Pansori

Pansori (also spelled p'ansori) is a genre of Korean music. It is a vocal and percussional music performed by one sorikkun (소리꾼; a singer) and one gosu (a drummer). The term pansori is derived from pan, meaning "a place where many people gather," and sori, meaning "song."

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Being popular in Korea during the 19th century, it featured satires and love stories. A full story, madang (마당), is so long that it usually takes hours to complete. A madang consists of certain alterations of aniris (아니리; descriptive speech) and changs (창; song).

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In the performance, the sorikkun sings, standing with a folding fan held in one hand. This emphasizes his/her motions and is used to announce changes of scene through its unfolding. The gosu gives rhythm not only by beats but also by chuimsae (추임새), verbal sounds. A chuimsae can be a simple meaningless vowel, but short words of encouragement are also given. The audience also are supposed to give chuimsae during the performance.

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UNESCO proclaimed the pansori tradition a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on November 7, 2003.

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Korean music: Korean music includes both folk and classical styles from the countries of North and South Korea....

Gosu: In Korean, gosu (lit. a high hand) is used to refer a person with great skill, usually in martial arts or in baduk. Currently on the internet, gosu often refers to a good player or item in computer games, such as ', Diablo II, Lineage, and StarCraft. On the other hand, one with no skill can be labe...

Korea: — For other places called Korea, see: Korea (disambiguation)...