The Annual Chunhyang Festival

The Chunhyang Festival is held every April in Namwon, celebrating the famous folktale of Chunhyang. Attendees enjoy traditional music, colorful parades, swing riding, sijo poetry, participate in old-school games and watch a beauty contest where local females dress up in hanbok. In previous years, SHINee and other Kpop artists performed at the festival. Can't wait to attend the festival? Watch the recap below from 2012:

사랑을 테마로 4년 연속 문화체육관광부 선정 우수축제이며, 2012년 제82회 전국 춘향선발대회에는 미스 춘향 진-조승희(22) 선-김다애(24) 미-정은정(23)양이 선발되었습니다. 82년의 전통 가진 이 축제에서 조상현 명창이 춘향 국악 대전 첫 장원을 차지한 후 안숙선 김차경 명창 등이 배출 되었습니다. 뿐만아니라 미스 춘향 출신 연예인으로는 오정해,박지영,윤손하,이다해 등이 있다.

The Pungmul Parade (Korean folk music) from the Chunhyang Festival 2012:

Uploaded by sang-geun Lee on 2012-05-26.

Dear SHINee fans, here's your hubbies performing at the event:

Uploaded by Mari Sh on 2011-05-13.

More about the Chunhyang Festival:
Korea Tourism
Seoul Magazine

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Before Kpop there was Pansori

Pansori performances: http://sweetandtastytv.com/2013/10/26/pansori-performances/ KWOW FACEBOOK! http://www.facebook.com/sweetandtastyTV TWITTER! https://twitter.com/sweetandtastytv SUBSCRIBE to our channel: http://tinyurl.com/8n3wc38 WEBSITE: https://sweetandtastytv.com/ INSTAGRAM: @sweetandtastyTV

In KWOW episode 107, we learned about the music scene in Korea that existed before Kpop: pansori. To say pansori is the Korean version of opera is not completely accurate. It's the traditional storytelling told in musical form, performed by one singer and one drummer.

Listen to some pansori performances with subtitles in many languages:

http://SupremeMasterTV.com * EE1289; Aired on 26 Mar 2010(in Korean) This video presents to you about pansori, Korea's time-honored traditional song. Pansori is a Korean musical drama which delivers the myths that have been orally passed on from olden times to the audience, by a drummer and a singer through songs, story-telling, and gestures.

What’s the difference between pansori and Western music? How different do pansori singers’ vocal cords look compared to Kpop singers? How are people modernizing pansori these days?

Subscribe to arirang! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=arirang More Episodes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rcEpRuhYx4&list=PLWdVPk7xgPCDTJzTq8P12OWTGJzsU8-2- Pansori Pansori, which first appeared in the 18th century, is a traditional performing art that has been moving Koreans for centuries. Drummer, pansori performer and audience become one to complete a unique performance unlike anything seen anywhere else in the world.

Pansori Masters' Battle!

입체창 겨루기

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Korea's Traditional Folk Music (KWOW #37)

As we already learned in KWOW episode 37 (see below), pansori (판소리) is a genre of Korea's traditional music performed by one singer and one drummer. Think of pansori as "Korean opera."

BLOG for this episode: http://tinyurl.com/7aoyvro "Like" us on FACEBOOK for latest updates! http://tinyurl.com/d9qqxy6 "Follow" us on TWITTER! https://twitter.com/sweetandtastytv Sign up for our BLOGS: http://sweetandtastytv.com/ 2ND CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/sweetandtastyMUSIC *** PHOTO ATTRIBUTION: http://tinyurl.com/yaksc2d, http://tinyurl.com/82cqy6l, http://tinyurl.com/7f4n2re, http://tinyurl.com/7kjcoh9, http://tinyurl.com/7gywef7, http://tinyurl.com/87ffosr, http://tinyurl.com/6ua4pv2, http://tinyurl.com/6rgr295, http://tinyurl.com/74vlzbw, http://tinyurl.com/7nhdxww, http://tinyurl.com/75g3r7r, http://tinyurl.com/7rjzqwr, http://tinyurl.com/7spy28l, http://tinyurl.com/88e8bbw, http://tinyurl.com/73xlpv5, http://tinyurl.com/6vaujws

The most famous pansori story is “Chunhyangga (춘향가).” Set in the city of Namwon, Chunhyangga is the legendary love story of Chunhyang and Mongryong (몽령). To make a long story short, Chunhyang was a gisaeng (기생), a female entertainer for the aristocrats and royals. Mongryong was a district magistrate. Despite their class difference, they fell in love and married illegally. While Mongryong was in Seoul, another man forced Chunhyang to be his concubine. She refused and was given the death sentence. Mongryong returned to Namwon just in time to save her.

Here’s some Chunhyangga for you to enjoy:

La plus celebre chanteuse de pansori,opera traditionnel de Corée, Ahn Sook-sun en représentation au musee Guimet à Paris en novembre 2006 - The most famous Korean opera singer Ahn Sook-sun sing a Pansori in Paris. 한국의 명창 안숙선씨가 파리 기메 박물관에서 춘향가 사랑가 대목을 부르는 장면. 앙코르를 받고 진도 아리랑을 관객들과 열창하는 아름다운 모습.

Another traditional Korean music genre is pungmul (풍물). Pungmul was once practiced by farmers for rural holidays and for shamanistic purposes. Nowadays pungmul are used as art and for political protest. Pungmul is commonly held outdoors and contains many performers, each dedicated to sing, dance, play drums, and more. The performers wear colorful costumes accompanied by hats with twirling ribbons.

Watch this pungmul performance:

Drummers and dancers give a traditional Pungmul (風物) performance at the Korean Folk Village near Suwon, South Korea. February, 2009.

Samul nori (사물놀이) is similar to pungmul as it uses the same traditional instruments: ggwaenggwari (꽹과리), janggu (장구), jing (징), and buk (북). The four instruments symbolize a weather condition. Janggu stands for rain. Ggwaenggwari symbolizes thunder. Buk represents clouds. Jing symbolizes the sounds of the wind. Compared to pungmul, samul nori songs tend to be faster and are performed while sitting down. Farmers would perform samul nori in hopes of good harvest.

Check out the performance by Kim Duk Soo, the most famous samul nori player:

Samdo Samulnori performed by Kim Duk Soo (Hanullim) at EBS 스페이스 공감

Other Korean traditional music genres include sanjo (산조), shinawee (시나위), and jungak (정악).

Hope you enjoyed the music! :)

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