44 - Korean Pansori Musical Storytelling equalizing the entertainment across societal barriers

Among Korea’s oral traditions, Pansori Musical Storytelling is full of epic stories and folklore drama, performed along with audience participation. Yes, the audience participation is part of the Pansori performance.

A solo performer who sings and narrates folktales must have an audience who verbally cheers, reacts to the climax of a scene, and helps the performer build up the spiritual and physical energy to the culmination of the story.

A combination of singing called "Chang," plus verbal storytelling called "Aniri," and body language performance called "Nuhreumsae," a Pansori piece can go on for up to eight long hours. The drummer provides the pace while the audience energizes the storyteller with encouraging shouts, adlibs and cheers all along the way.

The word "Pan" in Pansori means gathered crowds to join in the festivities, and the "Sori" means singing or storytelling in front of an audience.

While the Pansori oral tradition has always been popular with the masses sharing some roots with ancient shamans who were the original storytellers and public performers, Pansori repertoire is riddled with old proverbs and idioms, the big words in Hanja characters called gosa-seong-eo.

When elite educated singers from the Yangban ruling class during Joseon Dynasty broke societal class distinctions and joined the ranks of Gwangdae, an occupation of one of the lowest social classes, the entertainers and shamans, "Pansori performers were granted to wear Yanban class attires." according to Kim Yong-geun, Director of Jirisan Cultural Resources Research Center.

Gwangdae which originally was mask-wearing performers, but it became the trade name of Pansori Storytellers during the Joseon period according to written records.

When Yangban elites started singing Pansori, the literate elites institutionalized the Pansori repertoire with Hanja vocabularies and elevated Pansori into a national entertainment genre which the Kings enjoyed.

"Many of the documented early Pansori storytellers are Sundal, the educated Yangban who hold no government posts. When Gwangdae performers went around the country telling stories of corrupt bureaucrats and tragic stories of people's sufferings, the central government acted on the news and would dispatch undercover inspectors to regions appearing in Pansori stories. The Pansori performing Gwangdae were indeed intelligence gathers who had access to ears of high ranking officials and even the King." said Kim who has been researching Pansori since 1987.

Namwon City in South Jeolla Province has a long tradition of big names in pansori establishing Dongpyeonje, the style of pansori developed in areas east of the Seomjin River, centering around Namwon and Gurye. Seopyeonje originates from areas west of Seomjin River, including Gwangju, Gochang and Jindo.

Song Heung-rok (1801-1863), one of the founders of Dongpyeonje Pansori, even held a very high ranking government post, Jeong 3-poom, a third position in ranking from the top, is revered in his hometown in Namwon City along with 49 names of accomplished Myeongchang Pansori storytellers from the Joseon Dynasty period.

One of the classic Pansori stories, Simcheongga is a story of Sim Cheong who became an empress, set in the year 1085 during the Goryeo Empire when there was a vibrant trading between the Goryeo and Song dynasty.

Sim Cheong's parents Sim Hak-gyu who became blind in his twenties and his wife Lady Gwak discuss "bulhyo-samcheon is muhu-widae" which means "of the three thousand unfilial acts, not having any offsprings is the worst sin."

The Simcheongga Pansori epic story is about a daughter whose filial piety of making the ultimate sacrifice in an effort to have her blind father Sim Hak-gyu regain his eyesight, moved the gods and became an empress upon resurrection from being offered to the sea gods for safe passage of merchant ships.

During the Goryeo period, Gaegyeong, the capital of Goryeo, had 25 gates to the city linking roads from all directions to modern day Gaesung city. The Royal Palace was called Hwangseong the Emperor's Palace and fortress with five gates to get in and out the fortress. Neighboring kingdoms such as Japan addressed the Goryeo ruler as an Emperor in diplomatic communiques.

During Lady Gwak's quest to conceive a child, Gwak turns to all known Korean deities to pray for conception. Gwak visits Buddhist temples in well known mountains, house of spirits called Youngsindang, ancient graves, and ancestral hall of assorted spirits, not to mention visiting stone buddhas and Maitreya buddha which Koreans call Mileug, the future messiah in Buddhism.

Upon conception, Lady Gwak would follow strict prenatal guidelines during her gestation which include:
* Doing only the right things.
* Only eat food which is neatly cut.
* Don't listen to any obscenity.
* Don't look at anything negative.

Lady Gwak would deliver a healthy baby girl, but tragically dies from postpartum illness.

The entertainment is enhanced when pansori is articulated in emotionally charged song, along with a tragic story line and emphatic expression of body language.

Such is the scene in which Lady Gwak, Sim Cheong’s mother, dies after giving birth -- the pansori singer collapses onto the floor, landing on her bottom and wails loudly with tears running down.

“Crying and wailing is the most difficult and draining part of pansori, as it takes a lot out of you,” said Myeongchang Heo Ae-sun, 54, of the National Folk Music Center. Heo has completed singing the entire four-hour “Simcheongga.”

Myeongchang Heo was raised on Jindo Island, one of the cradles of primitive religion shamanism in Korea. Heo’s mother, Mrs. Ahn Jeong-ja, 76, is a Jindo Ssitkkimgut shaman. ”When I first told my mother that I would like to learn pansori, my mother was elated and signed me up for pansori lessons,“ Heo said.

The West Sea, which appears in the Simcheongga, has always had turbulent waters full of calamities. The direction of the tide in the West Sea changes every six hours. Merchant ships navigating in the West Sea often get caught up in the swirls that occur around rocky islands.

In many places in the west Sea, researchers find evidence of ceremonial sacrifices which sailors often made to please the turbulent and violent seas.

When human sacrifices were outlawed, animals such as horses and human figures made of stones were thrown into the waters as offerings.

When Sim Cheong was resurrected by gods and sent to the Emperor's Palace, Sim Cheong invited blind people from all over.

The blind father, elder Sim traveled a figurative thousand li, about 400 kilometers to reach the Emperor's Palace where upon discovering his deceased daughter, regained his eyesight in a state of extreme shock.

Despite all the ongoing cheering in real time, the Pansori storytelling, which is on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is an exhausting performance.

“It takes a lot of energy. Several people I know don’t want to perform the complete songs, saying it causes shortened lifespan,” said Heo.

“I built up my stamina and strength for at least two months before the performance. I’m a picky eater usually, but during that month I ate lots of meat combined with cardio exercises and stretching,” said Heo.

“I gained at least 2 kg in the last month,” Heo added.

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