In a country in which the staple food is rice, planting rice seedlings is a big agricultural event. It is an anticipated task, but a hard one, and the first traditional holiday that comes around after the planting is Dano, which usually falls in May, but this year it is in June. The weather is usually nice and clear in the spring, making it a perfect time of the year to relax. Men show off their strength by wrestling and women wash their hair in the water infused with a plant called sweet flag and demonstrate their beauty by playing on the swings. Although Confucian teachings forbade boys and girls beyond the age of seven from mingling together, moral rules could not stop young men and women from following their natural desires and falling in love. There is a famous scene in the pansori Chunhyangga (춘향가) that well illustrates how love blossoms between a man and a woman. It was on Dano day when Lee Mong-ryong (이몽룡) first laid his eyes on the lovely Chunhyang. Tired of reading books on such a fine spring day, the young master was out near Gwanghallu (광한루) when he spotted Chunhyang on the swing. Let’s listen to master pansori singer Ahn Sook-sun singing that passage.

Music 1: Passage from pansori Chunhyangga/ Sori by Ahn Sook-sun

Amid the white and red flowers, Chunhyang rides the swing with her maid Hyangdan looking on. The lyrics describe how colorful the swing ropes were and how high Chunhyang floated on the swing. The passage is played in “jajinmori (자진모리)” or fast tempo beats, leading listeners to sway back and forth, as if they’re on the swings themselves. Poet Seo Jeong-ju (서정주) provides a different interpretation of this passage in his poem.

Hyangdan, push the swing,
 As if you’re pushing a boat toward the faraway sea.
 Hyangdan, push the swing strong
 Away from this gently swaying weeping willow,
 Away from a bunch of flowers placed on the pillow,
 And away from small butterflies and nightingales.

This poem of Seo Jeong-ju titled “Chucheonsa (추천사)” with the subtitle of “Chunhyang’s Words” seems to be about the aspirations of a truth seeker who has cut off his secular ties and is now traveling toward his ideal place, rather than the feelings of a young woman out to enjoy the spring day.

Music 2: Chucheonsa/ Written by Hwang Byung-ki, gayageum by Lee Ji-young, sung by Kang Kwon-sun

That was Seo Jeong-ju’s poem “Chucheonsa” composed into a song by gayageum virtuoso Hwang Byung-ki and sung by Kang Kwon-sun, with Lee Ji-young playing the gayageum. This year’s Dano falls on June 18th. Around that time the Gangnueng Dano Festival will take place in the city of Gangneung in Gangwon-do Province. In the old days, the Dano festival was a shamanistic ritual that Gangneung and surrounding towns held to wish for peace and prosperity in the region. The celebration became a world-famous event since it was registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2005. The festival will feature a variety of ceremonies and performances that combine the cultural elements of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and shamanism. It is scheduled to begin on June 14th and continue until the 21st. If you happen to be in Korea around that time, the Gangneung Dano Festival will be a great opportunity to get a glimpse of traditional Korean culture. The music used in the shamanistic Dano ceremony is known for its unique percussion rhythm. The Puneori (푸너리) beats have been adapted into a fusion music piece by Jo Jong-hun (조종훈), the practitioner of the East Sea shaman ritual, and Australian drummer Simon Barker. Today’s Sounds of Korea will sign off with “Puneori” performed by Jo Jong-hun and Simon Barker.

Music 3: Puneori/ Performed by Jo Jong-hun and Simon Barker