ABSTRACT
P'ansori—from p'an (performance, performance space, or performative occasion) and sori (sound, voice, or singing)—is a solo-singer type of storytelling that surfaced as a distinctive artistry about three centuries ago in the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula. Its discovery goes back to the mid-eighteenth century, when a government official stationed in Chŏlla province one day witnessed in his village a performance of the Song of Ch'unhyang, one of the most popular stories performed. He later recorded the narrative, the first transcription of its kind.
