Korean traditional arts take center stage on European tour
Summary
The National Intangible Heritage Center will take K-Intangible Heritage Festival: Pungjang Korea to Budapest on Wednesday, Podgorica on Nov. 8 and Ankara on Nov. 13. More than 20 performers will combine traditional music, dance and theater in the production’s European debut. The four-scene program draws on rituals and pansori to bring performers and audiences together, while the tour aims to raise the international profile of Korean intangible cultural heritage.
Key Facts
- The program opens with Mungut and Saemgut, then presents Jisinbapgi, which draws on the pansori epic Jeokbyeokga, before concluding with Dwitgut.
- Featured artists include Yoon Jin-cheol, Akdan Gwangchil, The Gwangdae, Yeonhui Jumchuri, Sinabro Gaseume and composer and singer Bang Cho-rong.
- Director Cheon Jae-hyeon will lead the production after staging the center’s 2024 opening performance, Pungjang, Opening a New Path.
- The Podgorica performance coincides with the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Montenegro and is described by the center as the first Korean traditional performance in Montenegro.
- The Hungary and Türkiye performances are organized in connection with Touring K-Arts, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange.
Master singer Jeon In-sam performs in the Yeom Gye-dal vocal style at the 2023 Eumseong International Pansori Festival. Korea Times file
Korea’s traditional rhythms, masked dances and epic storytelling are heading to European stages next month in a three-country tour designed to bring the energy of its intangible cultural heritage to international audiences.
The National Intangible Heritage Center, under the Korea Heritage Service, said Thursday that “K-Intangible Heritage Festival: Pungjang Korea” would stage performances in Budapest on Wednesday, Podgorica on Nov. 8 and Ankara on Nov. 13.
More than 20 performers, including practitioners of nationally recognized intangible heritage and contemporary artists, will combine traditional music, dance and theatrical performance in a production making its European debut.
The tour is intended to raise the international profile of Korean cultural heritage while introducing audiences unfamiliar with its traditional arts to the exuberance and communal spirit at the heart of these performances.
The program unfolds across four scenes, opening with “Mungut,” a ritual that launches the performance, followed by “Saemgut,” which invokes life and well-being.
“Jisinbapgi” draws on the pansori epic “Jeokbyeokga,” reflecting on war and expressing hopes for peace, before “Dwitgut” brings performers and audiences together through music and dance.
Among the featured artists is Yoon Jin-cheol, a master performer recognized for his rendition of “Jeokbyeokga,” one of the five surviving traditional pansori epics.
The lineup also includes Akdan Gwangchil, The Gwangdae, Yeonhui Jumchuri, contemporary dance troupe Sinabro Gaseume and composer and singer Bang Cho-rong.
Director Cheon Jae-hyeon, who staged the center’s 2024 opening performance “Pungjang, Opening a New Path,” will lead the production.
The Podgorica performance carries particular significance, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Montenegro and marking the first presentation of a Korean traditional performance in the country, according to the center.
Performances in Hungary and Türkiye are being organized in connection with Touring K-Arts, a program supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange.
The center said it would use the festival to support international opportunities for practitioners of intangible heritage and build lasting exchanges with overseas cultural institutions.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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