Korea is still divided into South and North. The South and the North have achieved their own cultural development which is appropriate for their society respectively. In the course of the development, they have invented new cultural modalities. Combin...
Korea is still divided into South and North. The South and the North have achieved their own cultural development which is appropriate for their society respectively. In the course of the development, they have invented new cultural modalities. Combination of two different cultural modalities will play a great role in overcoming the heterogeneity of South and North and expanding their homogeneity. The heterogeneity seems to be generated from different requirements and environments between the South and the North for the present, but when both countries are unified in the future their different culture will be positioned as a national culture. Therefore, it is necessary to utilize the culture of South and North not from the discriminated recognition but from the comprehensive, amalgamated and practical recognition.
In this vein, the purpose of this study was to examine the 'Bangchang' of North Korea's Revolution Opera, a unique performance modality of North Korea's representative opera, and then present its use strategy in the South Korean musical, a popular musical drama.
The start point of North Korea's Revolution Opera can be traced back to Changgeuk (Korean traditional opera) which dramatizes Pansori before the liberation of Korea. And the Western opera plays a part in North Korea's Revolution Opera. Aiming to national formality and modernity, North Korea adopted Changgeuk and opera subjectively and then developed <Pibada> style revolution operas in the 1970s. In the Revolution Opera which was made for the realization of national formality and modernity, there are such unique characteristics as passage-type songs (Jeolgahwa), the introduction of the third party songs (Bangchang), the introduction of combined orchestral music, the introduction of dance, and the adoption of three-dimensional moving stage. In particular, Jeolga, Bangchang and combined orchestral music are the realization of national formality.
There is the modality of Bangchang in the Revolution Opera. Bangchang is narrated by the third party and it is a song sung by a chorus from the outside of the stage. Bangchang plays the role of an opera commentator and a spokesperson and appraiser of characters, audience and musicians, thus freely communicating with the stage and the seats and taking part in the performance. In the performance, Bangchang functions as highlighting characters' inner world, presenting and explaining the situation of opera, developing the opera, securing the actuality of the opera through combining music and drama, continuously developing the life on the stage, speaking for audience's psychology and making audience immerse in the performance. This third party function of narration ensures the description of opera and is used as various means of shaping the performance.
There seem to be many ways to utilize Bangchang in the modern musical. First, it is possible to apply the modality of Bangchang as it is sung in the outside of the stage to the modern musical. In addition, it is possible to apply the content and form of Bangchang as it is to a historical drama, namely an epic drama.
It is also possible to apply the function and role of Bangchang to the musical of which basic pattern is untouched. The Bangchang which comes from the outside of the stage can be placed as the role of connecting the flow of the drama. And on the stage the role is carried out by chorus and characters. Its application method can be chorus' individual Bangchang or mutually responsive Bangchang between chorus and characters. In a musical, characters on the stage sing all the songs. Therefore, the third party narrative method is problematic for a musical. So this role is carried out by chorus. In other words, chorus not only presents the situation of performance but also freely speaks for the standpoint of leading character, the other party, the masses and audience. A music drama performance unconsciously uses a Bangchang form many. Bangchang has the effect of overcoming the limitation of stage.
In this research, we tried to have a view of appropriate application of 'Bangchang', a unique form of North Korean Revolution Opera, to musicals. We expect that this application with a clear sense of purpose will be helpful both for promoting mutual understanding and homogeneity of the South and the North and for developing music dramas.