Exploring a Tradition Identity: Gwangdaejeon in Jeonju, an Innovative Strategy in Pansori Popularization

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2017-08

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University of Hawaii at Manoa

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Gwangdaejeon (Battle of the Clowns) was a local North Jeolla province television show that premiered in 2012 and ended in 2015, with later seasons being broadcast throughout Korea. This program’s motto was to revive the traditional pansori stage which thrived around Jeonju, the state capital of the North Jeolla province. The show was filmed in hanok (traditional Korean house) village, a historical recreation of a traditional house town in Jeonju. Gwangdaejeon was a competition for the master pansori singers, myeongchang. Gwangdaejeon follows the structure of reality popular song competition programs, which are already familiar to the public. These programs are categorized into two types: amateur and professional competitions. The former centers on auditions for novices who want to become stars, for example, Superstar K. The latter are competitions, such as I am a Singer, exclusively feature professional experts. Gwangdaejeon was similar to I am a Singer, but for myeongchang. This thesis explores the ways a television show contributes to the promotion of Korean traditional music. While Korean pop culture, such as K-pop and TV dramas, are gaining huge popularity all over the world, pansori, an example of Korean traditional vocal music, is disregarded by the majority of Koreans even though it has cultural value. This program offers a chance for Korean people to experience traditional vocal music performances and think more deeply about their own musical identity. I argue that Gwangdaejeon and its clever strategy of combining a popular competitive television program format with Korean traditional music not only aids in the revival of pansori but also offers the best chance at popularizing pansori among Koreans. I demonstrate that it also promotes the preservation of the cultural identity of Jeonju.

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