Lee Hee-moon unveils 4 new music videos

Lee Hee-moon's "Bangmulga" from “Not Alone” project / Courtesy of Lee Hee Moon Company

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Genre-bending musician Lee Hee-moon unveils four new music videos in "Not Alone" project in collaboration with E-Won Art Factory.

A classically trained singer of pansori (a Korean narrative musical traditional), Lee is renowned for his eccentric performances combining Korean folk music, jazz and rock.

The "Not Alone" project visualizes four of Lee's songs reinterpreting Gyeonggi Minyo, or folk songs originated from Gyeonggi Province.

The project began as Lee's attempt to reach audiences in a contact-free way as live performances have been canceled one after another amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Under the theme of collaboration and communication, Lee joined hands with experts to convey his songs with kitschy imagery.

The first video unveiled on Jan. 5 was "Heosongsewol Maleola" by OBSG, Lee's a project group with folk duo NomNom and band Heosongsewol. It uses chroma a key technique to visualize each performer separated due to social distancing, but connected through music.

Second the in series, "Bangmulga" comes from the second album of Korean Men, the Gyeonggi Jazz Project by Lee and jazz band Prelude. To emphasize the lyrics describing the parting of Chunhyang and Mongryong, the lovers in the famous Korean pansori repertoire "Chunhyang-ga," Lee conveys the tale while dressed up as both Chunhyang and Mongryong. The avant-garde costume and performance defamiliarize the familiar tale.

Lee Hee-moon's "Chool In Ga" from the “Not Alone” project / Courtesy of Lee Hee Moon Company

"Chool In Ga" features actress Kang Mal-geum from "Lucky Chan-sil" and yoga instructor Song Eun-ji to bring out the rhythms in the song. Subtitles provide romanization of the Korean lyrics to emphasize the peculiar feeling of a foreign language for non-Korean speakers.

"Eorang Blousy" is a jazzy interpretation of "Eorang Taryeong," a Korean folk song from Hamgyong Province in North Korea. Lee brought 1980s glam fashion style to the video to maximize the bluesy arrangement of the folk song.

As the music videos adds contemporary mise-en-scene to Gyeonggi folk songs, Lee hopes to expand the base of the genre, which is neglected among traditional Korean music.

The video is available at Lee Hee Moon Company's YouTube channel at

youtube.com/c/LEEHEEMOONCOMPANY

. The two remaining videos will be released every Tuesday ― "Chool In Ga" on Jan. 19 and "Eorang Blousy" on Jan. 26.