Yes, there have been K-pop flashmobs, dancing robots, traditional music performances and comedy magic shows at Team Korea House. There has even been a live radio show broadcast from there, with presenters dressed in royal hanbok. Last Saturday (4 August) was the final performance by Dulsori before they head off to Germany. They opened with … [Read More]
Month: August 2012 (page 3)
An interview to forget
LKL has been interviewed three times in the past three weeks. Easiest was Yonhap, an unrecorded newspaper interview where it was easy to chat at the same time as being interviewed, and where you could clarify and explain to ensure that you were understood properly. No time restriction. I don’t know what the write-up was … [Read More]
100th anniversary of Lee In-sung’s birth commemorated at Deoksu Palace
The Deoksu Palace branch of the National Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting a retrospective to commemorate the 100th anniversary of “local colour” artist Lee In-sung’s birth, 26 May – 26 August 2012. Well worth a visit. Links: Exhibition details on the NMCA website. Coverage in Joongang Ilbo | Korea Times [Read More]
Battle of the Divas: Shining K-Classics at the Festival Hall
Maestro Seigerstam eased himself onto the platform looking like a cross between Brahms and a benign troll, long white beard resting on a generous stomach, long white hair reaching down the back of his tailcoat. With a waggle of his baton, the woodwind started playing Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet Overture and the Shining K-Classics concert … [Read More]
This year’s Kingston Korean Festival is on 11 August 2012
The annual Independence Day Kingston Korean Festival organised by the Korean Residents Society is on 11 August, 10am-7pm, on the Fairfield Recreation Ground near the centre of Kingston [Map], celebrating Korean culture with traditional food, music, dance and costumes. And the popular K-pop contest returns for its second year. The war veterans’ march-past normally begins … [Read More]
Concert notes: Be-Being’s Korean Masque Music Project at the QEH
Be-Being (비빙) was the first of the five musical events of the All Eyes on Korea festival on the South Bank and set the scene well for the remainder. It was an evening of fusion: contemporary music on traditional instruments, with some of the numbers accompanied by traditional mask dances from a variety of traditions. … [Read More]
Seven shots of soju is “excessive”? It’s hardly even a warm-up
“The World Health Organization defines excessive drinking as the equivalent of seven shot-sized cups (1 fluid ounce per cup) of soju for men and five for women” says the Joongang Ilbo. If you define it like that, it’s hardly suprising if 42.5% of Korean men find themselves drinking “excessively” at least once a week. [Read More]
Crossroads of Youth – a constantly-evolving performance of Korea’s earliest silent film
Crossroads of Youth is one of Korea’s earliest silent films, which would have at the time had narration by a byeonsa (the Korean equivalent of the Japanese benshi). The function of the byeonsa was to tell the story in the absence of diagetic dialogue (which in Western cinema was told through intertitles), in addition to … [Read More]
British diplomat on roller coaster ride with Kim Jong Un
According to Mother Jones, the mystery Westerner photographed with Kim Jong Un on a funfair ride in the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground last week was Barnaby Jones, a diplomat with the British Embassy in Pyongyang. Sounds like a change from a normal day in the office. [Read More]
Concert notes: HJ Lim at the Wigmore
She strode onto the stage in her trademark silk trouser suit, casually tossed a handkerchief into the piano and launched immediately into the intensity of the first of Rachmaninov’s Etudes Tableaux Op 33. HJ Lim’s debut at the Wigmore had departed. As when a bus driver puts his foot on the accelerator before his passengers … [Read More]
Monocle 24 broadcasts from Team Korea House
Live from Team Korea House, London, Monocle 24 hears from the CEO of the Korea Tourism Association, enjoys K-pop, and is joined by acupuncture expert Sena Lee. All to celebrate the Olympics. http://londonkoreanlinks.net/wp-content/uploads/audio/11000199.mp3 The K-pop interview is at 18’00” Sena is at 23’35” Philip is at 52’00” [Read More]
LKL’s editor and Traditional Korean Medicine specialist on live radio
I haven’t been so nervous in a long time. I got the call from the Korean Tourism Organisation this morning – “please come along to Team Korea House to do an interview on live radio this evening.” I thought it might be good training for an interview with Arirang’s Morning Call programme I might be … [Read More]
Kim Soo-myun: no joy in the men’s gymnastics individual all-round finals
It was Tuesday evening before I could settle down to watch the men’s gymnastics finals – individual all round. It had already been a day of controversy for the Koreans in Badminton and there was disappointment yesterday with the fencing, so I hoped Kim Soo-myun would do well for his country. Not in the top … [Read More]
Korean technology on display in Harrods
KOTRA has sponsored a window display in Harrods during the course of the Olympics, showcasing the latest Korean technology. Samsung, Hyundai and others are included. Love the little robots. [Read More]
KTO advertises at Piccadilly Circus
For the duration of the Olympic Games, the KTO has taken out some advertising space at Piccadilly Circus, joining the other Korean advertisements there – Samsung, Hyundai and LG. Here are a few shots taken on 30 July: [Read More]
Korean badminton pairs – bad losers?
The two South Korean badminton teams kicked out of the games for trying to lose their matches – against Chinese and Indonesian pairs who were also trying to lose – both ended up winning. (Source – FT) [Read More]