Gugak-themed theater fest features Lee Ja-ram, Yang Bang-eon


Our music is here, our music is here.

Yeowoorak, which is an abbreviation for the Korean sentence “Yeogi Woori Eeumagee Itda,” meaning “our music (gugak) is here,” is kicking off its third edition with some of today’s most acclaimed artists.

The gugak-themed festival is directed by Korean-Japanese pianist Yang Bang-eon this year. A total of 13 artistic groups are participating ― comprised of both gugak artists and musicians from other musical genres.

Some of the highlights of this year’s edition include “Sacheon-ga” by pansori artist Lee Ja-ram. An original piece by Lee, “Sacheon-ga” is a Pansori adaptation of German playwright Bertolt Brecht’s work “The Good Person of Szechwan.” 

The piece takes place in a fictional Korean town named Sacheon, and tells the story of a good-hearted woman who slowly becomes monstrously-ruthless as she goes through a series of financial ordeals. The highly-regarded show was first premiered in Seoul in 2007 and has been performed in countries overseas as well.

Meanwhile, jazz pianist Miyeon and fusion gugak artist Park Jae-cheon are together throwing their “avant-garde” gugak show. The duo, as well as three other gugak artists, Ahn Sook-seon, Kim Cheong-man and Lee Gwang-sik, are showcasing a one-of-a-kind fusion gugak concert, which mixes jazz and gugak.

Theater fans should check out “Coarse Sand,” a gugak-drama concert based on late author Hwang Sun-won’s novel of the same title. The novel, which takes place in post-war South Korea in the 1950s, tells the heart-wrenching story of a severely impoverished family.

Indie group Nunco Band’s keyboardist Yonrimog, who also served as the music director for this year’s erotic drama “Eungyo,” is participating in Yeowoorak with her other gugak band named “Tan-Emotion.” The five-member band is holding a concert where they will perform musical pieces used in “gut,” Korea’s shamanic, traditional ritual ceremonies, from different regions of the country. The show will consist of pansori and performances on drum, keyboard, Korea’s double reed instrument piri, and Korea’s traditional string instrument ajaeng.

Gayageum artist and singer-songwriter Jeong Min-a is also holding a solo “talk” concert during the festival. The theme of her show pivots around the story of her own life. Jeong, who is one of the few contemporary artists who plays gayageum and sings at the same time, will showcase a very diverse set of songs during the upcoming concert. Some of the highlight numbers of the show includes trot singer Han Myung-sook’s 1961 song “The Boy in the Yellow Shirt”; a folksong from Korea’s Gyeonggi region, “Cheonando Samgeori,”; and “Jangsang,” which is the first song Jeong ever wrote.

The festival runs from July 3-21 at the National Theater of Korea. All the outdoor performances are free. For tickets and information, call (02) 2280-4114-6 or visit www.ntok.go.kr.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)