Organisations and venues: South Bank

Igudesman & Joo play the Royal Festival Hall

event date Wed 04 Mar 2020 posted

Igudesman & Joo’s performance in the Cadogan Hall was one of LKL’s highlights of 2012. I think we all need a bit of cheering up at the moment, and these are the guys to do it. Don’t miss their Festival Hall appearance next week: Igudesman & Joo Wednesday 4 March 2020, 7:30pm Royal Festival Hall, […]

A review of the Korean cultural year 2019

posted updated 6 Apr 2020 by Philip Gowman 11 minute read

A review of some of the highlights and trends in the Korean cultural year, primarily in London but also with half an eye to anything we might have seen elsewhere in the UK. The review is a personal one, inevitably skewed towards the events we managed to get to. Introduction This time last year I […]

Joo Yeon Park’s Library of the Unword, at the National Poetry Library

event date 05 Dec - 29 Mar 2020 posted

National Poetry Library | Level 5, Blue side | Royal Festival Hall 5 December 2019 – 29 March 2020 | Admission free Joo Yeon Park’s Library of the Unword commemorates the 30th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s death. The exhibition features an installation, Twenty Times a Thousand (2019), in response to Beckett’s poem ‘Echo’s Bones’ (1935). The work comprises over […]

Gig review: Kyungso Park, SB Circle + Hey String

posted by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Isn’t it refreshing when a band exceeds expectations? When you were expecting something pretty good, and you get something astoundingly good. When the newbie support band has the class to headline their own gig. OK, to call the gayageum trio Hey String a newbie band neglects to mention their success as prizewinners in Seoul Namsan […]

Jambinai launches K-music 2019 with explosive force

posted by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Call me a grouch, but when you need both ear plugs and a blindfold to survive a gig in any degree of comfort you have to start questioning the wisdom of some of the sound and lighting judgments. Ear plugs, handed out for free at the entrance to Jambinai’s Purcell Room gig that opened K-music […]

K-music 2019: Black String, 18 Nov @ Purcell Room

event date Mon 18 Nov 2019 posted

Based on Black String’s latest album release, Karma, this closing concert could be the highlight of the festival. The concert is also part of the London Jazz Festival line-up. K-music 2019: Black String Monday 18 November 2019, 7:45pm Southbank Centre / Purcell Room | Belvedere Road | London SE1 8XX Tickets £15 + booking fee […]

K-music 2019: Jambinai, 3 October @Purcell Room

event date Thu 03 Oct 2019 posted

Jambinai open the 2019 K-music festival as part of their six-city England tour. K-music 2019: Jambinai Thursday 3 October 2019, 7:45pm Southbank Centre – Purcell Room | Belvedere Road | London SE1 8XX Tickets £15 + booking fee | Book tickets Jambinai present Korean traditional music in a new and innovative way, with their ground-breaking post-rock […]

Brief review: Crossroads of Youth

posted updated 21 Sep 2019 by Philip Gowman 3 minute read

Crossroads of Youth, Korea’s earliest surviving feature-length movie, was a great way to start the season of films from Korea’s colonial period. It is a season that could not have taken place 15 years ago, because these films have only recently come to light in the film archives of Beijing, Moscow and Tokyo. Crossroads of […]

Early Korean Cinema season at the BFI and KCC

event date 07 Feb - 28 Feb 2019 posted

Tickets for the Early Korean Cinema season at the BFI, which was announced as last year’s London korean Film festival came to an end, go on sale on 15 January. The organisers particularly direct our attention to two screenings: THU 7 FEB, 18:00 – OPENING SCREENING WITH LIVE PERFORMANCE + INTRO: Crossroads of Youth 청춘의 […]