Concert Chi-Da in Seoul, Korea (2019)
This particular concert, later made as a record called <The Colliding Beings, Chi-Da>, features Pansori, Korean traditional vocal music. One that is particularly important in this concert was to fully embrace Pansori singer Il-dong Bae’s originality and the tradition’s authenticity rooted deeply in the ancient philosophy aged more than 3,000 of years as Bae claims based on his study on classic texts of Korea.
Not only the Pansori vocalist, but also all performers were invited to draw the very raw and original selves into the performance setting or Pan (판, place or ground for a play). It is an action of respecting the inner workings of each performer as it encourages to never compromised the originality in order to blend each other. Counter-directional kinetic energies at its fullest force colliding into each other become the creation. However, the very goal set by Jeong, the leader of the project, must be always in performers’ sight, which is, in this particular concert, was to console the universal human condition of suffering, joy, existential despair, forgiveness and love, which is the main theme of Pansori narratives. This behavioral approach is in some ways anti-orientalist and also in a larger sense is about embracing others by respecting one’s own self.
Concert Statement
공연 | 치다
부딪힘, 저항, 그리고 용솟음. 뚫고 나아가는 존재들. 우리가 듣고 알고 있는 음악은 아무래도 인간이 몸으로 살아내는 삶이 없다면 세상에 태어날 수가 없는 것 같다. 인간 생명이든 자연 생명이든, 중력 에 저항하며 자라나고, 외부와 부딪히며 고통을 뚫고 나가면서 한 뼘씩 한 마디씩 성장한다. 성대가 마찰을 하며 다양한 모양의 공기를 뿜어내며 노랫소리를 만들어내고, 스틱이 드럼을 치고 활이 현을 부딪히는 순간에 비로소 소리가 태어나고, 그 순간들이 모여 음악이 탄생한다. 그 무엇보다도 치열한 인생과 그 인생을 오롯이 받아내고 겪어내고 이겨낸 몸과 마음을 부딪혀서 울려 나오는 음악은 그 얼 마나 귀한가. 즉흥이라는 형태로 연주를 하지만, 이미 각자 연주자안에 살아 숨쉬는 이야기와 소리의 구조들이 있다. 우리는 이를 함께 부딪혀가며 펼쳐내어 치열하게 어우러져 보려고 한다.
2019년 6월 19일 정은혜
Concert | Chi-Da
Colliding, resisting, and powerful spurting. All beings, breaking right through. The music that we often hear and know cannot be born to the world without human life and with physical bodies. Both human life and natural life grows one at a time as it resists gravity, fearlessly crashing into the world outside oneself and enduring the pains that result from living itself. As the vocal cords rub against each other, they blow out various shapes of air thus producing various sounds. When the stick hits the drum and the bow hits the strings, sound is born and as the moments (the time-space of sounds) are gathered up, music is born. Above all else, how precious is the music that resonates with the body and mind that experience life and its suffering ever so fiercely? The stories and the structures of sounds already exist and vividly live within each player. We will be playing, crashing into each other. We will strike it and unfold the music together while seeking for the harmony of incongruity in the form of improvisation.
June 9, 2019 Eunhye Jeong