Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
INTERVIEW Singaporean director says pansori, K-pop evoke emotion
A scene from “Trojan Women” by the National Changgeuk Company of Korea which ran from Dec. 3 to 5 at the National Theater of Korea / Courtesy of National Theater of Korea
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
Ong Keng Sen, the Singaporean director of the changgeuk (traditional Korean opera) piece “Trojan Women” by the National Changgeuk Company of Korea poses during an interview with The Korea Times at the National Theater of Korea, Seoul, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won
Earlier this year when Ong Keng Sen, a Singaporean director of the theater group TheatreWork, was tapped by the National Changeeuk Company of Korea (NCCK) to direct the Korean traditional opera “Trojan Women,” he did not hesitate.
The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic couldn't deter him from coming to Korea because he knew pansori is a powerful art form that can effectively narrate the tragic ancient story for both Korean and international audiences.
He knew Korean music very well and thought it had the potential to appeal to the hearts and minds of international audiences.
“In Korean music, emotion is very much at the forefront and very strong. This is what you actually hear in K-pop,” he said during a Korea Times interview at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul, Friday. “When you watch K-pop groups like BTS or whatever group you want to talk about, it's not just a catchy rhyme and rhythm … Let's say sensational K-pop brings about a certain kind of adrenalin and emotional speed in you.”
Ong is a renowned art director who has successfully combined Asian traditional art with modern Western theatrical repertoires. He directed “Lear” in Japan in 1997 and “Richard III” in Tokyo in 2016 and “Lear Dreaming” in France in 2015.
The repertoire, made from the ancient tale of the Trojan horse and the love between Paris and Helen during the Trojan War, gives a unique taste for those familiar with the story in musicals or plays, as performers, mostly skilled pansori singers, express the tragedy with some Asian interpretations. Audiences can enjoy not only authentic pansori vocals but also the androgynous performance of a male Helen by Kim Jun-soo. Since its premiere in 2016, it has been performed in various cities around the world, such as Singapore, Vienna, Amsterdam and London.
Co-developed by the NTOK and the Singapore Arts Festival, veteran pansori singer Ahn Sook-sun worked on the singing style and Jung Jae-il, the music director of the award-winning film “Parasite,” composed its music, while Korean playwright Bae Sam-sik wrote the script.
Ong said he was attracted to pansori, because the emotional and intensive vocal style was the right fit to describe the story as the traditional art form is already a powerful way to narrate emotional stories.
The following are edited excerpts from the interview with Ong Keng Sen.
A scene from the changgeuk piece “Trojan Women,” by the National Changgeuk Company of Korea, which ran from Dec. 3 to 5 at the National Theater of Korea / Courtesy of National Theater of Korea
Q: How did you combine the Korean and Western art forms?
A: The reason why I chose the Greek classic is that it is much more archetypal and much about direct emotions of love, anger or hatred. The relationships are very essential. I think this is very strong in pansori. The stories are very essential in pansori like Simcheong-ga or Chunhyang-ga, which are very direct and about a woman who is waiting for her lover or a daughter fighting for her father. I think it is a bit more like that in Greek theater because it is the traditional theater from the West. I felt like pansori was suitable to tell this story to Koreans because it is a storytelling form.
Q: How do you think pansori is different from other performances?
A: In Korean music, emotion is very much at the forefront and very strong. This is what you actually hear in K-pop. In K-pop, emotion is right in front. It is not like beautiful Western classical music like Tchaikovsky. There is a lot of form of the music. But in pansori, you feel like there is something raw that has been brought forward. After watching pansori, Western opera singers would say they are destroying their voices, pushing their vocal chords. Pansori is not like Western music which has mezzo soprano, tenor and so on. There isn't kind of differentiation in pansori. Women with low voices or men with high voices, they all learn the same thing.
The strongest thing about Korean music is that it is not just the notes, or melody. It is about how the singer brings in such deep emotion. And the entire art form and song is infused with emotion. So it is not just I can reach high notes or sing the melody line very well. When you watch K-pop groups like BTS or whatever group you want to talk about, it's not just a catchy rhyme and rhythm. Let's say sensational K-pop brings about a certain kind of adrenalin and emotional speed in you.
Q: Were there any particular things you tried to focus on in this year's version?
A: My intention was to try to make a new classic. A new pansori changgeuk classic. If you think about Chunhyang-ga, it's just an old story that's done over and over again. Trojan Women has this power to make the audiences feel the same when you watch Chunhyang-ga.
Trojan Women is very related to Korea in many ways because it reminds the audiences of the narrative of comfort women and the Korean War and their trauma and pain.
Q: How did international audiences react to Trojan Women when it was performed during its world tour?
A: Many said this is a universal story and discovered the beauty of this traditional Korean art form that we didn't know. Some said, “This is unique, fantastic and it blows your mind away. And the story is still understandable.”
Some of them were touched by the story. There are some strong emotions. The scene when the mother-in-law is fighting the daughter-in-law seems like a Korean drama. They are talking about the prince charming. “You have to maintain the bloodline. You have to sacrifice yourself to keep the blood.” This is quite Korean. In Europe, people struggle to understand these. There are many couples who don't have children. They think having children is kind of an old-fashioned idea. But in Asia, we kind of understand what the story means.