Suncheon Nagan Eupseong National Gugak Competition Successfully Concluded

Published 07 Nov.2023 14:36(KST)

156 Participants Compete Fiercely in Student, Rookie, Master Singer, and Group Divisions

On the 4th and 5th, the 9th Suncheon Nagan Eupseong National Gugak Competition was held successfully in Suncheon Nagan Eupseong, the hometown of sound, where the birthplace of National Master Song Man-gap and Gayageum Byeongchang founder Oh Tae-seok is located.

Hosted by Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Noh Kwan-gyu) and organized by the Nagan Eupseong Pansori Preservation Society (Chairman Kim Yang-nam), this competition featured 156 participants competing fiercely in categories including elementary and middle school division, high school division, rookie division, master division, and group division.

[Photo by Suncheon City]

As a result of the Gugak competition, Kim Jae-gwan (Gwangjin-gu, Seoul) won the grand prize in the master division (Speaker of the National Assembly Award) with "Jo Ja-ryong Saetaryeong" from Jeokbyeokga. The high school division grand prize (Minister of Education Award) went to Noh Woo-ri (National Traditional Arts High School), the rookie division grand prize (Governor of Jeollanam-do Award) to Choi Mu-gang (Nam-gu, Gwangju), the elementary and middle school division grand prize (Superintendent of Jeollanam-do Office of Education Award) to Joo Ye-eun (Yonghyeon Elementary School), and the group division grand prize (Mayor of Suncheon Award) to Lee Yoon-ja, Jung Min-soon, Joo Jung-ae, and Jang Ki-jung (Imyeongsik High Law Research Institute).

The judging panel consisted of seven judges, including Chief Judge Yoo Young-dae.

Using an automatic judging aggregation system, the scores of the participants were disclosed on-site after the evaluation, striving to ensure transparency and objectivity in the judging process.

Kim Jae-bin, Director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Suncheon City, said, “We hope that the Suncheon Nagan Eupseong National Gugak Competition will continue as a competition that honors the spirit of National Master Song Man-gap, a master of Dongpyeonje, and Gayageum Byeongchang founder Oh Tae-seok, serving as a gateway for professional Gugak artists and contributing to the popularization of Gugak.”