Korean P’ansori Singing Tradition: Development, Authenticity, and Performance History by Yeonok Jang, and: Korean Musical Drama: P’ansori and the Making of Tradition in Modernity by Haekyung Um (review)

P’ansori is a Korean form of singing-storytelling performed by one singer and one drummer that can be located on the border of literature, music, and theatre. Minimalist in means but rich in aesthetic possibilities, p’ansori has drawn much scholarly interest, but most of the existing research has been published in Korean. Two new book-length studies in English make a welcome addition to the scarce body of foreign scholarship on p’ansori.

On a first view, Yeonok Jang’s Korean P’ansori Singing Tradition and Haekyung Um’s Korean Musical Drama seem very similar in nature. Both authors are trained in ethnomusicology and have conducted extended fieldwork in Korea. Apart from participant observation and interviews, they also use musical analysis to answer their main question: How do changing social contexts and the initiatives of singers, patrons, and audiences transform p’ansori practice? Both books open with a vivid description of a typical contemporary performance of p’ansori to introduce general concepts and terminology, but from that point the two studies diverge.

Yeonok Jang’s book follows a chronological order that traces the development of p’ansori from its origin as a folk entertainment to its current state as a protected national asset. In chapter 1, she proposes that simple storytelling evolved in a quasi-Darwinist process of aesthetic selection to the elaborate combination of complex storylines, virtuous singing, and dramatic gestures that we know today. Through the close reading of different historical sources, chapters 2 and 3 show how expanding audiences in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries influenced singing styles and canonization. For example, early p’ansori theorist SinChaehyo, while compiling hitherto orally transmitted stories, added literary allusions and moral codes that suited upper-class tastes. Kim Sejong, a student of Sin’s, promoted “short speech and long song,” paving the way for the recognition of p’ansori as a distinct musical genre (p. 84).

In the early twentieth century, p’ansori saw various radical changes closely related to the modernization of Korean society (chapter 4). These include, among others, new formats that literally cut up the storyline to present catchy “hit singles” and standardized vocal styles catering to mass tastes. One of the highlights of this chapter, the story of the singer Im Pangul, beautifully shows the ambiguous position of p’ansori in modernity, still shaped by traditional values and at the same time permeated by changing entertainment conventions and new media. Im rose to fame in the 1930s with his best-selling records but was despised by some of his colleagues, who criticized him for immoderately ornamenting his songs while failing to understand their content (pp. 119–121, 179–180).

In chapter 5, Jang deals with contemporary performance and, more so than in earlier chapters, draws on the opinions of living witnesses. For example, she presents different angles on the perceived inflation of the title “master singer” as a result of mushrooming singing contests. With regard to the current state of p’ansori, Jang remains ambivalent. Acknowledging the growing awareness and interest in p’ansori, she remarks that “unfortunately, this interest is not reflected in demand for or active participation in performance” (p. 172). Audiences silently enjoy the show instead of shouting out calls of encouragement (ch’uimsae), which bothers many singers today.

In her last chapter, breaking with chronological order, Jang compares in detail two singers from different schools of transmission performing the same song. A comparison of transcribed staff notation and the singers’ own annotated lyric sheets show that the two versions also differ largely in ornamentation, vocal technique, and underlying aesthetic concept.

Haekyung Um likewise tackles p’ansori’s contested past, but from...