After watching the 1990s film Seopyeonje, a sorrowful tale of an obsessive pansori (traditional Korean musical storytelling) master who seeks to reach a deeper realm of sound through his supremely gifted daughter, while striving to preserve this venerable vocal art against the tides of modernization and cultural loss, I traveled to the remote southern island where much of it was filmed: Cheongsando (청산도).
True to its name, literally “Green Mountain Island,” the place is awash in green, the whole landscape clothed in grass and trees. Following the dirt roads edged with fields where the film’s scenes were shot, I felt the movie return to me; the cadences of pansori seemed to walk beside me along the path. More than anything, a long coast-hugging hiking trail, rising and falling over the hills, was breathtaking. It remains one of the best places I’ve visited in Korea.
If you come to Korea and feel adventurous enough to go off the mainland, I highly recommend this island. Here are some photos from my visit.
