CULTURE LINE
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Kim Yon-ja
Kim Yon-ja to hold Seoul concert
‘Trot’ queen Kim Yon-ja, 56, will hold recitals at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts on March 12 and 13 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her debut.
Trot is the oldest form of Korean pop music developed in the years before and during Japanese occupation (1910-1945). It is the first time for Kim to hold recitals in Seoul as she has spent most of her career in Japan.
She launched her 40th anniversary tour in her hometown of Gwangju in October 2014.
She debuted in Korea in 1974 after winning a major national singing contest by Tongyang Broadcasting Company (TBC). Kim started her career in Japan in 1977.
Kim’s 1981 megahit “Bouquet of Songs” lifted her into stardom.
Kim’s latest Korean album “Amor Party” was released in 2013. Her next album will be released in the spring.
She is one of the first South Korean singers ever to hold a concert in Pyongyang.
In 2001, she visited Pyongyang at the invitation of the late Korean leader Kim Jong-il. She performed at a festival to celebrate the birthday of North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-sung.
Book published on Gayageum musician
A book on renowned Gayageum player Hwang Byung-ki entitled “Hwang Byungki: Traditional Music and the Contemporary Composer in the Republic of Korea” by English scholar Andrew Killick has been published into Korean. Gayageum is Korean zither with twelve strings.
The Korean version of the book is published by Pulbit Publishing and is translated by Kim Hee-seon, a professor at Kookmin University.
Killick has conducted extensive studies on the musician for 25 years.