Portrait of Melody Sim. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
As a Pansori artist, Pansori is my life. I am thinking and doing Pansori every day. I live to share Pansori with the world.”
— Melody Hyun Jeong Sim (Shim)
At the age of fifteen, Melody Hyun Jeong Sim (Shim) began her training in Pansori, an ancient Korean form of operatic epic storytelling, from Jung Ok-hang, Korean Intangible Cultural Asset No. 5 in Pansori “Sugungga.” Sim continued her traditional music training at the National High School of Traditional Arts and received her Bachelors of Arts in Korean Music at Chung-ang University. Additionally, she trained with master Song Soon Dan on Jindo Island in “Ssitkim-gut,” a shamanic cleansing ritual for the dead. After college, Sim trained with master Han Seung Seok in “Binari,” a ritual prayer song asking for happiness in the future. Sim currently continues to investigate her voice and Pansori through different collaborations with musicians and dancers, as well as by training with masters in Korea.
In 2019, Melody Hyun-Jeong Sim (Shim) was an ACTA apprentice with mentor artist DaEun Jung in Korean folk dance.
Sim (Shim), accompanied on Djembe by Wilfried Souly, singing an excerpt of the Pansori epic “Chunhyang-Ga” for the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
Apprenticeship Program
Portrait of Juli Kang. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
2022
Korean Pansori
with apprentice Juli Jiyoung Kang
Sim will guide Juli Jiyoung Kang in deepening her skills in Pansori (particularly in relation to voice and repertoire). Kang will also learn to compose Pansori and develop a performance reflecting the everyday stories of Korean immigrant/diasporic life in Los Angeles, which the pair will present at the end of the apprenticeship, introducing new audiences to Pansori.
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