YUN Jin-chul

There is no doubt that Yun Jin-chul is a naturally gifted pansori (narrative sung drama) singer, but he is also a real actor, and Yun loves being an actor onstage more than anything. Born in 1964 in Mokpo, a small seaside town, Yun was praised as a musical prodigy by Korean traditional musicians from a very early age. Yun started learning pansori at age 11 from the late Master Jeong Gwon-jin, one of the most prominent pansori singers, who had been an official holder of Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 5, pansori, especially the gangsanje (mountain and river) lineage. Yun won numerous competitions at a very young age, gaining the spotlight as a talented young kid. After his teacher's early death, however, he had to study and practice on his own to attain his teacher's legacy and pansori philosophy. Now Yun is the only living pansori singer in Korea who can completely sing Jeokbyeokga, one of the five surviving epic stories of pansori and considered the most complicated and musically delicate pansori. Anyone who listens to him singing pansori is immediately touched by his genuineness onstage. His audience admires his authentic voice and falls in love with his personality. No matter how big or small the stage, he always tries to show everything he has to the audience until he literally passes out—his is exactly why he has been loved by his fans for such a long time.