ABSTRACT
Closer reading and listening of the text breathe new life into pansori beyond its politicized and static function as icon. Pansori songs are encyclopedic catalogues of pre-20th-century Korea, from the sundry and mundane to the essential, anything of cultural or material curiosity to Koreans of that time. As a narrative performance risen to popularity in the 19th century and included in the national registry of cultural assets in the mid-20th century, pansori oscillates between preservation and rediscovery. Between the need for safeguarding traditional icons and each era’s demand for reinvention, pansori singing has an ironic relationship with time. A folk music tradition is deeply connected to historical and ethnic memories and practices, yet its exterior is largely nonresponsive to the time’s call. Unlike the reproduction of songs from sheet music, pansori is orally transmitted phrase by phrase, song after song, linearly along the storyline.
