This book goes further than any previous publication in elucidating the literary and musical complexity of p'ansori for the English speaking reader. ... the most comprehensive English language study of p'ansori to date, and Um can justly state that 'all the major musical, social and cultural aspects of p'ansori are brought together in this book'. ... It is, in fact, the first ethnomusicological book on p'ansori, and presents a searching analysis of communicative codes and contexts in a musico-literary genre that is 'arguably the most studied single genre in the field of Korean studies'.' Music and Letters