Rare U.S. Performance by Masters of Korea’s “Spirit Music” in New York City

 

Korean Performing Arts Center (KPAC) will present a spellbinding glimpse into ancient Korean shamanic music in a show titled New York P’an: Spiritual Exuberance. The concert will take place at the Peter Norton Symphony Space on Saturday, October 25th at 19:30 (7:30pm).

Celebrated Korean performers, including two musical legends rarely seen in the West: Master Yeong-hee Shin, an admired singer designated a National Human Treasure for her mastery of the demanding p’ansori repertoire; as well as samul-nori Master Kwang-su Lee, a famed percussionist and expert of shaman vocalism.

 

 

The program will also include New York City-based ensemble Sounds of Korea, presenting folk songs, percussion music and a sampling of Korean folk dances, all led by artistic director and dancer, Master Sue Yeon Park, designated a 2008 National Heritage Fellow, the highest honor for an artist of traditional music and dance awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the United States. She is the only Korean American to achieve this honor.

 

 

The October 25th program highlights the traditional concept of P’an, an indoor or outdoor performance area where traditional shows are accessible to all social and economic classes. Beginning with the opening Binari song, eliminating boundaries between performer and audience is essential for the artistic, aesthetic and spiritual bonds of shamanistic rituals.

P’ansori (from pan, or “gathering place,” and sori, meaning “songs”) is an oral tradition often called “Korean opera meets the blues.” In the late 18th century, when musical performance was defined by court ceremony, p’ansori emerged as a populist alternative given to greater emotional expression. As a solo singer (gwangdae) narrates a story, often depicting different characters by changing physical gestures and vocal color, a solo percussionist (gosu) also participates, punctuating and accentuating the story with both instrumental and vocal outbursts.

 

 

Even though only five of the original 12 p’ansori epics still survive today, the art form is still popular with the Korean public. Director Im Kwon-taek’s 1993 film Sopyonje, about a family of p’ansori singers in modern-day Korea, broke national box-office records, drawing more than a million viewers in Seoul alone. In 2003, UNESCO added p’an-sori to its roster of intangible cultural heritage.

Binari (or ‘to pray’) is a shamanistic call to all deities for happiness, health and wealth for the living. Binari was traditionally sung not only at holidays and agrarian celebrations but also at Buddhist temples, an ideal expression of indigenous Korean shamanism. Binari is sung by conveying several topics within a long text, presenting contrasts between soloist and chorus in a strophic form, accompanied by a percussion ensemble with acrobatic dance movements.

With roots both in agrarian festivals and shamanistic practice, samul-nori (from samul, meaning “four things,” and nori, meaning “to play”) has flourished steadily in popularity over the last few decades both in Korea and abroad. In its modern incarnation, samul-nori consists of four basic instruments: the puk (a low-pitched barrel drum representing the clouds), the jing (an iron gong representing the wind), the jannqu (an hourglass-shaped, high-pitched drum representing the rain), and the k’kwaenggwari (a small, high-pitched gong representing lightening). An ancient harvest-time tradition, samul-nori performances also include dancing.

 

 

Connecting the large Korean populations in New York and New Jersey, the program also includes a percussion performance by the Korean Cultural Group of Rutgers University, from the main New Brunswick, New Jersey campus.

KPAC Presents — New York P’an: Spiritual Exuberance
Saturday October 25 at 7:30pm
Peter Norton Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at 95h St.
New York, NY 10025
Tickets: $35 – $100 / Student/Senior/Child: $25
Box Office 212:864-5400
www.symphonyspace.org