11. Madách International Theatre Meeting

Arwad Esber, Director of the World Cultures Institute (Maison des Cultures du Monde) of Paris, will hold a 15-minute presentation introducing the performance.

Jindo island is found to the southwest of the Korean peninsula in the South Jeolla Province, in a part of the Jindo Sea where the waters almost wondrously part twice a year. Thanks in large part to the remoteness and isolation of the island, its musical traditions and rituals have survived in an unusually pure and even elementary form. Like Bali, Jindo is regarded as an island of the gods and of music. The distinctive beauty of its traditions notwithstanding, the rituals of the island have never been presented authentically anywhere in Europe. Now twenty members of the community of Jindo, including female shamans, singers, dancers, and folk musicians, have come to Europe to help us discover some of the elements of their burial rituals. The word ssitgimgut refers to the ritual in the course of which people free the spirit of the departed of all bitterness and resentment. First the shaman women must sooth and cleanse the soul of the departed, before they can help it cross into the next world. This restores harmony among members of the family and the community, which has been disturbed by death.

This remarkable and unusual production will be held on April 10, 2016 in Paris in the Maison des Cultures du Monde. From there, it will travel to Budapest.