I wish you people who clapped for me live a long life.
The song I just sang coming on the stage is a bier song of Chungcheong province.
The speakers before me gave such a great talks, I wanted to prepare more
, but I was so into their talks.
It was very shocking to me. I felt like my soul is dying.
The reason why I sang this song is
because now we are at a time when winter is fading away introducing spring to us.
Did you enjoy it? (Yes)
Hello.
I’m Ryu Ki-hyoung, art director of Uguemchi, a Madangnori performance group in Daejeon.
I’m a director, play writer, and actor.
I’ve been writing and directing 30 pieces of Madangnori so far
and have been directing Korean traditional performance
at a National Theatre of Korean Traditional Performance
which I also founded for ten years now.
I also directed some national spiritual ceremony as you just watched.
And recently, last year, I directed the “Mimaji” at the World Bekje Exhibition,
, and an opening performance at the Jeonju World Sound Festival.
I’ve been doing quite a job? (Yes.)
So, I think I’ve been working quite much outside of Daejeon,
but here in Daejeon, I haven’t had a chance to do some significant work yet.
That’s why I haven’t had a chance to meet you closely.
Since I already started bragging about myself, please let me go a little further.
I was drinking with my older friend, and he told me that
he wants to write a story about me when he publishes his own book in the future
And the book will be about the history of Madangnori.
The reasons is he thinks that
I’ve gotten quite many great chances but I turned them all down.
And he couldn’t understand why, because
if I had taken those chances Madangnori would have been more flourished.
He told me that he is going to write about me in his book.
So the story is,
usually people working at the National Theatre
of Korean Traditional Performance are quite old.
And that made it difficult for me to work with them as a director.
I was only 38 years old when I was to work there.
And after directing a couple of performances there,
I was offered a position of senior director. But I said no.
And 6 or 7 years later, currently,
MBC Madangnori group is working separately not with the group ‘Michu’,
but 7-8 years ago, MBC and ‘Michu’ had a bad relationship.
A guy from MBC came to me and suggested me to work with them.
I asked people around me about what I should do about this situation,
and they told me not to go there.
Because they wanted me to be pure artists, not related to making money.
They told me to be more ambitious about what I was doing not about money.
So I turned down the offer again.
And recently several groups offered me to work with them.
Every time I get offers,
the thing which makes me hesitate is the Madangnori group ‘Ugeumchi.’
I couldn’t leave this group which I’ve been sharing my life for 20 years,
so even I got such great chances and offers, I had to stay in Daejeon.
Anyways, I’m sure there will be better offers.
Now, I’m going to introduce you about this Madangnori group ‘Uguemchi’ briefly.
When I introduce about this group, people always ask me what Uguemchi means.
Look on the slide behind, it’s a memorial tower for the Donghak Revolution.
This is the Uguemchi hill.
There is a small hill on the way from Buyeo to Gongju, which had been bigger before.
Now it’s a small hill, and its name is Uguemchi.
There is a historical story.
Late Chosun empire, so 117 years ago, there was a Gab-oh Peasants’ War.
The militia marched to Seoul.
Their motivations were to swipe off corrupted officials,
and foreign forces, and make a new world.
Right on this Uguemchi hill, they faced Japanese and governmental armies and all died.
That was the end of this war.
making a new world, and bringing advance to the history.
So the reason why we named ourselves Uguemchi is because
we wanted to appreciate their will of saving the country,
making a new world, and bringing advance to the history.
So, what we, Uguemchi have been mainly working on. We work on Madangnori.
I’ll talk about Madangnori briefly.
Talking about Madangnori as itself can be somewhat difficult,
so I’m going to compare Madangnori to the existing play, proscenium.
Proscenium is a play on a stage shaped like a frame.
Firstly, when we talk about Madangnori, Madang has two meanings
One is as you all know the meaning of yard, and land, it’s a space.
Another one is about time when a certain situation happens.
Understanding the two meanings of Madang
is essential to know what Madangnori is really about.
And I’ll tell you the difference between Madangnori and proscenium plays.
Of course the first thing is that the proscenium play first started in the West.
I’m sure you all already know that.
But this Madangnori I’m doing is Korean. Traditional.
t first started in late 60’s and early 70’s when it was politically dark,
and culturally confused due to the extermination policy of Japan,
extinction of traditional culture, and flood of Western culture
Under such circumstance, Madangnori first made its step.
So by the time, people in the Madangnori started a Mask Dancing
revival campaign to inherit Korean traditional culture properly.
And then with the question why we only make play based on Western scenario,
people started a created play campaign to show ordinary people’s lives the way it is.
So this Mask Dancing campaign and created play campaign were put together and reborn
as a Madangnori.
And the Madangnori became a play
which shows people’s lives honestly inheriting Korean traditional culture properly,
and it rooted deeply.
And the second thing is when we talk about art,
there is communication as a base of art.
And now this Madangnori is based on aggressive communication
different from proscenium plays.
It’s based on communication, but there’s time limit for me,
so let me introduce about it by showing you some works
I’ve done so far.
Okay, give me the next slide.
For next, I’ll introduce you the performances I’ve worked on.
These are ‘Homi-puli’, and ‘Cheers for Mrs.’ talking about farmers’ problems.
You can feel what those performances are like through these pictures.
Yeah, this is the ‘Homi-puli.’ Next slides, please.
This one is ‘Hyung-seol Ji-gong’ about environmental problems.
And this one is ‘Indigo-blue sunset’ about isolated senior citizens in the modern society.
This one is ‘No-touch’, a satire about materialism of the modern society.
Please skip the slides, a little faster.
Yeah, this one was made with the motivation of a myth.
This one is Shim-cheong Jeon.
And this one is ‘Mi Ma Ji’ played at the World Baekje Exhibition last year.
This one is ‘Our myth, told by grandma’, and we won the Best Work prize.
This is ‘Sun, the Sun’ we perform every year on the 1st day of March (Independence day of Korea)
at the Independence Day Memorial Museum, and at the Indong traditional marker
where the independence campaign was first started.
The subject of this piece is also cleansing off of remnant of Japanese domination.
This piece is accusing the division of Korea.
This one is “Kkodae Gaksi’ dealing with division of Korea.
Please skip to the next slide.
This “Woori Garak” was performed in Columbia
and it’s about environmental problems.
I made this one at the National Theater of Korean Traditional Performance.
This one was also at the theatre.
You saw this picture at the beginning of my talk.
When I directed the spiritual ceremony for the former president Noh Mu-hyun, members of Uguemchi also worked with
the members of the National Theater of Korean Traditional Performance.
This one was performed at the Jeonju World’s Sound Festival last year.
I’ve been working such pieces so far,
and now I’m going to tell you what I’ve been thinking about
such works and what I will do in my future career as an artist.
Confucius said 大樂必易 大禮必簡.
It means, a big entertainment, so a great piece of art must be simple and easy.
. I’m an artist too, but when I am to enjoy arts
sometimes it’s really hard to understand what the artist wanted to express.
I was going to finish my talk by sining with you, let’s start.
Okay, you’ve been listening to talks for quite a long time.
l’m going to sing ‘Kwae-jina Ching-ching’ wishing you all the best.
Will it be fine with you? (Clap)