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 … [Read More]
Category: Festivals (page 8)
K-music 2022: Sun-Mi Hong | Ant Law + Alex Hitchcock
Drummer Sun-Mi Hong was born in Incheon, Korea, but moved to Amsterdam to study at the Conservatoire and is now well established in the Dutch jazz scene, with a distinct style combining rooted groove with well-tempered outbursts. Her award-winning album ‘A Self-Strewn Portrait’ came out in 2021 and she releases a new album with her … [Read More]
K-music 2022: Dongyang Gozupa
Dongyang Gozupa (translated as “eastern high frequency”) defy description. They stormed the K-Music Festival last year with their wild mix of trail-blazing percussion combined with the yanggeum (hammered dulcimer) to create highly intense and hard-hitting progressive post-rock, merging power and beautiful melodies. Dohyuk Jang – percussion Eunhwa Yun – yanggeum Minhwi Ham – bass Dongyang Gozupa are like … [Read More]
K-music 2022: PAKK + EERU: Silent Exorcism
The leader of Jambinai, EERU, returns to the K-Music Festival for a new collaboration with heavy rock band PAKK. Formed in 2014 by Kim Dae-inn (guitar + vocals), Park Hyun-Seok (bass) and Kim Tae-ho (drums), they stormed the Korean indie rock scene with their first album Salpuri (Exorcism), creating furious sounds of experimental alternative rock, mixed with … [Read More]
K-music 2022: Lee Jaram performs Hemingway
Leading pansori singer and performer Jaram Lee presents The Old Man And The Sea, inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s classic story. Pansori is the ancient art of expressive musical storytelling where a singer is accompanied by a drummer and performs a narrative that can be tragic or funny – always entertaining. It is thought to have … [Read More]
K-music 2022: Dal:um & ReMidas
Dal:um, who made their London debut at the Purcell Room last year (LKL review here), open the festival with an intriguing new collaboration with duo ReMidas to create a string quartet of zithers, the gayageum and the geomungo. Despite their similarity these two instruments are surprisingly different in structure, playing technique and tone. Dal:um is … [Read More]
Edinburgh 2022: the first weekend of Korean performances
LKL has a packed agenda at the first weekend of the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe. Edinburgh performers have to put up with all forms of distractions in pursuit of their art. At Dance Base, the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, whose performance opened in quietness to the sounds of Lee Ilwoo’s solo piri, had … [Read More]
Korean cultural programme for Edinburgh Festival
1. Korea House in Edinburgh Friday 5 August – Saturday 27 August 2022 | 10 am – 5pm Closed on Mondays Venue: Korea House | Conference Centre of DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel | 32 Bread Street | Edinburgh EH3 9AF | doubletreeedinburgh.com To celebrate Korean culture during Edinburgh’ summer festivals season, the Korean Cultural Centre … [Read More]
Seong-Jin Cho plays the Emperor at the Edinburgh Festival
Philharmonia Orchestra Santtu-Matias Rouvali Conductor Seong-Jin Cho Piano Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5 ‘Emperor’ Shostakovich: Symphony No 10 At the end of his first season as current Principal Conductor, inspirational young Finn Santtu-Matias Rouvali brings two mighty works of heroism and vision to the first of the Philharmonia’s concerts at this year’s International Festival. Outstanding … [Read More]
Edinburgh Festival: We Are Monchichi
A dance show for young audiences explores how we connect across cultures and languages. How do we come together when everything is pushing us apart? What language do we choose? How do we face the mountain of cultural stereotypes? Shihya Peng was born in Taiwan, but she lives in Paris. Marco di Nardo was born … [Read More]
Korean performers at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe
The Edinburgh Fringe is back, and this year there are nine Korean acts performing. Exciting dance performances, world music, theatre and pansori puppetry: something for everyone. Find all the details here, with booking links to the official Fringe website. Plan your Korean August in Edinburgh here! [Read More]
A Festival of Korean Dance 2022
The Festival of Korean Dance is back. The programme is pretty much what we were going to see in the 2020 festival, which of course got cancelled. I’m glad we haven’t missed out, and I’m really looking forward to this. So, here’s the official press release. A Festival of Korean Dance returns to The Place … [Read More]
K-Dance 2022: Collective A / Jinyeob Cha – MIIN: Body to Body
In this visually arresting performance, Collective A’s critically acclaimed choreographer Jinyeob Cha examines perceptions of beauty and femininity beyond societal norms and traditions. Accompanied by a hypnotic soundscape created by two acclaimed musicians based in Seoul, Eun-yong Sim, from Korean Avant-rock band Jambinai, and haihm, an electronic musician, six female dancers flit between precise, discreet, … [Read More]
K-Dance 2022: Soo Hyun Hwang – Sense of Darkness | Yun Jung Lee – Tongue Gymnastics
Soo Hyun Hwang – Sense of Darkness With their eyes closed throughout the show, the performers in Sense of Darkness draw the audience into a world in which intricate movements and sounds are amplified. Each performer uses the sound created by themselves as signals to coordinate the locations of oneself, the other performers, audience members, … [Read More]
K-Dance 2022: Art Project Bora ‘MUAK’
Seven performers burst the confines of logic as they dismiss the notion that we watch dance and hear music exclusively. MUAK is a piece inspired by music with the same name by the composer Isang Yun. According to Isang Yun, in Western music, the tunes are made up by the composer. But in Asian music, the … [Read More]
A Distant Place screens at BFI Flare
Jin-Woo lives a deliberately quiet life in rural Korea, working as a shepherd and looking after his young niece Seol. Though Seol is approaching school age, Jin-Woo keeps their contact with the outside world to a minimum, save for the family that employs him. But everything changes when his college boyfriend Hyeon-min and estranged sister … [Read More]