How can you adequately describe a gig which touched the highs and lows of human emotion? There were times when the melody sung by the voice or ajaeng had a searing, heart rending intensity which brought a lump to the throat and tears to the eye; and then in the next piece the toes would … [Read More]
Category: Jazz (page 5)
Selected publications
- Hyelim Kim: Tradition and Creativity in Korean Taegŭm Flute Performance, Routledge 2021
- Anthology: Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music ed Hyunjoon Shin, Seung-Ah Lee, Routledge 2016
- Simon Barker: Korea and the Western Drumset: Scattering Rhythms, Ashgate 2015
“Jazz” in the DPRK: Autumn Whispers and the forbidden fruit of Richard Clayderman
I’ve just finished reading Jang Jin-sung’s memoir, Dear Leader. It’s a real page-turner that will appeal to many types of readers, including people who like a good adventure story (the passages describing Jang’s evasion of Chinese and North Korean security forces once he has fled from the North Korean capital are genuinely exciting) and of … [Read More]
A special offer on Ensemble Sinawi for LKL readers
Enjoying Seoul in the City so far? Me too. I’m not sure we’ll get around to reviewing everything on LKL, but Matthew’s account of Sir Robert Harris’s talk on UK-Korea relations, and Colette’s review of Andersen’s Gazes, will both be posted soon. There’s plenty more to come, but I wanted to share with you a … [Read More]
Hyelim Kim reviewed in Songlines magazine
Congratulations to Hyelim Kim for receiving a four-star review from Songlines magazine (Jan / Feb 2014 edition) for her debut CD, Nim: Taegum Collection. The disk, released in 2013 at a concert at the Royal Asiatic Society, contains many of the pieces she has been performing in London over the past year or two, from … [Read More]
Gig review: Hyelim Kim, Byron Wallen + notes inégales
I’m sure most of you have been in the scenario of trying to get a drink in a busy bar, with an overstretched barman (or maid) not having a clue who’s next in the unspoken queue. He looks around, and whoever shouts loudest gets served. You wonder if you will ever get your thirst quenched. … [Read More]
Hyelim Kim with Byron Wallen at the London Jazz Festival
Hyelim Kim continues to push the boundaries of the daegeum, this time in a jazz direction: Byron Wallen & Hyelim Kim Thursday 21 November | 8:00PM LONDON Club Inégales | 180 North Gower Street | London | NW1 2NB We are proud to be part of this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival! We welcome back … [Read More]
Winterplay’s latest single – Yoboseyo Baby
Thanks to Andrew Jackson for the link to Winterplay’s latest single, Yoboseyo Baby (여보세요 베이비): a slightly cheeky and very catchy number with nice 1960s styling in the video. The single is from their latest album, Two Fabulous Fools, released last month. It’s just gone onto my YesAsia wishlist. Not on iTunes yet. Links: Buy … [Read More]
Samulnori, sanjo and jazz from the SOAS Korean Drumming Society
The SOAS Korean Drumming Society gave an interesting and varied recital in the Lucas Lecture theatre on Monday 3 June. After a daegeum sanjo from Kim Hyelim, accompanied by Keith Howard on changgo, we had a very effective jazz improvisation by Choi Jeung-hyun (changgo) with Shzr Ee Tan (piano) using two samulnori rhythms, the daseureum … [Read More]
CD review: Nah Youn Sun — Lento
Nah Youn Sun: Lento ACT Records, April 2013 Nah Youn Sun’s collaboration with Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius continues to bear fruit. This is her third album with Wakenius on the ACT label (and her 8th studio album overall), and like her previous ACT releases they are supported by Lars Danielsson on bass and Xavier Desandre-Navarre … [Read More]
Nah Youn Sun on reducing an audience to tears
LKL’s favourite jazz singer, Nah Youn Sun, fresh from singing at Park Geun-hye’s inauguration talks to the JoongAng Daily about her career, about her new album, Lento, which will be released in the UK in April, and about singing Arirang to foreign audiences: To my surprise, audiences, regardless of their nationality, shed tears while listening … [Read More]
_Complete: a collaborative arts project at The Forge, Camden
News of a live music and video art event in Camden: _Complete A Collaborative arts project organised by Alpha Art Association Jazz Performance by KO Heean 고희안 Video Art Screening by SHIN Kiwoun 신기운 Date: Sunday 27 January 2013, 3pm (Doors open at 3pm and the performance starts at 3.30pm) Venue: The Forge | 3-7 … [Read More]
Tim Garland’s Korean collaboration: Sinawi and the Blues
The combination of Korean traditional instruments with modern western ones gives rise to complex performance issues. Incompatibilities of style, volume, timbre and tuning are challenges to be overcome, not always with success. With the improvisatory nature of jazz, where instruments get their chance for solos and where amplification is a customary feature of the mix, … [Read More]
Event news: Korea Moves – with Tim Garland @ London Jazz Festival
Last year at the KCC we had an interesting jazz / gugak fusion concert. Coming soon as part of the London Jazz Festival, a concert in which the emphasis is more likely to be on the jazz, but with participation from the Tori Ensemble‘s Heo Yoon-jeong (whom we saw at the KCC last February) and … [Read More]
Yeahwon nominated for a Grammy
Nice to see Yeahwon Shin nominated for a Grammy for her 2010 self-titled jazz / latin album “Yeahwon” bit.ly/nVyCnL [Read More]
Concert notes: Scattered Rhythms
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from the Jazz / Gugak collaboration involving Australian jazz drummer Simon Barker on 11 April 2011, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a long drum solo. Companions was probably the virtuoso highlight of the evening, a drum solo in which Simon Barker managed to convey the sounds of … [Read More]
German Jazz award for Nah Youn-sun
Nice to see Nah Youn-sun getting more recognition: Best International Female Singer in German Echo Jazz Awards http://bit.ly/fXSiv2 #. “I’m surprised but thrilled,” she says. [Read More]