Park Jiha: Two-day residency at Cafe OTO

We’re really excited about Park Jiha’s upcoming visit to London, and looking forward to hearing some live performances from her new album – The Gleam – released on tak:til / Glitterbeat last Friday. We’ve got a review and exclusive mini-interview with the artist coming soon on LKL. In the meanwhile you can stream the album using the music services linked at the bottom of this post.

Park Jiha: Two-day residency

Monday 28 March, 8pm: Park Jiha (Solo) + Left Hand Cuts off the Right
Tuesday 29 March, 8pm: Park Jiha + Roy Claire Potter (Duo) + Billy Steiger (Solo)
Cafe OTO | 18–22 Ashwin street | Dalston | London E8 3DL
Tickets £16 per performance on the door. Member / Advance booking / 2-night discounts available. Streaming option available for 29 March.
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The music of composer / performer Park Jiha blends classical minimalism and improvised music with traditional Korean instruments like the Piri (double-reed bamboo flute), Saenghwang (bamboo mouth organ), and Yanggeum (hammered dulcimer). Deftly combining the instrumentation and complex expression of traditional Korean music with an array of contemporary forms and sounds, Park Jiha has staked her place in the international music scene over the last few years as the official showcase for The World Music Expo, WOMEX and Classical:NEXT.

Trained in Korean traditional music, Park Jiha started her career by founding the duo 숨[su:m], which had a major impact upon the “new Korean music” scene. Her first solo album, Communion (2018, tak:til/ Glitterbeat Records), pursued more distant sound traditions and an eclectic instrumental palette. Collaborating with musicians from different genres, the project pursues a form of experimental minimalism that rejects ornamentation in favor of a stark clarity and meticulous balance. Pitchfork said of the album, “Jiha’s gift is in her ability to skirt dull prettiness in favor of exploiting the edges of her instruments, yet not at the expense of tangible, straightforward melodies.”

With her last album titled Philos (2019, tak:til/ Glitterbeat Records) Park Jiha has defined an even more immersive sound experience, for a Solo act she is now performing both in Korea and abroad. Par Jiha is now preparing the release of her new Solo album ‘The Gleam’ planning to come out by the end of February 2022 via Glitterbeat. This will be Coming along with a Live Improvisation recording for the BBC in collaboration with the English Artist, Roy Claire Potter, planned to be released on CAFE OTO’s imprint OTOROKU current 2022.

Roy Claire Potter

Roy Claire Potter has released duo and solo audio works with labels like Cafe OTO’s Takuroku, Sub Rosa, Chocolate Monk, and Fort Evil Fruit and has worked with a broad range of musicians and sound artists including Park Jiha, Ziúr, Kieron Piercy and Bridget Hayden. With a visual art background in experimental art writing and drawing, Roy tells stories built from fragmented, intense images that depict moving bodies or domestic scenes and architectural settings, often focusing on group dynamics or the aftermath of violent events, with a dark, sometimes wilful humour. They publish writing and make exhibitions internationally, and recent collaborations for stage and broadcast have been made possible by Glasgow’s art radio station Radiophrenia, Reduced Listening for BBC Radio 3, and Wysing Art Centre’s Polyphonic music festival with Somerset House.

Left Hand Cuts off the Right

Left Hand Cuts off the Right (Robbie Judkins) is an outlet for exploratory methods and composition. During live performances he plays with bent electronics, acoustic instruments, field recordings, loops and effects. The sounds are of otherworldliness, twinkling twitchings, habitual drones, crackling rhythms and aural oddities.

“His work gives rise to much pause and thought. Ambient if you’d like to call it that but not of the structured Eno variety, this being more improv sounding with radios, field recordings and broken electronics seeping like a heavy mist among somberly struck lower register piano keys. Imagine Keith Jarrett on Largactyl improvising sadness with his left hand while his right tries for some throbbing oscillating sounds all recorded in the basement of an abandoned Detroit theatre during a full moon. That’s not far off.” Idwal Fisher

He has created works for the Barbican, ICA, Resonance FM, Turner Contemporary, Whitechapel Gallery, University of Central Lancashire and more. He is also the creator of Animal Sounds (Resonance FM) and Parallax View (Threads Radio). Robbie has created work for ICA, Barbican, Whitechapel Gallery, NTS, Cafe Oto, Turner Contemporary and more.