After a break from the Fringe last year, LKL returned this year to see what was new. A lot of the companies are fringe regulars: Brush, Modl, Cho-in and Hooam have all come over before, and in fact Modl this year was celebrating its 30th birthday. But there were also new acts, including Korean Gipsy […]
Category: Fusion music
The 2019 K-Music festival: the official press release
The schedule for the 2019 K-Music festival was released last month, giving everyone the time to plan their diaries. Here, rather belatedly (it’s been a busy few weeks), is the official press release. Tickets are already on sale. K-Music 2019 London’s Festival of Korean Music Thurs 3 Oct: Jambinai, Purcell Room Sun 6 Oct: Celebrate […]
Photos from Birdsong and Borders concert at St Luke’s
While it’s a huge treat that there’s so much in the way of interesting performances involving UK-based Koreans nowadays, it’s a shame that sometimes they clash with each other. Hyelim Kim’s recent collaboration with Merit Ariane at LSO St Luke’s was something I’d definitely have gone to… if it hadn’t been for Jinyeob Cha’s performance […]
SaaWee: New Ritual, at Albany Red Room
A rare chance to hear SaaWee live in London. Don’t miss it. SaaWee: New Ritual Friday, 26 July 2019 at 19:40 The Albany, Red Room Douglas Way, Deptford, London, SE8 4AG Tickets: £10 Check for updates on the Facebook event page 1. Festival of Five Gods We ask for the cleansing of our surroundings and […]
Concert notes: Byron Wallen, Jihye Kim and Pouya Ehsaei at Redon
It was hard to believe that Byron Wallen, Jihye Kim and Pouya Ehsaei had not performed together as a trio before – there seemed be such respect and understanding between the musicians, as if they were totally familiar with each other’s ways of playing. The three had shared ideas with each other in advance – […]
Hyelim Kim in LSO Eclectica: Birdsong + Borders with Merit Ariane
An interesting cross-cultural collaboration coming at at LSO St Luke’s: LSO Eclectica: Birdsong & Borders with Merit Ariane East Meets West Friday 5 July 2019 7.30pm – 9.30pm Jerwood Hall | LSO St Luke’s | London Tickets: £20 £15 | Book tickets NB: table seating in front of the stage Merit Ariane: vocals | Louai […]
Parasang: Byron Wallen, Jihye Kim + Pouta Ehsaei
Trumpeter Byron Wallen has in the past collaborated with Hyelim Kim. Now comes Jihye Kim’s turn: Byron Wallen, Jihye Kim & Pouya Ehsaei Redon | The Railway Arches | Cambridge Heath Road | Bethnal Green | London E2 9HA Thursday, 27 June 2019 from 19:00-23:00 | Tickets £6 Another cosmic Parasang journey via the modular […]
Korean performances at Edinburgh Fringe 2019
A quick wordsearch of the 2019 Fringe catalogue provides the following items of Korean interest at the Fringe this year: The Happy Prince Children’s Shows (theatre, puppetry) Venue 21 | C venues – C aquila – temple 13:15 | Aug 1-11, 13-18, 20-26 | 45 minutes | Buy tickets Suitability: 3+ Group: Modl Theatre (Korea) […]
Hyelim Kim and Jo Lawrence play Club Inégales
After the amazing performances at the Barbican in February by the Third Orchestra, Peter Wiegold’s team of players reconvene in the more intimate Euston location for a season in March: Club Inégales presents: Hyelim Kim and Jo Lawrence Thursday 7th March 2019, 7pm – 10:30pm Club Inégales, 180 North Gower Street, NW1 2NB Time: Doors […]
E-DO at Rich Mix: a second-hand review
I know I said that SsingSsing was the gig I was most sorry to miss from the K-music festival this year, but E-DO ran it a close second. Their music that supported Over the Moon at the Edinburgh Fringe last year was totally mesmerising, even in the absence of their percussionist who had to return […]
SsingSsing at Pizza Express Soho and South Bank – a second-hand review
The SsingSsing gigs that opened the 2018 K-music Festival were the ones that I was probably saddest to miss of all the events this year. Sometimes other commitments get in the way (in this instance, a long-delayed summer holiday) so this is the first of the second-hand K-music reviews of this season (there will be […]
Black String win Songlines Music Award
Congratulations to Korean fusion group Black String, whose debut album on ACT, Mask Dance, won the Songlines Music Award in the Asia and Pacific category. Black String, who played at the 2017 K-music festival, were in town for the awards ceremony in Brixton on 20 October, where they played music from the album.
K-music: Near East Quartet + Kyungso Park
The penultimate concert of the 2018 K-music festival is a collaboration between composer / kayageum player Kyungso Park – who performed with Andy Sheppard during K-music 2016 – and jazz / fusion band Near East Quartet: Near East Quartet + Kyungso Park Monday 19 November 2018, 7:45pm | Buy tickets Purcell Room | Belvedere Road […]
K-music 2018: Urban Sound, 19 October @Kings Place
The third gig in this year’s K-music festival features the new group Urban Sound who this year have been performing in interesting spaces such as Brunel’s Tunnel in Rotherhithe: Urban Sound Friday 19 October, 8pm | Buy tickets Kings Place (Hall Two) | 90 York Way | London N1 9AG Urban Sound is a collaboration […]
K-music 2018: Ensemble E-DO, 9 October @Rich Mix
E-DO were the musicians behind the 2017 LKL Performance of the Year (together with choreographer / dancer Yoo Sun-hoo in an Edinburgh Fringe show entitled After 4 – Over the Moon), and their 2015 album Yeominrok got a well-deserved rave review from World Music Central. So don’t miss their London debut as the second act […]
Theatre visit: a changgeuk Trojan Women
An adaptation of a Greek play more than 2400 years old interpreted through the medium of an early 20th century Korean performing practice does not immediately sound a promising theatrical experience, except perhaps to the handful of people who appreciate both Euripides’s take on Homer and Changgeuk’s adaptation of Pansori. Nevertheless, the Purcell Room had […]
Korean performers at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe
I make it that there are eleven Korean or Korea-related performances at this year’s Fringe, plus one workshop. It’s nice that Brush Theatre are putting in their regular appearance – always popular with the younger audience – and we have newcomers such as Korean-American stand-up comedian Olivia Rhee and, from Kazakhstan, telling the story of […]