Korean Musical Drama: Pansori and the Making of Tradition in Modernity

Pansori is the quintessential traditional Korean musical drama, in which epic tales are sung and narrated by a solo singer accompanied by a drummer. Drawing on her extensive research in Korea and its diasporas, Haekyung Um describes and analyses the creative processes of pansori, weaving into her discussion musical, social and cultural aspects that include the evolution of pansori performance, origins and historical development, textual and musical materials, stylistic features of different pansori schools, transmission of knowledge, aesthetics, and changing interpretations of tradition.