'Eolshigu' and drag myself up to 'Red'. So even if they are the same Heungbo, it is always different because the audience is different.
When I was young, there was a "Bukbang" in Jongno where famous singers from all over the country played drums. Some of them have listened to pansori for 20 to 30 years and even learned the personal history of famous singers. When I shouted in front of them for hours, they said, "I have to live more life to get hungry properly, and I have to feel more sorrow."
Dream of Pansori wearing Hanbok beyond the race
If you compare your pansori imagination to life?
"That's another difficult question (laughs). Pansori's lyrics are old but in my heart, they are all current stories. The stories of Choonhyang, Heungbu, Shimcheong and Jeokbyeokga are all old stories, but they all exist in my current life. They include love, hatred, power struggles and various human lives. Jeokbyeokga is the most spectacular story that crosses life and death.
Among the red wall songs, I particularly like 'Saetaryeong', where a million soldiers who died in the Red Wall River become birds that resent Jojo and emit resentment. 'The mountain stream is rugged and the trees are shoddy...Every bird has a story, starting with "Joongmori rhythm," and trying to cure the disease, and birds trying to overcome poverty. When I sing while expressing it, I feel as if I am in a red wall. Jeokbyeokga is based on China's "Three Kingdoms," and Korea is the only country that makes and sings this song. It is not found in China either. I think Pansori contains universal emotions and values not only for the Republic of Korea but also for the entire human race.
"In the past, I used to sing at a portrait house. I didn't just cry (actually playing pansori) but I was like, "Oh, oh, how did you go? When are you coming now? Please tell me earlier. That's what pansori is about."
Does it comfort you if you make a sound.
"It's so healing because I'm pouring out what's inside."
It's also good for depression (laughs).
"There are a lot of people who have been treated for depression. They can communicate with people and make themselves stand out. In this season, I went hiking and climbed to the top of the mountain (in Pansori) and (in Pansori again) and the flowers of that mountain are in spring. Spring has come, but the world has come, but I feel lonely." Please express your feelings to nature. You will feel refreshed."
How did the World Pansori Association come to be made.
"I got a hint from the 'World Taekwondo Federation' when I thought Pansori should have a channel to communicate with the world. Taekwondo is also done together, so let's do Pansori together, aimed at the world!" That's what I thought.
There is a Korean boom in King Sejong Institute all over the world. In Vietnam, the second language is Korean. I've been there, and everyone loved it. I don't need musical instruments. I even made textbooks with the support of the Seoul Cultural Foundation. I want to go overseas and educate them, and have a "World Pansori Festival" where they come to Korea and "laugh together." I'm so happy just to dream about the day when all black and white people gather and sing Pansori in Hanbok."
One of his students was a Cameroonian-French Mapo Lor.
"I'm a senior this year. I was born in 1984, but I finished my master's degree in France and came back to Korea. I went to Samsung Electronics' French branch and I was hooked on Chunhyang's performance of 'Sukdae head' at the Korean Cultural Center, where I went to learn Korean, so I changed my life."
Do foreigners understand the sentiment of Han contained in Pansori.
"After studying pansori as a singer all my life, I realized that Han's emotions transcend national borders and not just us. The unresolved sadness in life, the heaviness of the process of trying to solve problems, the joys and sorrows of human beings, and the pain of life and death are the emotions of Han that all human beings regardless of country or nationality. Therefore, I understand the lyrics very well."
The Dalai Lama said, "Kindness is religion." I felt it at the concert, but I felt a very warm energy. Is Pansori the energy.
"Every single Pansori is a humanities textbook. Anyone who sings with emotion must have the energy of love. I have to talk about my teacher in this passage."
Park Song-hee was a person who looked into the shadow of her life. Although she was a human cultural asset, she was too poor and lived a hard life. However, she was a true educator. When I went to the concert hall, she took care of the security guard first, the woman in the dressing room, and the restaurant first, and she was considerate of others and was humble and approached the invisible place first. I studied with great love from my teacher. Pansori and life were one thing. My power to do pansori has come from my teacher. I think I am living through that virtue because you have given me everything generously."
By Reporter Heo Min-jeong, May 10, 2024,
Quoted article from <Shindonga magazine>
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