RI Research Pansori and Brecht

RI Notes - Pansori / Brecht

Question?? - How can the elements of performance in Pansori be related to Bertolt Brecht's use of Music and song in (play: caucasian chalk circle??)

Repetoire of Pansori - http://www.gugak.go.kr/download/data/dict_20101124194029.pdf

• Danga
• short warm-up song
• sets the tone for the performance
• lyrical and plain stories (contrast to dramatic pansori)
• about historical episodes, famous sights or transience of life
• Song describing gyeongbok palace and bidding safety and peace to king and country
• song about korean mountains
• som about clouds and winds
• lament to the transience of the times and life
• song about moon watching
• Batang and Madang - groups of music or other forms of entertainment
• 12 tales in pansori during Joseon period
• Gwanuhui - chinese poetry book writing in 1820 briefly introduces the stories of twelve batang 
• ga - song of tale
• taryeong - tune or ballad
• jeon - story
• Shift from commoners to elite
• Catered to musical and literary taste
• Only five batang remain today - believed to be didactic and palatable to an upper class - reached higher class after 19th century
• Historical episodes and chinese phrases appealing to elite were added to the texts

5 Batang:

Chunhyanga-ga 

• Transmitted orally
• theme: love between a man and a woman, women's chastity
• Set in Namwon (Southern Jeolla pro vine)
• about love between Chunhyang (daughter of former gidaeng, a female entertainer) and Yi Mongryong (son of governor of Namwon)
• Plot: Chunhyang is wel educated and cultivated be spite being the daughter of a gisaeng. On holiday of Dano (spring holiday) chunhyang joins other single young women to play and ride a swing in a public park (Gwanghallu). Yi Mongryong sees Chunhyang and falls in love. He visit Chunhyang's mother and receives permission to marry her even though his family is unaware of this. Two come to love each other despite gap in social status. Yi's father receives promotion and must move. Lovers must part without knowing when they will meet. New governor of Namwom (Byeon Hakdo: arrogant, lascivious) tries to force Chunhyang to become his concubine. She reduces and is made to endure extreme hardship. Chunhyang's mother becomes bitter and resentful toward son-in-law. He turns up in shabby clothing and is turned out because of her daughter's situation and his poverty. Hakdo hosts big party with government officials and the climax of the celebration is to be Chunhyang execution. Mongryong has been hiding his real identity as a government inspector and takes Hakdo by surprise during his feast. Hakdo is punished for his misrule and for sexually harassing Chunhyang. Chunhyang resigns herself to death at the hands of Hakdo, unaware of Yi's new position. When he shows her his ring that Chunhyang gave him, she knows that he is back. Their genuine love marks the climax of the story. 
• Provides satire on the corruption and behaviour of the ruling class (Hakdo). 
• Chunhyangs defiance of hakdo as a woman displays tenacity and quality of a liberal and speaks on behalf of marginalised people
• Themes morals: love between two characters and lessons about good and evil
• Story told by narrator
• Each performer is different and makes their own unique performance and mark. Some create new songs and new motions to tell the story in the way that they wish to
• Many very popular songs included songs about Yi's outing to Namwon, Love songs between the two characters, Song of Chunhyang in prison, songs of separation and hopelessness and a song about yi punishing Hakdo

Sumcheong-ga

• Sumcheong's mother dies after giving birth, her father (blind) has to beg to find a wet nurse. Simbonsa falls into a river and is rescued by a buddhist monk. Monk says that if he donates 300 seek (measurement) of rice and he will regain his sight and simcheong hears this. She decides to sell herself for 300 seek of rice to certain sailors in china who a looking for a young woman to sacrifice to the king of Indang Sea. She prays for her father and follows the sailors and throws herself into the sea. She is sent to palace of king of indang sea and is he takes pity on her and allows her to return to the surface in a lotus blossom. Flower is found by the king of the land, who, when he finds simcheong, proposes to her and makes her his queen. MSimbongsa finds a new wife and is living in agony (still blind). A party is help at the palace for all the blind people of the kingdom and has been planned by simcheong. Simbongsa arrives at the party and is reunited with simcheong. Simcheong's love for her father causes him to recover his sight. Story concludes with All the people at party recovering their sight.
• Based on filial duty (considered highest moral characteristic during confucianist societ of the joseon period). 
• Has many sad episodes so requires very delicate ornamentation. Therefore many female masters excel in this story
• Self-sacrifice

Heungbo-ga

• most down-to-earth
• mid-joseon period
• Heongbo (poor, good natured) and his brother Nolbo (rich, greedy, wicked) 
• story centring lives and action of the two brothers. Good are rewarded and evil is punished
• Heongbo and his family are ousted from their home by Nolbo. Forcedto live in extreme poverty. Heungbo holds no grudge and never loses his good nature. A swallow accidentally flies into heongbo's house and breaks its leg

Lee Jaram Ted Talk - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D35qys8YZpo

• I wish to tell all people that feel neglected or alienated to keep on living
• I am someone who tells stories through music/singing. I am someone who goes on stage and sings in order to tell a story
• Telling stories means that I am living. While i am living the world i feel/see, it's through those eyes, that mind, that I communicate with through the stories.
• I think that when I tell a story on stage that it is the most truthful.
• Is Pansori traditional?
• Almost everybody in Korea will say that Pansori is traditional.
• Pansori has been attempted to be classified
• Should we call pansori music? Literature? Theatre?
• I thought about it for a long time. Pansori is something that cannot be classified and is an independent genre
• Pansori is Music, is a story, a narrative, is theatre, it is gesture, etc..
• So, I ask again. Music, art, architecture, none of these things are trapped in "traditional". However pansori has been trapped as traditional for a long time.
• I wish to say that there is such a thing as traditional pansori but panori is not completely traditional.
• If we talk about why pansori has become traditional in our minds, Pansori in the past, 왕조 시대, talented singer would take their amazing technique and tell the stories of their neighbours, their experiences, what they've heard and tell these stories with their own opinion through music.
• If one performer's story become successful another performer would buy the story, develop the story more and it would become the story that we know as traditional
• At some point this freedom of pansori, that puts the flesh on our bones, to change and evolve become banned. To say it nicely: It was cultural property protected by law.
• In Korea's history, there have been many times of struggle and pain and the most painful of all, although all are painful, has to be the colonial period (Japanese colony)
• The reason for Pansori's restricted evolution was the colonial period.
• Anyway, the reason for the protection law was to preserve all korean culture. The need for Pansori's evolution and new singers was not needed right?
• (Left off at 5 minutes)

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For jan 10 - (I have 5 books at home that I have notes and marginalia in. I thought the research was due at the end of the day so I haven't typed up my notes yet.)

Korean traditional Music Style: Pansori

• used to express suffering during war and captivity
• passed down through generations
• Singing is done freely - allows the singer to go up and down notes dramatically  and quickly. - though, the notes are exact and has a purpose
• Unlike Western music, pansori doesn't have a specific scale that it follows
• Pansori singing purposefully make their voices sound rough by straining their throat to help reinforce the idea of suffering. This causes throat to get damaged and grow nodules

Korean Dance and Pansori in DC: Interactions with others, the body, and collective memory at a korean performing arts studio

• 3,4,5,7,11. 18.21,22,58,63,72, 74, 91,96,108,111,112,140
• Being authentic - edward Bruner: 
• 1. Being credible and convincing to the observer
• 2. resembling the original
• 3. being the original, rather than a reproduction or copy
• 4. Being certified as valid by an authoritative figure or authoritative body
• There's an emphasis in authenticity of traditional performing arts 
• Transmission of the skills is also important - when a student performs pansori, she is representing herself but also her teacher and school
• Marshall R. Pihl (1994), Heather Willoughby (2002,2000), Chan E. Park (2003)
• Kim Eun Su
• Kim Yeong-ja - pansori master
• Loud, heacy vocal quality in singing. Full sound
• Breath control

Origin and transmission of Pansori

• Performers should possess dramatic stage presence, 
• eloquence, 
• vocal attainment, 
• good mimetic gestures

Musical structure and expressions of pansori 

• Musical structure: Jo (mode), Jangdan (rhythmic mode), buchimsae (roughly, ornamental styles), je (school) and vocal production
• Jo 
• involves modal structures
• vocal production methods
• mode, key, vocal timbres, emotions and feelings
• Most popular jo: Gyemyeonjo (bright and peaceful emotions), ujo (imposing and grand), pyeongjo (bright and peaceful), gyeongdeureum (light hearted feelings), seoleongje (spirited mood)
• Jo involveer overal characteristics of melodies
• Gyemyeonjo - low trembling sounds, sudden appoggiaturas and smooth flowing sounds invoke sad feelings. uses to express sad episodes or women's feelings. Very quick vibrato
• Ujo - used to express a gallant or manly voice, imposing and grand feelings, sounds which resonate in the heads. Vibrato is calm and controlled. Describes heroic figures or descriptions of nature.
• Pyeongjo - calm, peaceful, merry. Used to express fine weather or cheerful environments
• Gyeongdeureum - used to describe the way people speak in Seoul or the deportment of idle young men
• Seoleongje - many high-pitched melodies phrased on one long breath with sudden changes to higher notes. used to evoke overwhelming feelings or to describe masculine and overbearing qualities of a person.
• Chucheunmok - creates bright and cheerful moods.
• Seokhwaje - similar to pyeongjo - merry bright feelings
• Jo invokes feelings by the flows of the melodies and expressions
• Jangdan 
• unique rhythmic structures
• when the jandan is played well and combined properly with the narration and flow, a high degrees of perfection can be attained
• jinyang (slow tempo), junior ( medium tempo), jungjungmori 9medium-fast tempo), jajinmori (fast tempo), hwinmore (very fast)
• Used according to the dramatic needs of pansori
• Jinyang - slowest jangdan.
• Jungmori - medium tempo. Most frequently used. Describe lyrical, sorrowful or peaceful scenes
• Jungjungmori - slightly faster. describe festive moods, colourful and cheery scenes, loud weepings
• Jajinmori - fast tempo. used for tense situations or enumerating a list of things
•  Hwimori - fastest jangdan - used in dramatic situations. achieved from increasing the tempo of jajinmori
• Eotmori - used to describe mystical scenes or heroic, supernatural figures
• Eotjungmori - Mainly used for dwipuri (final scene of a pansori tale)
• Imyeon (philosophy) - as depth and breadth of emotional expression expanded and pansori become a more sophisticated art form
• Meant to be sung to the imyeon (depicting the interior) (singer is able to successfully convey the deep meaning of a pansori text. Achieved through combining jo and jangdan
• Ballin (gesture) - during a crying scene, the singer will fall down and act out a crying scene.
• Buchimsae - method by which the saseol (words or story) are combined with specific melodies. 
• Tension and release expressed as Maetgo and Pulgo - expressed and repeated within one jangdan

PDFs and papers found online

Rediscovering Traditional Korea Performing Arts - http://www.gokams.or.kr/Data/GKBM29/TheApro2012_Rediscovering%20Traditional%20Korean%20Performing%20Arts.pdf

What is Pansori? - http://www.gugak.go.kr/download/data/dict_201011241940281.pdf

Korean Dance and Pansori - http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/10026/1/AshMorgan_umd_0117N_11010.pdf

Traditional Pansori Music of Korea - www.spiritofgreatoak.com/Music%20Presentation.ppt‎

Musical Structure and expression of pansori - http://www.gugak.go.kr/download/data/dict_201011241940283.pdf

Origin and transmission of pansori - http://www.gugak.go.kr/download/data/dict_201011241940282.pdf

Traditional Storytelling today - http://eastasianstudies.research.yale.edu/pansori.pdf

Creating Communities - http://congress.aks.ac.kr/korean/files/2_1357201935.pdf

Kim Chi-Ha’s Pansori and Oe Kenzaburo: 

Focused on Grotesque Realism in “Ttong-Ba-Da” 

Exemplified by Oe Kenzaburo - http://sydney.edu.au/arts/korean/downloads/KSAA2009/Global_Korea_Proceedings_426-435_Kang.pdf

Jeonju international sori festival - http://www.songlines.co.uk/documents/festivals/Jeonju.pdf

Sonorous voices, deep culture - http://robmcgovern.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/flash2.pdf

- Visit national gugak center 
- Get in contact with a Pansori specialist
- Find books on pansori that will focus mainly on the stories and performance of pansori