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>Information on Pansori

Danga is a short song that is sung prior to the main song of Pansori. It was called Heoduga, Choduga, Danga, or Yeongsan (靈山 or 瀛山), but now the name of Danga is widely used. It is unknown from when Danga was called, but through the fact that Jae-Hyo Shin (1812-1884)’s literary collection contains several Dangas, it is guessed that Danga was used from the middle part of the 19th century.
There are about 40 Dangas that are currently available. Among these Danga’s, [True Noted Mountain], [Babooo Cane and Straw Shoes], [Landscape in Clouds], [Pyeonsichoon], [Jangbuhan], [Chohanga], [Hongmoonyeon], [Jeokbyeokbu], [Song of Four Seasons], [Sachanghwaryu], [Song of White Hair], [This Mountain, That Mountain], [Song of Filial Piety], [Honamga], [Beauties of Nature on River], [Riverside on A Hill], [Emerald Stream and A Green Mountain] are widely enjoyed.
Danga is mostly created, but it is sometimes borrowed from a folk song or Pansori, or it is a part of Pansori. Danga is sung prior to the main song of Pansori so it is usually sung lightly. Its mood is mostly peaceful Pyeongjo and excessively sad tunes are not used.
Jangdan of Danga is mostly Jungmori and there is only one or two Dangas that are made up of other Jangdan. There is little case that Jangdan is changed in the middle of a song. Except for [Sachanghwaryu], the other Dangas are made up of only one Jangdan. The contents of Danga are mostly ideological and fantastic issues, rather than real issues. Stories have two emotions, uncertainty of life and poetical optimism. Out of these two emotions, uncertainty of life is the main current. It is thought that these contents of Danga are closely related with the functions of Danga.
The functions of Danga are classified into the functions toward singer and audience. For singers, it functions to clear the throats before singing the main Pansori and to preliminarily control the conditions of the vocal chords and musical interval. Pansori requires powerful voice, wide musical interval and complicated decorative rhythms. In order to get the sound color that is used in Pansori, Pansori singers use the vocal chords by force to make his throat coarse so they need to clear the throat in order to make the sound correctly. Otherwise, the throat would become thick so they can’t make the sound. Danga forms the ground of music and makes its mood and further, it clearly informs of the start of Pansori.
Danga leads audience to the world of fantasy, that is, time and space of Pansori. It also stabilizes the mind and rouses audience’s pleasant feelings so it encourages audience to participate in the ground of music unconsciously. In addition, it raises audience’s sense of subjective participation. The last phrase of Danga is finished with recommendation such as “Let’s play” or “Let’s play after doing a given work.” Through this recommendation, audience thinks the singer in the sense of unity. Therefore, audience feels like playing in the ground, not watching other person’s play. Danga plays an important role in making the ground of music into an energetic space.