During the sweltering heat of sambok삼복, the three hottest days of summer, people in the past would often head to streams or mountain valleys with food and drinks in tow. Young men would catch fish with nets, while older people arrived later, carrying large pots, gochujang고추장, and fresh vegetables. They would set up camp and cook fish stew with the day’s catch, sharing the hearty meal together. To finish, they would enjoy watermelons or Korean melons that had been chilling in the stream, momentarily forgetting the oppressive heat. The fast-paced hwimori japga휘모리잡가 “On a Cloudy Day in June or July” tells of catching fish in a swollen creek after heavy rain. In the song, a man calls over a boy passing by and says, “I’ll catch some fish for you. Take them to my house and tell them to cook it up nice and tasty.” But the boy replies, “I’m a bit busy myself right now. I’m not sure I can do that.” Perhaps if the man had said, “You can come back later and eat with us,” the boy might have eagerly agreed to run the errand. Here’s Park Sang-ok to sing “On a Cloudy Day in June or July.”

This week’s artist is pansori master Kang Do-geun. Master singer Kang Do-geun was born in 1917 into a family of performing artists in Namwon, Jeollabuk-do Province. His father was a master tightrope walker, and he was cousins with two renowned instrumentalists: Kang Baek-cheon강백천, a designated master of daegeum sanjo, and Kang Soon-young강순영, a gayageum sanjo virtuoso. And the famous pansori singer Ahn Sook-sun안숙선 is his niece. In his late teens, he began formal training under master Kim Jeong-mun김정문. But unable to afford tuition, he worked as a servant in his teacher’s household while learning pansori “Heungboga.” After Kim Jeong-mun passed away, Kang moved to Seoul and continued his training under the greatest pansori masters of the time, including Song Man-gap송만갑, Jeong Jeong-ryeol정정렬, and Lee Dong-baek이동백. Back then, after learning a full pansori narrative, a pansori singer would often retreat into the mountains to practice it alone. This solitary learning practice was called ‘dokgong독공,’ literally meaning studying alone. He is known to have done ‘dokgong’ several dozen times during his 50-plus-year career. 

But even after mastering pansori, he remained in Namwon and made a living as a farmer. He didn’t sing pansori just to make money or to entertain other people, but to please himself and enjoy music. Let’s listen to Kang Do-geun singing a passage from pansori “Heungboga”

There is a unique culture in the nation’s southern islands called ‘sandai.’ It refers to a culture of singing together with neighbors when working on a joint project for the village. The exact meaning of ‘sandai’ is still not known. But one speculation says the term derived from ‘sandaehi산대희,’ large-scale shows performed on a high stage in the Joseon royal court. 

Anyway, sandai’ is a widespread form of entertainment in the southern region, especially in the islands. It’s so popular that the islanders in the South Sea say that they can endure this tough world, thanks to sandai. Today, we’ll listen to ‘Gageodo Island Sandai” sung by Jeong I-deuk and others.