Pansori: Le Dit de Demoiselle Sugyeong

Pansori, recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, is a traditional Korean form of musical storytelling. Originating in the late 17th century, the earliest performers of pansori were shamans and street performers. Patronised by the royal courts of the 19th century and embraced by the upper classes, pansori eventually took on some of the qualities of Western opera, moving from street festivals into the concert hall. Ather a period of decline brought on by the advent of modernisation, pansori was declared an Intangible Cultural Property in 1964, with only five long-form pieces remaining in the classical repertoire.

The present recording is of a newly revived classical pansori, reconstructed at the end of the 20th century by designated national treasure Pak Song-Hee, and performed here by her disciple Min Hye-Sung. Following a brief warm-up chant, ‘The Tale of Four Seasons’, the body of the album is dedicated to this hour-long piece, here broken into 36 separate tracks. The Tale of Lady Sugyeong is both humorous and tragic in nature, telling the story of a fraught romance between a scholar's son and a fairy. As is traditional in pansori, Min plays the role of spoken narrator, with recited asides punctuating raspily sung dialogue and story sections. Gyun Eun-Kyung accompanies the solo voice on soribuk (barrel drum), underpinning the narrative with complex rhythm cycles, and frequently calling out in response to the vocalist. This is an excellent recording, with extensive liner notes that give welcome context and narrative detail.