Kŭmgangsan kagŭktan titles itself “Chosŏn troupe in Japan.” Founded in Tokyo (1955), the company is composed of 50 artists working on dance, song and music, referring specifically to the aesthetics of North Korea with which the troupe has developed a close relationship since its birth. The paper examines the vocal techniques practiced by a female singer of Kŭmgangsan kagŭktan in the frame of sound, song and rhythm while tracing various aspects of North Korean vocal techniques, the process of transmission and adaptations the company singer makes for the Japanese stage. I suggest, the singer trains herself not to reproduce a particular stylized form and/or method but open herself, traversing crossroads, following her own artistic path, so to speak, finding a negotiated voice involved in a process I describe as the aesthetics of differentiation.

• Jeong, Ae-Ran(PhD Candidate, Department of Theatre University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis)