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The Intransigent Series: A Collaboration between Weiwuying and Jeonju International Sori Festival
Today (22nd), The National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) signed a memorandum with Jeonju International Sori Festival (JISF), which is listed among the 25 Best International Festivals. Contemporary musicians, performers, and artists will be collaborating across a three-year period, beginning with the Intransigent Series which will be presented during the Weiwuying Opening Season at the end of this month.
Before the official collaboration between Weiwuying and JISF, Park Je Chun, the music director of JISF and renowned Korean percussionist, arranged for three performances of the Intransigent Series to be presented to the audiences of Taiwan. On the 26th, Intransigent Way of Pansori - Lee Narae will showcase Lee Narae, winner of the Best Program prize in JISF 2017. Then, DUO BUD, winner of the Best Program prize in JISF 2015, will be performing on Saturday, November 3rd. The performance of DUO BUD was popularly received at the 2017 Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music, and they will be performing with new local Chinese orchestra 3PEOPLEMUSIC. In the last performance on Saturday, November 10th, Park Je Chun and pianist Miyeon will be leading Taiwanese musicians to perform together on stage. All of the Korean musicians mentioned above, Lee Narae, DUO BUD, and national percussionist treasure Park Je Chun, were trained in traditional Korean music, and believe that only by integrating contemporary music with tradition can the legacy be preserved.
Intransigent Way of Pansori - Lee Narae will be showcased at the recital hall of Weiwuying on Saturday, October 27th. Adapted from Korean Pansori song Byeongangseo-ga, Pansori singer Lee Narae presents the beauty of the heroine and her tragic fate. Intransigent Way of Pansori - Lee Narae challenges tradition from the female perspective in an eerie manner and expresses an unyielding attitude against Confucius patriarchic authority while showcasing the vulnerability and evil of human nature. Pansori was listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2008. Because Pansori performances only include two people, the entire work depends on the art of narrative and musical performance and is therefore referred to as the foundation of traditional and modern performance art in Korea.
Lee Narae is an expert at interpreting traditional through innovation. Lee Narae is the recipient of the Outstanding Prize of 2015 Korean Music Experimental Program and the Best Program prize of the 2017 JISF. Based on the bizarre text of Intransigent Way of Pansori - Lee Narae, Lee Narae condenses the three, four-hour performance into a one-hour program, heightening the tension of the plot while adding refreshing vocals into the music. At the same time, Lee Narae abandoned traditional Janggu accompaniment and instead replaces the part with collaborations with Gayageum musician Hwang Gina, Hanja musician Lee Hwa Young, and acoustic guitarist Lee Simun, adding richness to the listening experiences through three plucked string instruments.
Into the Breach-DUO BUD, the second performance of the Intransigent Series, will be staged on Saturday, November 3rd. The program will be presented as an interdisciplinary performance by Korean music group DUO BUD and Taiwan traditional chamber orchestra 3PEOPLEMUSIC. By integrating Korean Janggu, which was traditionally used for accompaniment, with Gayageum and other percussion instruments, Into The Breach-DUO BUD displays a unique and unpredictable style of musical narrative that combines traditional Korean musical instruments with traditional Chinese instruments Guzheng, Zhongruan, and bamboo flute.
The Intransigent Series will end with Impromptus-Miyeon & Park with Friends, during which Park Je Chun and his wife, pianist Miyeon, will be presenting the “Miyeon & Park” duet. Impromptus-Miyeon & Park with Friends will showcase the exciting, versatile, experimental and unrestricted collaboration between Miyeon & Park, Taiwan Erhu musician Wang Ying-chieh, sitar and vocal artist Wu Hsin-Tse, and 3PEOPLEMUSIC.