Ahn Sook-sun, a 73-year-old virtuoso of Korean traditional music, or gugak, has been honored with a second designation as master of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage for her artistry of the pansori piece “Chunhyangga.”
The Cultural Heritage Administration(CHA) made the announcement on Tuesday, citing Ahn’s contribution to promoting pansori to the general public. This new title will end her first designation as master soloist playing and singing free-style on the gayageum, which she received in 1997.
The cultural body restricts a person from accepting more than one designation to ensure that each honoree may concentrate on training a successor in his or her craft.
Born in Namwon, North Jeolla Province in 1949, Ahn was introduced to pansori, a classical form of solo operatic storytelling, at the age of eight.
She started to train under the late Kim Sun-ok, better known by her stage name of Kim So-hee, who was the first recipient of the same honor nearly sixty years ago when the government first set up the heritage system. “Chunhyangga” was the first pansori that she learned from Kim.
Pansori performances, which involve a solo storyteller and singer, is traditionally accompanied by a single percussionist. The pieces have no sheet music and is only passed on vocally from teacher to student.
Ahn began taking leading roles at the National Changgeuk Company in 1981. She then made history in 1986 singing the complete canon of five pansori pieces in their entirety, including the eight-hour-long Chunhyangga.
Last year, she received the nation’s second-highest honor of Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit for her devotion to promoting the country’s traditional music and culture.
Source: KBS World Radio