Literary and Performative Arts in Korean Oral Traditions
When we talk about literatures, a lot of people would throw out plays, poems and popular narratives that are documented and taught in a formal education. Nobody would consider the bedtime stories told by their parents, culture shows watched when they were young children as literary arts. Everyone would think of the standardized materials that were chosen and created by the board of education from every country to be taught to the students from kindergarten to elementary school to high school and finally to college just to claim and define what their culture is and what are the cultures of others as the perfect examples of what literature is. Even though, learning literary arts are considered as a necessity, it is perplexing how performative arts are only worth to be considered as informal education and only pursued and learned by those who have interests in making name in the entertainment industry and learning about oral traditions in depth. May it be seen as a job prospect, as a hobby or as an escape from reality. Oral traditions is “a community’s cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example from one generation to another without written instruction” as literally defined by the dictionary. Oral traditions are mostly full of knowledge, cultural and social values that could be indirectly and effectively delivered to children and also the adults. It is almost similar to giving lectures in classes about history of America or the world economy but still keeping the fun elements in it. Oral traditions domain encompasses wide and various spoken forms including proverbs, riddles, tales, nursery rhymes, legends, myths, epic songs and poems, charms, prayers, chants, songs, dramatic performances and many more. Therefore, oral traditions are playing a crucial part in keeping cultures alive. Based on Walter J. Ong, writer of the Orality and Literacy article, he mentioned how human first learn how to speak rather than how to write. Hence, marginalizing the performative art in oral traditions is like taking the music out from the song and it could affect the learning outcomes such they could never understand why it is the way it is and appreciate the uniqueness of the their cultures as well as the cultures of others. Every culture has their own prominent oral traditions and whenever we talk and asked about oral traditions in Korean culture, the first thing that will come to the minds are trot singing and pansori. Even though, these two dominated and defined what Korean performance culture is, there are many others that originated from pansori and then evolved into something else that carry the same characteristics of pansori but different enough to be called as an alternative of pansori such as short pansori (단가), multiplayer opera pansori (창국) and a ‘modernized pansori song’. Modernized pansori is not necessarily a modern version of pansori song. It is a song or poem that follow the singing style, grammar and tonal application of pansori as well as the three modes consisted in pansori which– sori which is the singing part, aniri which is the spoken part and also changcho which is the recitative part between singing and speaking that define the uniqueness of pansori, but instead of having the music in a traditional way, the music used in this modernized pansori is more to a combination of traditional and modern music. However, this small difference often overlooked by people resulted in not reaching certain expectations of the audiences that was expecting to listen to pansori rather than the poetic song. Therefore, throughout this research paper, I will focus on revealing and examining the relationship of literary and performative arts in Korean oral traditions, more specifically on one of the ‘modernized pansori song’ called Excursions of the Eight Provinces as well as the figurative and literal translations of the song and also the challenges faced in performing in foreign environments and also suggestions to improve the interactions between performers and audiences.
Back in pre-modern Korea, regional shaman rites are conducted everywhere and it became a norm for the people to watch as well as participate in the rites. Due to this, most people are accustomed to the shamanic music. However, as Korea was going through rapid modernization, cultural performances that have shamanic music undertones are getting popular and the audiences shifted from commoners who come to see the ritual rites as a part of their belief to those in the higher classes such as the yangban – traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea – and the royalty. Since it is never appropriate for the people from higher classes to listen to anything that has shamanic music, gwangdae groups – male performers or entertainers that dance, sing and talk – has existed way before pansori became popular. In fact, they were the people who created pansori and other music genres later, began to alter the shamanic music to a more suitable music that suit the taste and demands of the yangban as well as to reflect the intellectuality of the upper class. To accommodate the constantly changing demands from the audiences, the gwangdae started to incorporate more jangdans which means rhythmic structures used in pansori. Variety tempos such as jinyang (진양), jungjungmori (중중모리), jajinmori (자진모리) and hwimori (휘모리) are used to govern how the words should be vocalized by following the beats of the jangdans. However, the rhythms used in pansori does not carry the same meaning as ‘beats’ in Western performance culture. According to the “Traditional Music: Sounds in Harmony with Nature” written by Robert Koehler, he defines jangdans as a comprehensive term, including modes of the rhythm and strong, weak and repetitive intervals. They are not only incorporated into the song just to make it sounds more interesting and complex, but it is used to show the emotional states of the singer corresponding to the narration delivered by the singer. To express their feelings so that the audiences could empathize and understand the general idea of the content of the singing without even knowing the actual meaning of the words sung by the singers. This case especially applies to the non-native Korean speakers or as what they are called as foreign audiences that do not have former experience in listening to pansori or learning Korean language as well as traditional Chinese expressions. For example, jinyang which is the slowest of all rhythmic cycles used in pansori, consists of slow six beats that often portray the emotion of the singer in a state of being peaceful or sorrowful depending on the mode. The other example is hwimori which also known as ‘hurried drive’ is the fastest beat of all pansori jangdan. It consists of a rapid 4/4 pattern to describe an extremely urgent scenes or moods. Therefore, instead of reciting the narrative in a monotonous voice, this usage of jangdan will help the audiences and also the singers to engage in the storytelling, to evoke deeper feelings and appreciation towards this form of art. Literature without performative element cannot be fully understood nor appreciated by the audiences. It is similar to when reading out loud in your head without having any emotions or mental images that could provide aid in understanding the indirect and direct content delivered. You will tend to get lost or distracted easily that indirectly indicate that only a small attention and indulgence is given to what the content is about. Moreover, oral traditions are impossible to be turned into literary art without changing the expressions, symbolisms and also metaphors especially when the performance is written and translated into other languages. Hence, literary and performative elements should coexisted to elevate audiences’ appreciations toward oral traditions. The following paragraph will include an analysis on the subject of interest which is Excursion of Eight Provinces that show the brilliant execution of collaboration between textuality and orality.
Excursion of Eight Provinces (팔도유람가) is one of the example of a popular poetic song mentioned earlier or also known as a popular folk song according to the “Encyclopedia of Korean Seasonal Customs: Encyclopedia of Korean Folklore and Traditional Culture Vol 1”. This folk song is one of a few song that is sung and accompanied by the Korean traditional musical instrument that is called geomungo (거문고). It is a six strings black zither that is played while seated on the floor and the strings are plucked using a bamboo stick called suldae while the pitches is controlled by pressing down the string using the other hand. The company of geomungo instead of gayageum or any other traditional musical instrument are not a mere coincidence. As geomungo is usually played in traditional Korean court music and the folk styles of sanjo – instrumental play of musical instrument – and sinawi – a shamanic music ensemble, – geomungo is considered as a more masculine instrument compared to gayageum – another zither with 12 strings that is considered more feminine – due to its percussive produced sound and vigorous playing technique. However, as masculine as it gets, it is not only played by male performers. Geomungo played by female performers are not an unusual sight to see. Excursion of Eight Provinces is generally about luring and tempting young men who know how to enjoy life to leave their homes and their realities to escape into a beautiful daydream of magnificent views that can be found in Korea. This song focuses on the beauty of the nature and sing praises to the mountain spirits and river spirits that carve the beautiful features of the rivers and mountains because most verses in this song mention the worth seeing rivers and mountains that are scattered everywhere around the eight provinces. This song is very intriguing because even without knowing the meaning and the text of this poem, it appeals to the audiences as seen in the students after listening to the song for the first time. However, the song is better appreciated when the general idea of what the song is about is known. Even though, the meanings of the song are not literally translated word by word and some of the context might be a little bit different or fragments of the context might be missing due to the usage of expressions, symbolisms or even metaphors that are difficult to understand by foreign audiences, it is always the best to keep it simple to avoid any confusions or discrepancies while translating the text. Thus, even being aware of the general idea of the song helps a lot in how to determine the mood of the song as well as the beats of the song that resulted in being able to tell how to articulate the voices corresponding to the words in the text. It is crucial to know how to vocalize certain words to evoke from audiences powerful emotions. Catharsis or the purgation of emotions of the audiences are important in art performances to determine the success of the performers in engaging with their audiences. As seen in the performance by Professor Kim Yeong Jae, when he vocalized certain words at the right pitches, audiences called out chuimsae to motivate or to transfer some positivity to him. For example, 아름아리 멋도 알고 간드러진 풍류남아 which translates into “they are trendsetters and sweet-talking gentlemen”, is sung in slow six beats to express the peaceful mood that describe how wonderful and gentle these gentlemen are, but still keeping the masculinity and charms of the gentlemen. Another example is수락산 폭포수 장안의 서장대 which is translated into “the waterfall at Suraksan mountain, the scenic point of the Seojangdae pavilion”, is sung in 4/4 patterns beat to express the state of emotion of being desperate in looking and longing for the majestic waterfall in Suraksan. This song is not only about inviting the young men to travel and see the beauty of the nature, but also portrays a pre-modern recreation activity of these men. Since, Korea is a country that made of patriarchal society, men were the head of the family and the responsibilities to make a living and to feed the whole family were placed upon the shoulders of the man of the house. Folk songs, which are popular songs sung mostly by the working class usually contain wishes and deep desires to escape the harsh reality or to simply just to take a break from the hectic life. Imagine touring around these eight provinces, it will take more than a couple of weeks and this act is impossible by only taking food that could only be fit into a lunch box as mentioned in the각기 찬합행찬 장만허여which is translated into “each with lunch boxes prepared for the occasion”. Taking the lunch box could mean the small break that they have in between working to eat lunch and while doing that use their imaginations to daydream about the places that could go to get some fresh air. Coincidently, being around beautiful places such as near the mountains and rivers are good for both the body and mind and all of these beautiful places are mentioned in the song. This claim is supported by a recent research mentioned in American Society of Landscape Architects, where they claimed even without physically take a walk in the park surrounded by the beautiful nature could help relieve stress. Another evidence that could support this claim is the song ended with an advice from the singer which is헐일을 허면서 놀아 which translated to “do what you have to do, and enjoy life”. The singer is trying to convey the message of the importance of making a living, but still taking some time off to enjoy life so that they are not missing out on appreciating the given life.
The performers have went through a lot of hardships in glorifying the oral traditions. Even back in the old days, they were treated as outcasts due to their nature in performing and entertaining the commoners and also the upper class that is considered a lowly job. Most of them were criticized and most kisaeng – female performers – were labelled as an entertainment or someone that would only provide pleasure and cater the upper class. However, a turn of event happened, pansori regained its popularity and the advancement on vocal techniques and melodies were made to appeal to the upper class. Even though, some people really enjoy these oral traditions, a lot of other people who find these kind of performances not interesting enough to be brought to the foreign stages. Since most people are accustomed to the western style performances and literatures such as the western theatre plays such as Hamlet and Mid-Summer Dream by Shakespeare and also singing theatre, bringing in new performing cultures from the East is difficult as the style and environment is quite different especially the oral traditions from Korea. Even in the country itself, a lot of other Koreans do not really appreciate their oral traditions due to the rapid modernization and also due to the influences from the Western countries that keep on breaching the country with new trends and ideologies that eventually diminish the oral traditions little by little. This phenomena has started way back in the colonial era where Korea was colonized by Japan. They were forced to abandon their native language and to diffuse themselves in Japanese culture as well as to recognized themselves as Japanese, but with a lower status compared to the native Japanese. Due to this restrictions, a lot of performers lost their rights to perform their culture shows and they were banned from performing anything related to Korea culture. Hence, Korea that is rich with oral traditions was completely shut down by the Japanese and the westerners. As it went on over time, performances decreased and more modern sound production using the technologies took place. This technologies changed the habits of the population who now prefer and tend to listen to modern music. By the time invasion on Japanese ended, Korea lost most of its pansori heritage as well as the other oral traditions. Even though, South Korean government has put in a lot of efforts in preserving the heritage and pansori has gained back its popularity, only a few generations truly appreciate it as part of their culture while another generations acknowledge it as part of their culture but they would not know what it is and what value it holds. In the midst of rapid modernization, they got lost in keeping up with the western mainstream and totally forgot about the existence of their oral traditions. As new generations are brought up in modern Korea, most of them are more comfortable with westernized Korean culture especially the Korean popular songs that have been westernized and have acquired the taste for those type of songs. Therefore, cultural performances such as pansori, folk songs and many more did not appeal to them anymore. If even the cultural performances are not fully support by those people, it is more challenging to bring those performances to foreign stages, foreign environments. It is because foreign audiences are considered as somebody who never had any experience with the culture and the style of the performances might not appeal to them. Apart from that, if the performers performed another genre of music such as sijo – three lines poem that is popularized in Joseon dynasty – or folk song, the singers might not be able to meet the expectations or stereotypes learned by the audiences throughout experiences in listening to pansori since the audiences have no other experiences or former knowledge about other culture’s oral traditions. Although, language barrier should not be a factor that could restrict the performers from performing their oral traditions, it could not be avoided. Hence, this is where textuality plays an important role to eliminate this unwanted situations.
In the pursue of introducing and promoting Korean oral traditions, a lot of changes had to be made from time to time to make it more interesting to the ever changing demands from the audiences. The performers started to alter their music, but still keep it within the jangdans and incorporated more physical gestures to engage with the audiences. As mentioned in The Voice from the Straw Mat by Professor Park Chan E. even though, frequent physical gestures are not recommended and often criticized while performing pansori because it indicates weak vocal presentation, it is the most effective mean of communication while performing in front of audiences when there is an absence in efficacy of verbal communication. Other than that, the performers should alter the text by explaining some difficult verses because some symbolisms, metaphors and expressions cannot be understood by audiences that have never encountered those kind of expressions before. Better understanding of the context will help the audiences to indulge themselves in the performance and will indirectly motivate the performers to do better and not feel discourage by the lack of engagement from the audiences as well as not meeting the expected expressions or feedbacks from the audiences. Therefore, the performers should be willing to make a change and to go against the norms or traditions and also their expectations of the audiences to move forward in introducing their oral traditions. There are always rooms for creativity and innovation if more performers are willing to step out from their comfort zones by spicing up their traditions with something new or experimenting with new elements that could appeal to the audiences, but still keeping the sentimental and traditional values of the oral traditions. In the nutshell, this research paper serves as an insight of what is oral traditions in Korean culture, how it plays a big part in shaping the knowledge, social and cultural values, examining the importance of having both literary and performative arts in Korean oral traditions with an elaborated analysis on one of the poem, Excursion of Eight Provinces and also the challenges faced by the performers in introducing their oral traditions in foreign environments.
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