Pansori

Here are some links to samples of pansori, traditional Korean music which to me sounds like a wonderful fusion of opera and street rap.  Pansori can be a monologue by a singler or a dialogue between two or more singers.  Interaction with the audience is also not uncommon in informal performances or if the audience is small.  Feedback is usually short affirmative shouts like JOTTAH! (great) or prodding like GOORAESU (Go on!).

This is only a small subset of varieties of pansori there are.  My favorite kind of pansori sound is very similar in tone to daekoom except it feels as if daekoom was made out of human bone, dipped in tears for years, burnt over fires of war, and speckled with fading spots of blood.  Sorry if I am being too graphical but this is what soul music is to me.

And here is a short sample of the Millenium Crane instrumental (731K MP3) mentioned in my previous post.  Very moving and graceful like an ancient crane in flight.