판소리: Pansori = 색다르고 멋진 공연 (part 3)

This pansori show was nothing like the ones I saw before. This one was unusually daring to explore itself into the edge.  As the performers--who are the students of Korean Music Department, Hanyang University--shown up on the stage, we could feel that it's gonna be good. It was!
Still,  the audience did not have the slightest idea of what to see next. That's the best part.

The pansori-strict rules of uttering words and sentences in Korea were of course present to their core. But, the jazzy pansori, the blues pansori, the hard-hitting slow-rock pansori, and of course Pop Pansori, too....were all mixed up and sewn nicely to portray the 4 different stories from 4 different sorikun 소리꾼 or performers of Pansori. Each of the performer had his/her own uniqueness.

Each of them brought about different story to tell with different props and different ways of expressing feelings through dances, pansori chanting, ranting, rapping, and all other music genres imaginable.
Moreover.... the screen that highlighted the background story of each scene could not have been better! it somewhat delved itself into the realm of new perspective of what Pansori should be.
This WAS something that most young (Korean) people should see so that they could see the hidden treasures that they should cherish in the midst of seemingly never-ending burgeoning prowess of K-Pop into the minds of these young people lately.

Kudos are to the young students of Hanyang Univ. Music Department for bringing up something new to Pansori.
We are--as foreigners--studying and living in Korea, sure. Today, we felt like having the privilege to taste the newly twisted Pansori songs and sounds as we had today at Eunpyeon Art and Cultural Center.
We could not have been invited as well....should our university, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, not inform us. We are lucky and thankful to be studying here since there are lots of cultural activities and experience to explore.

--just like what we normally do, taking pictures is a must-do list in our agenda.^^

Pansori: A New Twistedly Exciting Pansori (part 2)

So, I went to Eunpyong Cultural Center by subway righ after having my Friday prayer at Itaewon Masjid. It was a good thing to know as well that I just needed to take the line 6 subway until Yeokchon station without having to transfer. It took about 30 minutes or so for me to be there. I met my classmate, Marta from Poland--who was looking her way to the Center. Luckily that she met me, otherwise....
anyhow...back to the Pansori...
After getting there, still...I had no idea..not even the slightest one of what I would encounter in the theater. So, I checked into the registration booth where I needed to sign up for my name; confirming that I was on invitation to see the show.
As I was walking into the corridor leading into the theater, I grabbed one booklet explaining of what the show was all about. Good decision!




I could see that the show was about the supposedly new genre of Pansori being brought back into the contemporary collaboration with other genres of music amplified by the witty infusion of lighting effects, movies, theatrical props, and modern musical instruments ranging from organ, bass, drum, guitar, flute....to complement the indispensibly existing Korean traditional instruments. After all that was Pansori all about.

The show begun exactly at 3 pm.
The nerve-cracking audience with little prior experince of what to see and how to behave during the show only made it even more interesting. So, the show started with a kind of welcoming and introductory show of what to do and what to say--SHOUT--during the show.

oh man...I remember the one term when all of us got to say 'olsigu', jotha, jaranta, amyeon, geureoji, eodi, eueoit!!!......(얼시구, 좋다, 잘한다, 아면, 그렇지, 어디, 으어싯!!!!).
Since most of us did not /have not yet got accustomed to those terms. They are mostly used to have a kind of interactive reprisal or answers or just expression of what one feels whenever they see the Pansori; notably when the performers say something of one's interest.

Pansori 판소리: A New Twisted Pansori (part 1)

Twisted Pansori? Yup, that's how I describe the Pansori I just watched earlier today.
I got this invitation--in fact as many as my 90 other friends or so, also got this invitation--to see the premiere of the so-called Pansori: Wearing Rain Boot(?) 판소리 레인부츠를 신다 (Geez: I have to admist that I got no idea what it meant).
Anyway...the point was that...I was so ecstatic when our sonsaengnim told us about this invitation to see and experience Pansori--wait for it: not the one that would dooze people away just simply by hearing the word 'pansori', especially for any foreigners who are not that accustomed to what this is all about. Some of you may have seen it, might have heard  of it from TV, friends, or even saw it on YouTube or even live show before.

As for me, I did see Pansori about twice and most of them were relatively palatable--that's what I could say about this. For those who are not that yet accustomed to or better yet...not being able to grasp Korean language---(just like me--giggle)^^, Pansori would only make one to wonder as to how to enjoy this seemingly intricate singing-genre authentic only and solely in Korea.
---
BUT......the one that I just saw today...INDEED juggernautingly changed the way I would perceive Pansori for once more.
I've been liked.....wham.....slapped on my face as to how creative these young kids from Hanyang University of Music Department were. They did bring in and open up our eyes...to the new level of Pansori ......unlike any other shows I've seen so far.