P'ansori is the quintessential traditional Korean musical drama, in which epic tales are sung and narrated by a solo singer accompanied by a drummer. Drawing on her extensive research in Korea and its diasporas, Haekyung Um describes and analyses the creative processes of p'ansori, weaving into her discussion musical, social and cultural aspects that include the evolution of p'ansori performance, origins and historical development, textual and musical materials, stylistic features of different p'ansori schools, transmission of knowledge, aesthetics, and changing interpretations of tradition. Also explored is the complexity of historical and contemporary influences that give shape to p'ansori as a 'living tradition' across the ages and into the present, and as a cultural icon with an enduring narrative and emotional impact. Social, economic and political dynamics are created in the nexus of traditional feudal values, colonial modernity and nationalism. The impact of aspects of late modernity such as technology, mass media, migration and globalization, has transported p'ansori into digital and transnational domains. By bringing all these creative and contextual processes together, Haekyung Um explains how a tradition is created, maintained and redefined by the dynamic interactions of agents, values, meanings, strategies, identities and artistic hybridity.

P'ansori is the quintessential traditional Korean musical drama, in which epic tales are sung and narrated by a solo singer accompanied by a drummer. Drawing on her extensive research in Korea and its diasporas, Haekyung Um describes and analyses the creative processes of p'ansori, weaving into her discussion musical, social and cultural aspects that include the evolution of p'ansori performance, origins and historical development, textual and musical materials, stylistic features of different p'ansori schools, transmission of knowledge, aesthetics, and changing interpretations of tradition. Also explored is the complexity of historical and contemporary influences that give shape to p'ansori as a 'living tradition' across the ages and into the present, and as a cultural icon with an enduring narrative and emotional impact. Social, economic and political dynamics are created in the nexus of traditional feudal values, colonial modernity and nationalism. The impact of aspects of late modernity such as technology, mass media, migration and globalization, has transported p'ansori into digital and transnational domains. By bringing all these creative and contextual processes together, Haekyung Um explains how a tradition is created, maintained and redefined by the dynamic interactions of agents, values, meanings, strategies, identities and artistic hybridity.

In an age of globalization, performance is increasingly drawn from intercultural creativity and located in multicultural settings. This volume is the first to focus on the performing arts of Asian diasporas in the context of modernity and multiculturalism. The essays locate the contemporary performing arts as a discursive field in which the boundaries between tradition and translation, and authenticity and hybridity are redefined and negotiated to create a multitude of meaning and aesthetics in global and local contexts.
With contributions from scholars of Asian studies, theatre studies, anthropology, cultural studies, dance ethnology and musicology, this truly interdisciplinary work covers every aspect of the sociology of performance of the Asian diasporas.

This volume focuses on the performing arts of the Asian diasporas and intercultural performances in the context of modernity and globalisation. A wide range of performing arts of the Asian diasporas and diverse intercultural performance practices across the world are examined by scholars of Asian studies, theatre studies, anthropology, cultural studies, dance ethnology and ethnomusicology. These essays locate the performing arts in late modernity as a discursive field in which the boundary between tradition and translation' and authenticity and hybridity' are negotiated and redefined to create a multitude of meanings and aesthetics in global and local contexts.
Various issues are addressed, including questions of identity, ethnicity, notions of displacement, gender, inter-ethnic power relations, inter-cultural negotiations and the social and political implications of performance. A number of cultural processes associated with diasporas and their performing arts are examined, such as the construction of diaspora memory', the translation of imagined' tradition, and cultural adaptation and innovation in a new home', all of which give shape to hybrid and multiple identities which cut across and intersect geo-political and national boundaries.