KOREA 21 Music Here & Now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KCCLA 30th Anniversary Gala Performance Series
KOREA 21: MUSIC HERE & NOW
A Special Concert of 21st Century Korean Contemporary Traditional Music

- Date/Time: Saturday, April 24th, 2010 at 7:30pm

- Place: Nate Holden Performing Art Center
4718 West Washington Blvd. LA, CA 90016

- RSVP/Info: tammy@kccla.org or 323-936-3015

The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism proudly presents the special concert, Korea 21: Music Here and Now, in collaboration with the Gugak FM Broadcasting System in Seoul and the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles on Saturday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m., at Nate Holden Performing Arts Center.

This rare concert will focus on Korean "contemporary" traditional music and its modern performance aspects, changjak gugak, the newly emerging artistic phenomenon in the traditional musical field. This concert is a contemporary venture that brings a new appreciation and re-interpretation to the old traditions. Such new-fangled music has not replaced the old, but continues to honor Korea's traditional music. To find the path that connects the old and the new and communicates with the modern audience, many Korean musicians have dedicated themselves to the reinterpretation and modification of existing traditional forms. A fresh sound has been intertwined with traditional music using elements from Western music and popular music genres such as hip pop and ballad, Jazz, and modern Korean instruments.

A highlight of this event will be the select group of outstanding Korean traditional and popular music artists from Korea, such as A Cappella, Tori'S and Instrumental Ensemble, Ullim, who ranked in the top ten at the 2009, "21C Korean Music Project Competition," one of the most prestigious music competitions in South Korea.

About the Performers

Contemporary Gugak Ensemble, Ullim Emerging as one of the most promising instrumental ensembles specializing in Korean traditional and contemporary music, Ullim has been at the forefront of a movement popularizing the traditional musical genres and repertoires and to capture the imagination of the Korean listening public. Ullim, composed of classically trained musicians, demonstrates the highest artistic caliber and includes daegeum, piri, haegeum, gayageum, geomingo and janngo.

The ensemble challenges the new frontier of Korean improvisational music, namely, sinawi, and its modern interpretation and incorporating contemporary technique and musical ｅxpression, but it holds intact the Korean traditional music spirit and from. In 2009 Ullim released their first recording titled, "1/N Sinawi."

A Cappella, Tory'S Tory'S launched in 2008 as a vocal group featuring a cappella music of truly "Korean" style. It consists of five singers: soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass, and although the members in the band take the typical five parts of the Western vocal music, their academic and musical backgrounds in the Korean traditional music are varied, such as gayageum sanjo, pansori, and kyeonggi-minyo (folk song in the central style), as well as the Western classical vocal music. The word, "tori" indicates the specific style of Korean folk songs, or regional musical dialects, for example: yukjabaegi-tori (southwestern), menari-tori (eastern), and kyeong-tori (central). The band, Tory'S, wishes to cultivate a new a cappella style path using diverse toris.

A Special Guest Artist, Kim, Yong Woo
As one of the most influential folk song singers in Korea today, Kim, Yong Woo leads the popularization of Korean traditional music with his soft and persuasive voice. He has performed throughout Korea, Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Los Angeles, New York, Denver and many other cities in Europe. Kim has revived many existing as well as unknown folk songs collected from rural area by himself, and has reworked them with using unique Korean vocal technique in combination with the western and jazz idioms. Kim has received numerous awards including KBS Folk Song Grand Prize and he was selected as the "Artist of the Year" from Arts Council Korea in 2006. He has released eight solo albums in Korea including Jigaesori, Goinari, Mogaebi, Jilkkonaengi and Eoi Eoleojari and more. Kim also introduced a single album, Imjingang, in Japan. He continues develop Korean folk songs and challenges them with various musical traditions of other countries and popular music techniques such as techno music and hip pop, creating a new musical genre unique to himself.

Won-sun Choi, a renown choreographer from Los Angeles, will present her new choreography in collaboration with Ullim. Ms. Choi is a Certified Successor of Korean National Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 27, Seung-mu (Buddhist monk dance), and artistic director of Born Dance Company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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