May is called the family month in Korea. From Children’s Day and Parents’ Day to Coming-of-Age Day and Married Couples’ Day, the month of May is filled with occasions to remember and celebrate family members. The same goes for other countries as well. In the United States and many European countries, the second Sunday of May is Mother’s Day, while Mexico celebrates the day on May 10th. In Japan, children are celebrated on different days by gender - March 3rd is Girls’ Day and May 5th is Boys’ Day. Even the United Nations designated May 15th as the International Day of Families. The reason May is filled with such special family days is to appreciate those closest to you and tell them how important they are to your lives. Oftentimes, we tend to be harsh or indifferent to our families. Perhaps it’s because we unconsciously take them for granted, much like we don’t really appreciate the air we breathe until we are deprived of it. So, try to spend more time with your family members and show your love for them this month. Let’s listen to “Everyone Is a Flower” sung by Sung Da-kyung. 

This week’s artist is late Joseon period master singer Kim Chang-hwan. He was born in 1855 in Naju in southwest Korea. His career extended into the mid-1930s, so he was the oldest pansori singer whose voice had been recorded. Other singers who saw his performance applauded him as thus: “He was cheerful without being pretentious and amusing without being vulgar. Even his slight gesture had some weight to it and a lifting of his finger exuded with mastery.” It was said that King Gojong, an avid pansori lover, instructed Kim Chang-hwan to oversee an extravagant event in 1902 to mark his 40th anniversary of ascension to the throne. So, the singer gathered several master singers from across the country to produce a grand concert, but the event was cancelled when a contagious disease spread among the people and the political situation at the time grew uncertain. But that didn’t faze Kim Chang-hwan. He instead took the performing company named ‘Hyeopryulsa협률사’ around the country to put on shows in local cities where the group gained immense fame. Since then, several groups using the name Hyeopryulsa were created to lead the performing arts culture during the Japanese colonial period. 

In pansori, a passage written creatively by a singer was called ‘deoneum더늠.” The part in which the swallow saved by kind-hearted Heungbo returns to Heungbo’s house carrying a magical gourd seed was Kim Chang-hwan’s deoneum. Let’s listen to that part from pansori Heungboga sung this time by young pansori singer Lee Gwang-bok. 

Samulnori사물놀이, literally translated into four objects play, is genre of percussion music composed of four percussion instruments – a small gong kkwaenggwari꽹과리, a double-ended drum janggu장구, a barrel drum called buk북, and a larger gong jing징. The melodies for samulnori come from the local farm music while the term ‘samul’ from four Buddhist musical instruments. In most large Buddhist temples, there is a small pavilion for a temple bell in which four Buddhist objects – a Dharma drum, bell, a wooden fish, and a gong - are hung. These four instruments are there to deliver the news of salvation to the creatures in the sky, on land, and in water. Buddhism aims to redeem not only human beings, but all creatures on earth. While Buddhist monks can preach the scriptures to humans through language, animals or other spiritual beings which cannot understand human language are comforted through the sound of these instruments. Animals are given comfort and lessons by striking the Dharma drum made with animal hide, and the bell with its mouth pointed toward the ground is played for the sake of people on land, especially those suffering in hell. It is said that the punishment in hell is stopped while the bell is rung. The wooden fish is struck for the good of water creatures and the gong shaped like a cloud is for those flying in the sky. Let’s listen to the monks at Songgwangsa Temple playing the four instruments for the morning prayer service.