We loved Park Jiha’s recent album (review here) and Federica was lucky enough to have an interview with her (transcription here). This will be a lovely, tranquil and inspiring way to round out the 2022 K-music festival.
K-music 2022: Park Jiha
Park Jiha’s latest album, the critically acclaimed ‘The Gleam’ (2022, tak:til/Glitterbeat) is a gorgeous meditation on the intersection of music and light.
She plays the piri, a type of oboe, the saenghwang, a mouth organ, the hammered dulcimer known as the yanggeum and the glockenspiel.
There’s a stark clarity to her sound but it has a searching warmth, with occasional references to the formality of traditional Korean music that is her background, but she feels the distance she has put between herself and that teaching is “really what made my music what it is now”.
Her music comes together as a beautiful whole, flows with a natural rhythm and breathes.
Park Jiha has a foot in jazz and drone, but her new album might be better described as “slow music”, making art illuminating our organic relationship with passing time.
Uncut
Packed with moments of intense reflection, with melodies straddling the ancient and modern, The Gleam confirms Jiha as a singular talent.
MOJO