Pansori

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Pansori
Pansori performance at the Busan Cultural Center in Busan, South Korea
Korean name
Hangul	판소리
Revised Romanization	Pansori
McCune–Reischauer	P'ansori

Pansori (Korean: 판소리) is a Korean genre of musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer.

The term pansori is derived from the Korean words pan 판 and sori 소리, the latter of which means "sound." However, pan has multiple meanings, and scholars disagree on which was the intended meaning when the term was coined. One meaning is "a situation where many people are gathered." Another meaning is "a song composed of varying tones."^[1] In music, Gugwangdae describes a long story that takes as little as three hours and as much as eight hours or more. It is one of the traditional forms of Korean music that mixes body movements and songs to the accompaniment of a buk drum played by a gosu. The dramatic content of the drama is changed according to various rhythms based on the melody of Korea's local music. Pansori was originally called the "sori", and it was called Taryeong, Japga (잡가; 雜歌), Clown Song, and Geukga (극가; 劇歌). It was also commonly used in terms such as Changgeukjo (창극조; 唱劇調).^[2]

In the late 20th century, the sorrowful "Western style" of pansori overtook the vigorous "Eastern style" of pansori, and pansori began being called the "sound of han". All surviving pansori epics end happily, but contemporary pansori focuses on the trials and tribulations of the characters, commonly without reaching the happy ending because of the contemporary popularity of excerpt performances. The history of pansori in the late 20th century, including the recent canonization of han, has led to great concern in the pansori community.^[3]

Pansori has been designated as Korea's National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 5 since 1964. On November 7, 2003, pansori was registered as the UNESCO's Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity of Korea.^[4] In 2011, the pansori practiced by the ethnic Koreans in China was also nominated as the UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage by the governments of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Tieling.^[5]

Originally a form of folk entertainment for the lower classes, pansori was embraced by the Korean elite during the 19th century.^[6] While public interest in the genre temporarily declined in the mid-20th century, today's South Korean publics and government are passionate in registering and recognizing many pansori singers as "living national treasures of Korea."^[7][8] North Korea, on comparison, has yet to implement the systematic support of pansori at the government level, as Kim Jong Il believed that pansori's performance voice was too hoarse and did not distinguish between male and female to suit the taste of today's people.^[9]: 17