Nightline Invitation: Lee Ja-ram, the Performance Creator Who Captivated France with Pansori

[Anchor]

She is the artist who shook a French opera house with a 200-year history using Pansori. She is performance creator Lee Ja-ram.

For tonight's Nightline Invitation, we are joined by performance creator Lee Ja-ram, who has captivated France.

Q. Officially invited to perform at the Festival d'Avignon... Looking back, how was it?

[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: Even now, if I were asked to talk about it again, it feels like talking about a dream—truly unbelievable and beautiful moments. The response was so overwhelmingly good that even our entire production team was surprised. It was a time filled with an abundance of love.]

Q. Every show sold out, with audiences enjoying it together... Did you expect this level of response?


[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: While I went there believing it would finish well with a good atmosphere, it exceeded my expectations. They understood it so well that throughout the performance, they somehow wanted to chime in with chuimsae as audience members, and they were itching to make the sound of blowing snow as I just mentioned. I kept telling them on stage that they were extremely lovable. I said, "You are all so lovable," to that extent it was truly wonderful.]

Q. Introduced as a "rock star" in the French press... What is the secret to Pansori's popularity?


[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: In my opinion, local audiences in France didn't know Pansori at all, and they are just beginning to learn a little about a country called Korea. Because that unfamiliarity prevented them from holding any prejudices about this genre, they naturally expressed it just as it was, saying, "Aren't they rock stars?"]

Q. The Pansori performance "Snow, Snow, Snow"... What kind of work is it?

[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: The Pansori piece "Snow, Snow, Snow" is a work adapted into Pansori from the short story "Master and Man" by the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. The content is simply two people and one horse continuously wandering through a completely barren snowy field. That is all.]

Q. A heavy classic... What led you to combine it with Pansori?


[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: Perhaps if I had thought about combining something, I wouldn't have been able to pull it off. But because I love Pansori so much and study it every single day, whenever I encounter a story, it is as if it passes through a noodle maker—once I read the story, it comes out in the form of the Pansori genre like freshly extruded noodles.]

Q. Why did you name it "Snow, Snow, Snow" instead of the original title?


[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: In the process of turning this story into Pansori, I needed to decide on a title with dramaturge Park Ji-hye. After agonizing over what to call it, the director asked me, "Isn't this a story where things happen because there's so much snow?" And I replied, "Then how about 'Snow Snow Snow Snow'?" Ji-hye said there was too much snow, and suggested, "Let's go with 'Snow, Snow, Snow'," and that is how the title was born.]

Q. Loved nationwide as "Yesol-i"... How did you start Pansori?

[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: There was a program where Yesol learned Pansori. I went to appear on that program and met my late first teacher, Eun Hee-jin, which is how I entered this path.]

Q. An artist drawing global attention... What is the driving force that keeps you moving forward?

[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: If I had to name a driving force, it would be the feeling of affection. I love Pansori so much. I think I am continuing to walk forward with just that single sentiment.]

Q. The "future of Pansori" that Lee Ja-ram dreams of... What does it look like?


[Lee Ja-ram / Performance Creator & Sorikkun: I hope that these majors who continue to work as sorikkun and pansori performers can freely meet audiences on stage, and to that end, enjoy performing tradition while enthusiastically shaping their own stories. The genre of Pansori was actually like that during the Joseon Dynasty. Therefore, I imagine a scene where we inherit not only these precious traditional Pansori pieces passed down to us, but also the work that the Joseon-era sorikkun who created this Pansori carried out as a tradition in itself, continually crafting contemporary stories through Pansori.]

(Photo courtesy of Festival d'Avignon 2026, LG Arts Center, Studio AL, Complete Playground)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.