MAGO SOUND moves from The Intern soundtrack to street-puppet theatre at Guro Traditional Market

The sight of an elderly woman dozing against her stall in the market is familiar to everyone. Sometimes, you wonder what years of life might be passing through her mind in that brief afternoon nap.

This autumn, visitors to Guro Traditional Market in Seoul will be able to walk through that dream together at a performance. MAGO SOUND, a music collective that contributed to the music for the film 〈The Intern〉, is music director and composer for the street-parade puppet show 〈Mr Gadan Shares His Good Fortune〉. There will be four performances over two days, on 24 and 25 October, and admission is free.

MAGO SOUND: from The Intern soundtrack to music direction for a street performance

MAGO SOUND is a group comprising vocalist Mago, handpan player Sion, synthesiser player Song Su-jeong and percussionist Jo Jeong-uk. The group has continued to create work that places music at its centre, connecting meditation, movement and space.

Vocalist Mago first came to public attention in 2003, singing 〈Premonition〉 for the soundtrack to the film 〈My Tutor Friend〉. This year, she returned to film music after more than 20 years, contributing with MAGO SOUND to the Korean version of 〈The Intern〉. Directed by Kim Do-young and starring Choi Min-sik and Han So-hee, the film was released on 16 September. In a sense, the sound that flowed across the screen is stepping into the market lanes just over a month later.

Mr Gadan Shares His Good Fortune turns Guro Traditional Market into a stage

A dream journey with Granny Gadan and her dog, Ppoppi

〈Mr Gadan Shares His Good Fortune〉 is a local arts and culture project hosted by Sungkyunkwan University’s RISE project team and the Korean Puppeteers’ Association, and produced by the creative puppet-theatre group Imagine Club. The story begins in the dream of Granny Gadan and her dog, Ppoppi, as they sleep at her market stall.

Childhood games, beautiful moments and memories of years gone by unfold one by one, like pages turning in a faded album. The performance ends when Gadan wakes from her long dream and shares good fortune with people. There are no heroes or major events. What draws you in, instead, is the quiet attention given to the life of one person, someone who could be anywhere around us.

An interactive street performance with no audience seating

The absence of a fixed stage and audience seating is another striking feature. A large puppet, performers and audience members move together through the market lanes, with spectators naturally joining in the games and parade. The everyday bustle of traders and shoppers becomes part of the performance.

Imagine Club, the production company, has built its work around making large puppets and puppeteering. Its projects include the original non-verbal puppet show 〈The Little Dobi and the White Cow〉, as well as street parades and interactive arts projects that bring performances to audiences in everyday spaces beyond the theatre.

A puppet show without dialogue, with music as storyteller

There is no dialogue in this work. The puppets’ movements, images and music take its place. MAGO SOUND said it would use music to connect Gadan’s childhood and memories, and the boundary between dream and reality, while shaping the rhythm of the whole work around scene changes, the audience’s movement and the parade. In some scenes, the music follows the puppet; in others, it opens the way towards an emotion first.

MAGO SOUND founder Mago said that, without dialogue, music has much to convey, but that “it is also important not to say too much”. The idea, she explained, is for the music to linger between Gadan’s memories and the puppets’ movements, giving the audience room to encounter their own memories and feelings.

The idea of music that holds back its words stayed with me. The care given to the spaces between sounds is reminiscent of what meditation teaches.

A sensibility shaped by wellness music and Silent Live

This work connects with the path MAGO SOUND has followed. The group has brought Silent Live, where audience members wear wireless headphones to listen to a live performance, into meditation and wellness music. It is a performance that turns each person inwards, even as everyone gathers in the same space.

The time the group has spent exploring how music, space and the audience’s senses connect now moves into the everyday setting of a market. I wonder what shape the sound, honed in the stillness of headphones, will take amid the bustle of stalls and lanes.

A restorative performance close to everyday life

You do not have to travel far to find a moment of rest. Walking alongside a puppet on your way to shop, or listening to the same music as a neighbour you have never met, can be a source of comfort too.

The good fortune Gadan offers is unlikely to be an extravagant gift. A fragment of a memory will be enough: a grandmother’s face you have not thought of for a while, or an alley where you played as a child. On the fourth weekend of October, why not stop by Guro Traditional Market and take home a little of that good fortune?

Performance information