I’m sorry I didn’t manage to get to all of the performance of Oh! Youran. For me, Saturday afternoon is not the best time for a theatrical performance, but I guess given the generosity of the V&A in hosting this event in their lecture theatre, certain compromises have to be made in terms of logistics. … [Read More]
Music (page 101)
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]
Think Korea: Rites of Spring, at the Bloomsbury Theatre
A fusion of Western and Korean dance, and Western and Korean music in an imaginative reconstruction of the Korean Springtime rites of Danoje: The Rites of Spring 7:30 pm, 13-15 June 2006 The Bloomsbury Theatre |15 Gordon Street | London WC1H 0AH | www.thebloomsbury.com In 2005, Gangneung Danoje was registered by UNESCO as Masterpieces of … [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]
Think Korea: Dano — Korean Breeze
A programme of traditional Korean music as part of the Think Korea 2006 programme of events: Dano: Korean Breeze Mon 22, 7:30 pm, OXFORD, Holywell Music Room (01865 305 305), www.ticketsoxford.com Tue 23 7:30 pm, CAMBRIDGE, West Road Concert Hall (01223 357 851), www.westroad.org Wed 24 7:30 pm, LONDON, The Bloomsbury Theatre (0207 388 8822), … [Read More]
The Meredith play the Watershed, Wimbledon
Young Korean band the Meredith will be playing at the Watershed in Wimbledon (267 The Broadway, SW19 1SD) on Thursday 11th May from 8pm. Their cv is in the attached doc. Do go along and give them your support [Read More]
Review: RPO Korea Fantasy, 1 May 2006
This year we celebrate the 250th birthday of Mozart, the 100th of Shostakovich, and less known, the 100th of Ahn Eak-tae (right, picture from the Chosun Ilbo), Korea’s best-known 20th century composer in the Western classical tradition. Probably his most famous work is the Korea Fantasy, a 25-30 minute work for chorus and orchestra, from … [Read More]
Vibe 3rd album: Re-feel
(Doremi media, March 2006) I think I’ve been overdosing on Korean R&B and ballads recently. Included in my recent YesAsia delivery was Vibe’s third album – another speculative purchase because I was under the mistaken impression that they were going to be playing in London so I thought I would see what I would be … [Read More]
Coming Soon
It’s going to take me a while to digest yesterday’s concert in the Fairfield Hall, but it’s going to get a thumbs up. In the meanwhile, I share with you a snapshot (apologies for the poor quality – it was taken, Korean-style, with a mobile phone) of Lee Soo-young, Kim Young-im and Joo Hyung-ki leading … [Read More]
SG Wannabe 3rd album
I know I’m not going to make myself popular with some of the visitors to this site, but I’m not going to give this CD a rave review. If I say that it’s the sort of music a teenager could put on the CD player and not have her father say “what are you listening … [Read More]
Crying Nut: Best — Wild Wild Live
I’m doing my preparatory work for the Korean festival, and put this on my CD player last night when I should have been going to bed. The resulting explosion from the speakers can’t have endeared me to my neighbours. The sound of Crying Nut reminds me a bit of the Kaiser Chiefs in I predict … [Read More]
Mayday transport wanted
As I write this, I’m listening to Lee Soo Young’s 7th Album. And while there are elements which are identifiably and obviously Korean (someone needs to do a detailed analysis of the harmonic progressions in Korean romantic popular music to substantiate the claim that there is such a thing as identifiably Korean music, but there … [Read More]
Never trust KBS. Ever.
Sorry to disappoint you (and myself), but the alleged concert by Lee Soo Young, SG Wannabe etc in London on 24 May is a figment of KBS’s fevered imagination. Trying to find anyone in London who knows anything about Lee Soo Young’s appearance at all is a huge struggle anyway (and details are STILL not … [Read More]
A little gripe about CD packaging
I’m turning into one of those grumpy old men who gets annoyed by the stupidest of things. A very trivial rant today prompted by the latest delivery from YesAsia (I’m mugging up in preparation for the K-pop concert which I hope is happening on 24 May but which no-one apart from KBS seems to know … [Read More]
Sorry, another rant
So it seems that in order to find out what’s happening in the UK we all have to be avid followers of Seoul-based K-Pop forums. Further to my post yesterday I ran another google search on “Think Korea 2006”, and I found out that three days ago there was a posting at Soompi.com that broke … [Read More]
Frustration at more examples of poor Korean organisation
Thanks to Hyun-ho Khang for letting me know about a Korean performance by the Royal Philharmonic at the Fairfield Halls on the Mayday bank holiday. And absolutely no marks to the organisers of Think Korea 2006 and the Fairfield Halls for not publishing the programme. The RPO’s website doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of the … [Read More]