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>Information on Pansori

Beautiful pitch that is released while being tightened

Sanjo is a Sinawi or a popular art that is rooted in the shaman culture. It sublimates the existing music like Pansori in an instrumental solo. It is a branch of the traditional music.
As seen in the Chinese letter of Sanjo (散調), in the traditional society, Sanjo was called ‘scattered rhythms’. What is the reason for calling an instrumental solo that was developed from a folk society as ‘scattered rhythm’? Sanjo was made up of the melodies of several folk music types that existed prior to Sanjo. That is, Sanjo is a combination of present several rhythms, which is the reason for calling Sanjo ‘scattered rhythm.’
However, as we have close access to the form of Sanjo, we get to feel that our guesswork should be corrected because Sanjo is very logical in terms of its form and its overall structure even though it is impromptu and variable music that can be changed (addition or reduction of rhythms) according to performance places or performers’ conditions.
It will be desirable to define the word of ‘scattered’, considering freedom and openness of the rhythm itself that we can feel when listening to performance of Sanjo and the properties of Sanjo rhythm itself.
The framework of Sanjo was completed in the end of the 19th century, about 100 years later from the middle of the 18th century in the reign of King Youngjo and Jeongjo when Pansori attained formative completion. Sanjo was made through Gayageum, but the viewpoint needs to be modified that Chang-Jo Kim (1865-1920) was the only originator of Gayageum Sanjo because some literatures have records that civil instrumental solos were performed even though the name of Sanjo was not used. In addition, it can be confirmed that another Gayageum Sanjo performer of the same age with Chang-Jo Kim worked in the area of Chungcheongdo far from Yeongam, Jeollado where Chang-Jo Kim worked.
As seen in the above, Pansori was created mostly in the Jeolla area, but Sanjo was born in not only Jeolla area but also Chungcheong area, which shows that Sanjo was a product of the day resulting from a cohesion of the Korean foundational music, not from an individual inspiration.
Sanjo satisfied the existing classes’ cultural expectations because it is not individual, but historical, and it rapidly spread.
After Gayageum Sanjo was created, Geomungo Sanjo, Tungso (bamboo flute) Sanjo, Daegeum (gong) Sanjo were followed, and in addition, Haegeum (Korean fiddle) Sanjo, Piri (recorder) Sanjo and Ajaeng (seven-stringed instrument) Sanjo were made by folk artists.
Sanjo that resulted from Pansori has a form that Pansori is reorganized into an instrumental music so in overall, it has a very similar structure in performance. Like Pansori Danga, Sanjo should go through a short rhythm, namely, ‘Dasreum’ prior to performing the main.
It has similar Jangdan as Pansori. Jinyangjo, Jungmori, Jungjungmori, Eotmori, Jajeunmori, and Huimori are used for Sanjo. Each Jangdan makes a movement of music. In Sanjo, more than three movements of music make a musical piece. In composition of this musical piece, Jinyangjo, Jungmori and Jajeunmori are indispensable Jangdans. This type of musical piece is made in the order of slow speed ? normal speed ? fast speed. It is one of the characteristics of Sanjo that a movement of music is slow in the beginning and then, it becomes fast.
Sanjo has a movement that is classified by Jangdan so it is classified into several movements that have different Jangdan. Jangdan of each movement changes so at the moment when it is changed into other movement, the change should be notified the opposite performer, which is called ‘Naedreum’. Naedreum is the first Jangdan of each movement so in case of Jinyangjo, the front 6-time melody is Naedreum and in case of Jungmori, the front 12-time melody is Naedreum.
Jo of Sanjo consists of three ? Wujo, Pyeongjo and Gyemyeonjo. Wujo feels solemn and powerful, Pyeongjo feels peaceful and comfortable, and Gyemyeonjo feels sad and regrettable. Besides, Gangsanje (Gangsanjo) and Gyeongjo (Gyeongtori) are used to make the rhythm and the feelings of Sanjo more colorful.