London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Concert notes: Choi Jin at SOAS

Concerts at SOAS always seem to have a good turn-out. Monday (19 November) was no exception when Choi Jin and colleagues presented a programme of modern compositions and arrangements of music for traditional Korean instruments. Keith Howard provided some informative introductions to the music to be performed, which provided useful context as well as some … [Read More]

Lim Hyung-joo: dreaming in marble halls

In the first half of the St John’s recital on Thursday, Lim Hyung-joo concentrated on the more classical end of the popera spectrum. There was a microphone on stage, and Lim stood behind it, but up until the interval the evening was un-miked. Having heard a couple of his performances on YouTube I was wondering … [Read More]

Does hybrid music work?

I looked in briefly at St John’s Smith Square on Sunday for the Thames Philharmonia concert. Hee-jo Kim’s Kayagum Concerto in A minor was the first item on the programme. Here is an extract from the programme notes, written by John Morrison: This concerto is based on the most traditional sanjoh with its classic and … [Read More]

Dulsori celebrates New Year in New Malden

The lunar new year came to a girls school in New Malden yesterday with more than a few bangs. Samulnori percussion group Dulsori visited Coombe Girls School in Clarence Avenue for a spectacular one hour concert in front of an enthusiastic audience of pupils and visitors — including the mayor of Kingston. The audience didn’t … [Read More]

Review: Korean Breeze – Bloomsbury Theatre 24 May

An evening which displayed the rich variety of Korean traditional music. This was a big enterprise, with twelve distinguished musicians involved in the tour, organised by Justina Jang of the Korean Cultural Promotion Agency as part of Think Korea 2006. The musicians played earlier the same week in the Hollywell Music Room in Oxford and … [Read More]

Gig review: Crying Nut play the Mean Fiddler

What can one say about Crying Nut? Anarchic, mad, joyous. They opened the 2006 London Korean Festival last night in great style. While most of the audience was Korean, it was good to see some unaccompanied westerners at the gig, who seemed to be enjoying the show. Maybe they were there to support the backup … [Read More]

A Scent of Eastern wind: music at St James’s Piccadilly

At very short notice I head of a Korean classical music fusion concert entitled “Scent of Eastern Wind” at St James’s Piccadilly on 6 April 2006. I approached the concert with some trepidation, being nervous about the blending of eastern and western instruments, particularly in playing western music. I was partly right. The least successful … [Read More]

The Last Empress: spectacular but unsatisfying

The Last Empress is an original Korean musical in the style of a traditional Broadway production, and is based on the life story of Queen Min, the last Empress of the Joseon Dynasty, who was murdered by Japanese assassins in 1895. Undoubtedly patriotic in its theme, it capitalises on the popularity of the musical in … [Read More]