A Madang of Noodle Soup and New Performance Spaces

Perfect timing: The kimchi-tteok-ramyeon were just boiling as the new (the 978th!) episode of Gugak Han Madang (국악한마당) started at 12.10 pm. Founded in 1986, this KBS series is the oldest and most prominent weekly TV show on traditional Korean music.

The program was as usual, with some numbers of music and dance as well as current concert announcements. Also, there was a report on extension of the National Gugak Center (국립국악원) with two new performance spaces. Besides the circular outdoor Yeonhui Madang (연희마당, lit. “yard for [traditional] performing arts”, which replaces the former rectangular outdoor stage 별맞이터, lit. “place to touch the stars”), the new chamber hall Pungnyu Sarangbang (풍류사랑방, lit. “reception room for the appreciation of arts”) offers an adequate setting for small-scale performances.

Yeonhui Madang (연희마당), picture by 안경숙 (국립국악원 블로그기자단), Creative Commons.

According to the report, no electronic amplification will be used in the Pungnyu Sarangbang—perfect conditions for pansori purists! (This feature did not transfer well through TV, though.)

안경숙, official blogger for the National Gugak Center, describes the purpose of the space in a blogpost on the opening as follows:

The Pungnyu Sarangbang, as a performance space for ‘indigeneous sounds’ and ‘voice-centered music’ that is different from mainstream performance culture, is a chamber music hall where audience and performers can cheerfully intermingle and ‘become one’.

(“‘풍류 사랑방’은 기존의 공연문화와 차별화된 원음과 육성 위주의 공연장으로 관객과 공연자가 하나 되어 어우러지는 흥겨운 실내 공연장입니다.”)

It will be interesting to see how pansori will feel in this environment. Of course, the theatre setting—a clear division between stage and auditorium—is not completely abandoned here. Still, being close to the performers in a rather small room will surely make a difference. (The Folk Theatre Pungryu (민속극장 풍류), run by the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation (한국문화재재보호재단), is a similar experiment in intimacy. The theatre is slightly bigger—147 seats, in comparison to 130 seats at the Pungnyu Sarangbang—but for some formats this works really well)

Pungnyu Sarangbang (풍류사랑방), picture by 안경숙 (국립국악원 블로그기자단), Creative Commons

More important than architectural features or technical innovations, however, is how actively these new performance venues will be used in the future… In this case, I’m quite sure that both stages (although this term in not quite fitting in either case) will integrate well into the existing venues of the National Gugak Center. Regular performances are scheduled, for example a “Performing Arts Market” (연희난장) every Saturday afternoon at the Yeounhui Madang and a variety program called “Pungnyu Sanbang” (풍류산방) every Wednesday night at the Pungnyu Sarangbang.

I didn’t attend the opening ceremony, unfortunately, but I’m excited to experience these two new performance spaces myself soon!

– 4 May 2013 (土)

(The two pictures of the new performance spaces are courtesy of 안경숙, official blogger for the National Gugak Center — see her post on the opening ceremony. The ramyeon are my creation.)

Talking to Myself

창작판소리와 서사극 사이에: 이자람의 ’사천가’에 대한 연구

I’m having a late-night practice session for an upcoming presentation on pansori. This Friday, I will talk at the “General Conference of Research Associations Related to German Language and Literature” (2013년도 한국 독어독문학 관련 학회 연합학술대회, held at Korean National University of Education Koreanische Gesellschaft für Germanistik in Chungcheongbuk-do. I’m pretty excited, because this is my debut with an academic presentation in Korean…

The title of my presentation is “창작판소리와 서사극 사이에: 이자람의 ’사천가’에 대한 연구” (Between Newly-Created Pansori and Epic Theatre: Research on Lee Jaram’s ‘Sacheon-ga’). Sacheon-ga (사천가 / 四川歌) is a fabulous pansori-style adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s Good Person of Szechwan. I am very happy that Professor Ahn Mun-Young (안문영 교수) of Chungnam National University (충남대학교), a specialist and active practitioner of pansori, has agreed to be my discussant. I am looking forward to interesting discussions about pansori, Brecht (he’s the connection to German literature, of course), and the crossways of traditional/political theatre.

You can hear the introduction of my talk, as rehearsed tonight:

– 17 Apr. 2013 (水)

I Am My Own Wife

Yesterday morning I had a special appointment at Doosan Art Center. There, rehearsals are going on for the piece I Am My Own Wife (나는 나의 아내다) by American playwright Dough Wright. The one-person-play deals with the peculiar life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (1928–2002), Berlin-born transvestite, gay-rights activist, and collector of 19th century-everyday items.

남명렬 (우), 지현준 (좌)

The play had been translated into Korean, but it features numerous German lines. So I did some pronunciation coaching with the two actors, 남명렬 (right) and 지현준 (left), who are double-cast for the main part. I also recorded the lines for later rehearsals. Director 강량원 joined us, too. We all had a good time in the basement studio, munching Japanese rice candy and checking out phrases like “Hi, ich bin Doug und ich trage schwarze Spitzenunterwäsche.” (“Hi, my name is Doug and I’m wearing black lingerie.”) or “Fräulein, nicht so stolz!” (“Miss, not so proud!”).

I am looking forward to see the play on stage. It will be shown from May 28th until June 29th at the Space 111 of Doosan Art Space (here some details). Anyone interested in a controversial character from recent German history should take a look.

– 9 Apr. 2013 (火)

Momo in Seoul

Momo—a little girl that withstands the acceleration of everyday life and saves humanity from the time-smoking “grey gentlemen”. The novel from 1973, written by Michael Ende (1929–1995), is a classic and I have read it numerous times. In retrospect, the book might have been well ahead of its time. In an essay on Momo, Zen, and the Commodification of Time, Linda Goodhew and David Loy note that “the temporal nightmare it [the book] depicts has become our reality.” (For a sociological approach on the acceleration of time see, for example, an article and a paper by Hartmut Rosa)

성신여자대학교 독어독문학과 “모모”

Although time is always short in Seoul, I went to see a production by German language and literature students of the Sungshin Women’s University (성신여자대학교), all performed in German! The show took about one hour and was great fun. Although at times the pronunciation made it a bit hard to follow, the skills of the students were amazing, given that they have been learning German for not much more than one year.

가족 뮤지컬 “모모”

This wasn’t the first time that I saw Momo (모모) on stage in Korea. Some afternoon almost five years ago, I had attended a musical-version of the story in Daehang-no. I remember that the actors on stage outnumbered the audience, but I still enjoyed the play and the songs. Back then, my knowledge of the story helped me to follow along, now it was the Korean subtitles that provided some clues when the German words were hard to understand. (see this blog for some pictures of the young lead)

미하엘 엔데: “모모”, 옮김: 한미희, 비룡소.

Momo, the book, is quite well known in Korea. Michael Ende has even written a special introduction for the first translation that was published already in 1977. The Korean Wikipedia-entry features some more interesting details, for example the “Momo Sensation” (모모 선풍) of the late 70s that emerged out of the success of Ende’s book as well as the movie Madame Rosa (1977) which opened in Korea under title Momo, the name of the (male) protagonist (see the Wikipedia-entry for more confusion).

There was also a movie based on Ende’s book, which hit Korean cinemas three years after its original release: “Seoul, summer of 1989: In this sad place, your tormented souls will be reborn!!”

“Momo”, directed by Johannes Schaaf, West Germany and Italy, 1986

This is the famous song “Momo is a Child” (모모는 철부지 by Kim Manjun (김만준), which also spawned an eponimous Korean movie in the late 70s (two decades later, around the time the author of Momo died, Tocotronic made a much more angry song about him: “Michael Ende, you destroyed my life”):

Also, two years ago mixed media artist Yang Won-Jeong (양원정) held a solo exhibition called “Momo” at Gallery UD (유디갤러리)—you can find her statement that mentions Ende online, including some pictures, such as this one:

양원정, Travel #4, 60 * 30, Wood-cut, 2010

 

Anyway, seeing Momo again was definitely not a waste of time.

– 29 March 2013 (金)

• “모모”, 원작: 미하엘 엔데; 연출: 조수진; 기획: 정현빈; 출연: 성신여자대학교 독어독문학과 전공학생, 2013년3월 29일(금) 오후 6시 ~ 7시, 성신여대 수정관 대강당 420호.
• “Momo”, based on the book by Michael Ende, directed by Jo Su-jin, produced by Jeong Hyeon-bin, performed by students of the institute of German Language and Literature at Sungshin Women’s University, 2013-03-29 (Fri.), 6 – 7 pm, Sungshin Women’s University, Main Building, Auditorium No. 420.

Recreation Music Live

If you’re traveling in Korea, the express bus is the way to go. Within four or five hours, it is possible to reach virtually any place in the Southern half of the Korean peninsula. Generous reclining seats make for a comfortable travel experience.

What’s even better is that the bus driver is required by law to take a short rest every two hours, usually at a recreation area or hyuge-so (휴게소). There are bathrooms, coffee machines, ash trays, as well as convenience stores and small restaurants. And then there is the music…

Traditional beat music, so-called “teuroteu” (트로트), the Korean rendering of the English word trot, is a “sentimental love song style” that dates back to the early 20th century, when Japanese enka boomed in colonial Korea (on the politics of “trot”, see a paper by Son Min-Jung). Compilation tapes of these old time favorites are usually sold in small cabins, too.

For me, these “recreation songs” evoke a very peculiar atmosphere: a kind of nostalgia, longing for departure in a short moment of content with the state of things—a fitting soundtrack for a place in-between.

Anyway, this time on the way to the Tongyeong International Music Festival the bus had its regular stop at the recreation place around 5 pm. But the sound I heard on the way to the bathroom was slightly different, maybe a bit louder and less synthetic. Still, it was so similar to the familiar tunes that I turned my head only when I hurried back to the bus.

Between the people passing by I saw her, way in the back: A mid-aged woman playing the guitar and singing her song. I should have stayed for a moment, but I was afraid that the bus would take off without me. So I just shot a picture from afar:

– 23 March 2013 (土)

What brought me to Korea

Photo: Suguri_F via Wikimedia Commons

How did I get to Korea? I’ve often heard this question, and these days I had another occasion to reflect on the last six, seven years of my life—this time on air, though.

After work I went to the broadcast station TBS (Traffic Broadcasting System, 교통방송) for a hasty recording session. Earlier this week I had received a call from the daily program “Prime Time” that asked for a five-part radio column about my interests in Korean culture, music etc. I spent about 30 minutes in the studio, reading the five pages I had written the night before.

This week, from Monday to Friday (March 18th – 22nd), each night during the show “Primetime” (6.10 – 8 pm), you can hear my story. Beginning with two fateful weeks in a Paris guesthouse, I will dwell in some memories, look back at events that brought me here, all in English with a very German accent…

You can listen to the show online by following this link and clicking on the “On Air”-button, then you only need to change the station to eFM101.3. (Later, there will also an audio-on-demand service)

I wish everyone who tunes in a good time!

– 15 March 2013 (金)

Behind the Gaze: General Rehearsal for THE 50

A young tenor, bewitched by two different women

One day before the premiere of the opera The 50: After more than three weeks of rehearsal, everything is set at the Grand Hall of Bupyeong Art Center. The stage art has been erected, extra dancers have been trained to join the choir in their choreography, costumes have been tailored, the ensemble is warming up their instruments, the video projection is in place and the lighting ready for action.

In front of the stage, a thin gaze has been installed, to serve as a screen for the projections. Those include intertitles, graphic animations, light effects, and, at some points, live footage of the singers in close-up. This creates an interesting overlap of distance and closeness, as the singers are often placed way in the back of the stage. This way, space becomes a part of the story, too.

Far away, so close: Two young lovers in search of their match

The final scene: Up the chairs!

The musicians (members of the Ensemble TIMF, about 30 in total) are sitting inside the stage design. The small room is connected via CCTV to various monitors on stage, so that the singers can see the conductor.

On stage, while the dancers practice their choreography

Finally reunited? Wait until your fifty!

And of course the curtain call needs to be rehearsed…

The curtain is calling…

Tomorrow, there are still some rehearsals. A few lightning problems need to be fixed, too. But everything looks promising and I am looking forward to sit back in my chair and enjoy the show.

– 21 Feb. 2013 (木)

A group picture of the full cast, including the orchestra