London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Tradition and Creativity in Korean Taegŭm Flute Performance

Tradition and Creativity in Korean Taegŭm Flute Performance describes the taegŭm as a representation of Korean culture in the contemporary world. Through the development and performance of creative works, this horizontal bamboo flute reflects both tradition and contemporary creativity. The first part of the book outlines the historical background of the taegŭm. The author illuminates … [Read More]

Presence Through Sound: Music and Place in East Asia

Presence Through Sound narrates and analyses, through a range of case studies on selected musics of China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Tibet, some of the many ways in which music and ‘place’ intersect and are interwoven with meaning in East Asia. It explores how place is significant to the many contexts in which music is made … [Read More]

Gugak: Traditional Korean Music Today

From the publisher’s website: Over the course of Korean history, gugak – traditional Korean music – developed in an intimate relationship with the lives of the people. During the 20th century, however, the introduction of capitalism coupled with a rapid influx of Western culture erected a barrier between Korea’s traditional music and daily experience. Still, … [Read More]

Hwang Byungki: Traditional Music and the Contemporary Composer in the Republic of Korea

From the publisher’s website: Anyone who knows anything of Korean music probably knows something of Hwang Byungki. As a composer, performer, scholar, and administrator, Hwang has had an exceptional influence on the world of Korean traditional music for over half a century. During that time, Western-style music (both classical and popular) has become the main … [Read More]

Harmonia Koreana: A Short History of 20th century Korean Music

From the publisher’s website: Harmonia Koreana: A Short History of 20th-century Korean Music is a brief overview of the introduction and development of Western classical music in Korea. This book discusses the distinguishing features of the Korean composer’s musical work in general and goes in to more depth on several of modern music’s most important … [Read More]

Consuming Korean Tradition in Early and Late Modernity: Commodification, Tourism, and Performance

From the publisher’s website: Contributors to this volume explore the irony of modern things made in the image of a traditional “us.” They describe the multifaceted ways “tradition” is produced and consumed within the frame of contemporary Korean life and how these processes are enabled by different apparatuses of modernity that Koreans first encountered in … [Read More]

Creating Korean Music: Tradition, Innovation and the Discourse of Identity

From the publisher’s website: With the rise of nationalism in the Republic of Korea, music has come to play a central role in the discourse of identity. This volume asks what Koreans consider makes music Korean, and how meaning is ascribed to musical creation. Keith Howard explores specific aspects of creativity that are designed to … [Read More]

Great Journeys of the World

From the dust jacket: In Great Journeys of the World, six talented individuals – among them writers and actors, a poet and a musician – embark on journeys of special interest in some of the most spectacular parts of the world. … In Korea, the world’s leading solo percussionist, Evelyn Glennie, explores Korea’s musical culture … [Read More]