Gwangju City to Host the 28th Imbangul Gugak Festival from 20th to 23rd

7 Categories Including Myeongchang, General, and Student Divisions... 72 Awardees Including the Presidential Award

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 15th that the 28th Im Bang-ul Gugak Festival will be held from the 20th to the 23rd at eight locations including Bitgoeul Citizen Culture Center.

The Im Bang-ul Gugak Festival is held annually to honor the artistic spirit of Im Bang-ul, a national master singer born in Gwangju.

This year, starting on the 20th with the Memorial Ceremony for National Master Im Bang-ul’s Artistic Spirit, the Eve Festival celebration performance, and Pansori talent contest, the events will proceed as follows: ▲ on the 21st, student division Pansori, instrumental music (wind and string instruments), and dance categories ▲ on the 22nd, general division Pansori, Nongak, instrumental music, dance, sijo, gayageum byeongchang, fusion gugak, and other seven categories. A total of 72 awards will be given.

In particular, at 6:30 PM on the 20th, the ‘Eve Festival Celebration Performance’ will be held at Bitgoeul Citizen Culture Center, hosted by gugak artist Nam Sang-il.

The celebration performance will feature a lively pungmul punggut by Lee Si-young of Pungmulcheonji and six others, as well as past presidential award winners including master singer Kim Chan-mi, who won the presidential award for the Ssukdaemeori section of Chunhyangga, delivering an exciting show.

Also, the pure amateur gugak contest ‘Pansori Talent Contest’ held at Gwangju Hyanggyo Yurim Hall is open to anyone aged 19 and older, with prizes awarded to 50 winners including gold, silver, bronze, and popularity awards.

The finals for the general and master divisions in Pansori, instrumental music, and dance will take place on the 23rd from 12:30 PM at the main theater of Bitgoeul Citizen Culture Center. Among these, the master division contest, which discovers new stars in the Pansori world, receives great attention from the gugak community every year.

In the master division contest, 26 winners will be awarded including the Speaker of the National Assembly Award, Prime Minister Award, and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award. The grand prize winner of the prestigious Pansori master division will receive the presidential certificate and the Im Bang-ul Award trophy as prizes.

Kim Jun-young, Director of the City’s Culture, Tourism and Sports Office, said, “We hope the Im Bang-ul Gugak Festival will serve as an opportunity for professional gugak artists to emerge through transparent and fair competitions,” adding, “We expect it to be a chance for citizens, weary from COVID-19, to enjoy culture even a little.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.