The ‘World Music’, as one of the music genres, broadly speaking, refers to the music of the world’s cultures, including indigenous or traditional folk music. In the 1980s, the term was used to characterize non-English recordings that were released in the UK or the US. Previously, international music had limited terminology as a catch-all term for its roster of international artists from Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. There have been some critics about the term’s exclusive implication which is just a subtle way of reasserting the hegemony of western pop culture, as David Byrne said through his writing in the New York Times.
Now, however, with the internet and streaming services providing endless hours of musical discovery, the audience can reach far beyond the meaning of “world music”. Sometimes the term ‘world music’ can be toxic for them, but marginalized genres still need a term which can characterize them. If you want to meet the artists and music effectively, Jeonju International Sori Festival would be the best choice.
Jeonju International Sori Festival has put together world music from around the globe. Artists playing different and diverse genres could exchange their music, inspiration, experiences and ideas. The Festival, founded in 2001, is an international music festival where people can experience a variety of performances in one place, including master-class artist performances that are gaining global fame in each field without being biased to specific music genres. When the festival first started, nobody paid attention to this new challenge. However, it became one of the “Best 25 International Festivals” selected by Songlines, a renowned British world music magazine, for the fourth consecutive year – from 2012 to 2015.
The festival was held from Sept 29 to Oct 3, which was full of traditional, religious, classical music and experimental and modern music suitable for all generations. All of these music are a truly huge festival, tightly organized for five days. The main theme – “To preserve is the same as to revamp. Because they both make us alive.” – left huge cultural implications to the participants.
The festival also has presented Korean traditional music including Pansori which was registered as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO and promotes exchange with other musics. As the historical records say, the Korean people have been renowned for their enjoyment of song and dancing since ancient times. Pansori – the epic chant of Korea – is a traditional folk music played from hundreds of years ago, which stirred the hearts of Koreans for ages. “Pan” signifies the place of performance while “sori” means the sound. This indigenous and traditional music is often compared to Western operas with a huge stage, orchestra and a chorus, but it is a storytelling performance created only by a solo vocalist and a drummer. Pansori does not have a musical score and has only been transmitted orally. Its story also mainly originated from orally transmitted folk tales. One interesting point is that sometimes the singer improvises in accordance with the instant feeling or the situation at that moment. At the festival, sorikkuns – the singers of Pansori – showed cross-genre performances in the collaboration with pop or contemporary rhythms.
The Jeonju International Sori Festival 2021 offered a greater cultural experience with diversity. Participating artists said that they could be inspired while listening to other artists’ music and that it was great because they each had unique style and culture. Artists and audiences shared the real value of each traditional music of today but also preserving its original forms, and dreaming of the tomorrow through creative challenges and collaboration with other genres. Audiences are already looking forward to the next festival which will have so much to enjoy without masks on their face.
Kayla Hong
Asia Journal
