The Korea Times

All-Korean band to perform Irish music for St. Patrick's Day Festival

One of the music acts set to perform at the St. Patrick's Day Festival this Saturday is the somewhat mysteriously named Gan Ainm. Gaelic for "without name," the band features four talented Korean musicians. This includes banjo player Darren Choi, fiddler Koh Hae-young, concertinist Koh Seulki and vocalist and guitarist Zee. This will be Gan Ainm's first appearance at the annual festival, organized by the Irish Association of Korea. When Choi, a Korean national whose real name is Jong-wook, joined the band in 2013, it wasn't all Koreans. He entered the picture when he attended a traditional music session and met Patricia Jones, the band's button accordion player. After the departure of some of the original members, it was down to him, Jones and Hae-young on fiddle. They went busking almost every weekend, and occasionally played other shows, including for charities. It was around this time when the band settled on Gan Ainm as the name, as they didn't want to spend too much more time thinking it over. "After much deliberation, Patricia, feeling a bit lazy about the whole process, simply sugg

Mar 11, 2026By Jon Dunbar

All-Korean band to perform Irish music for St. Patrick's Day Festival

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Japan's Melt-Banana returns to Korea after 17 years

The legendary Japanese noise rock band Melt-Banana is finally coming back to Korea for the third time, 17 years after their last show. The band had its first show here in January 2005, and returned for a second show in August 2009. "This time will be our third visit," said Yako, the duo's lead vocalist. "I clearly remember how cold it was the first time we went, and I remember that everything we ate tasted incredibly good." "The second time, we also visited a recording studio in Korea, and we had a bit more time to relax," said Agata, the other half of the duo. "We went to a building that had a lot of musical instrument shops, and I ended up making a bit of an impulse purchase. Both stays were really enjoyable." Finally, after years of scheduling conflicts and the pandemic, Melt-Banana is ready to return to Seoul. Melt-Banana was founded in 1993, and the name was chosen shortly before their first show in May that year. "There isn’t really a deep meaning behind it," Yako said. "Maybe at the time I just liked the combination of the word 'melt,' with its particular sound, and 'banana,' with

Mar 10, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Japan's Melt-Banana returns to Korea after 17 years

Global Community

Seoul goes green for St. Patrick's Day Festival

It's that time of year again — the ice melts, the sun sets later and the greens come out. It's time once again for St. Patrick's Day, including the big annual festival at D-Cube City Plaza in southwestern Seoul this Saturday. Under this year’s theme of “Seoul’s Going Green,” the plaza will be transformed into a lively showcase of Irish heritage and contemporary culture, highlighting the deep and growing tie between Ireland and Korea. “St. Patrick’s Day has been a staple in Seoul for many years now, and what makes it special is the feeling of Irish hospitality and community on display for all to see," said Alan Leavy, chairman of the Irish Association of Korea (IAK), the main organizer. "It’s not just for Irish people. We really want it to be open to anyone who wants to come along, take part and enjoy themselves. St. Patrick’s Day is among the most widely celebrated national days in the world, and here in Seoul it’s a great day out for the whole family and a chance to experience a bit of Irish culture.” Running from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., the free, family-friendly outdoo

Mar 9, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Seoul goes green for St. Patrick's Day Festival

Global Community

New music and skate shop Spin and Grind opens in Seoul's Sinchon

Spin and Grind, a new music and skate shop, pulled off the loudest, hardest soft open in the history of soft opens in western Seoul's Sinchon area on Feb. 15. Following a vinyl record fair organized by Record Threat, four bands played the heaviest music that could be heard anywhere in Korea that night. Tables and racks were moved aside and drums were brought in, transforming the tiny second-floor store temporarily into a hardcore punk venue. Desecrate, a hardcore band from Montreal, headlined the show for the final stop on their Asia tour, joined by local acts Palecistus, Second Damage and Cutt Deep. "The space is very small for a band performance, but I thought it would be possible," said Victor Ha, the shop owner. "One of my favorite shelves was damaged, but as the first hardcore show in the new space, I couldn’t have asked for more — it was completely satisfying." Only 20 tickets were available, and those who didn't get one either had to go home or stand out front. Counting musicians, up to about 40 people crammed into the small space. Between the racks of LPs, skateboard decks a

Feb 25, 2026By Jon Dunbar

New music and skate shop Spin and Grind opens in Seoul's Sinchon

Global Community

Playwright explores 'gay voice' with script reading

Seoul Players invites drama lovers to a rehearsed reading this weekend of "Acute Accent," a new play by written Rory Kelly, a British resident of Seoul. "Acute Accent" tells the story of Hig and Rob, a gay couple living in the U.K. Hig is English, working as a professor of linguistics, while Rob is an unemployed American actor. The day after they get engaged, their mothers both show up uninvited and a huge secret is revealed. Meanwhile, in flashbacks, we see a young Hig being sent to speech therapy because of his lisp. "Exploring themes of family, trauma and our relationships with our own voices, 'Acute Accent' is a modern drama with a lot of humor and pathos," Kelly told The Korea Times. "I was inspired to write the play because of the phenomenon of ‘gay voice’ and how many homosexual men hate the way they speak, even if they are proud of their identity. I was once told by a vocal coach that I had done irreparable damage to my vocal chords in pitching down my voice, trying to sound more typically masculine. On top of this, I wanted to explore family estrangement and how it can be o

Feb 23, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Playwright explores 'gay voice' with script reading

Global Community

American folk musician Seth Mountain goes 'Over the Mountains' in latest EP

Seth Martin, better known in Seoul's music scene as folk singer Seth Mountain, has released a five-song mini-album titled "Over the Mountains." This is the latest installment in his push to complete what he calls the "Mountain Trilogy." This follows "This Mountain" (2016), which focused mostly on U.S. politics and social struggles, and "Through Dark Valleys" (2021), which turned inward and tuned into Korea. There are some new additions to some of the songs, but these five newly released recordings trace their origins way back to 2016, when Mountain was working on the first album in Portland, Oregon. After 10 years, he plans to complete the "Mountain Trilogy" with one more full-length album, on which he plans to include these five songs. He pictures that one being "less topical and more personal, philosophical, spiritual... but still acting as a sort of summit for the trio and making it all one mountain, so to speak." He added, "As for this EP, I want it to stand on its own as a project. But the songs used here will also feature on the third full-length mountain album, but mixed different

Feb 17, 2026By Jon Dunbar

American folk musician Seth Mountain goes 'Over the Mountains' in latest EP

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Montreal hardcore band Desecrate tours Seoul, Busan

Montreal hardcore band Desecrate is coming to Korea on tour for the first time, but for Thomas, the band's guitarist, this is far from his first trip here. Over the past 10 years, he has visited Korea seven times. He explained that the name Desecrate was chosen "to call to mind the downfall of our society, how we make leaps in technological advancements but at the same time regress on a human aspect." He added that the band's name means that "we're 'desecrating' human nature." The band has released several recordings since its first demo in 2021. In 2024, Desecrate released "Power Play," featuring Scott Vogel of the legendary U.S. hardcore band Terror, also friends of Korea's small scene. The band released its first full-length album, "Without Fear of Consequence," last year, and just last month put out the four-song EP "Old Ghosts." The songs are mercilessly hard, with a strong metal influence, and the lyrics are especially brutal, with lines like "There is no life without pain" in "Human Nature" and "Day after day, they corrupt and control, poisoning hearts, devouring souls, polluting

Feb 9, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Montreal hardcore band Desecrate tours Seoul, Busan

Global Community

Italian hardcore punk band Golpe skips Winter Olympics to play Seoul

The Winter Olympics are about to kick off in Tadzio Pederzolli's hometown, but the frontman of Milan hardcore band Golpe won't be anywhere near the opening ceremony. Instead, he'll be in Seoul for the start of the band's Korea-Japan tour. "The more I miss the games, the better it's gonna be. Actually I'm gonna spend almost all month away to skip them as much as possible," he told The Korea Times. "It's been five years since they started destroying naturalistic spots and leaving unfinished buildings because of these games to come. Unfortunately a lot of money is involved in these kinds of events and every time something like this is happening in Italy it's a total mess." This East Asia tour has been in the making for a while. At first the band planned to tour Japan only, but the Japanese promoter encouraged Pederzolli to play some shows in Korea. Garrett, the drummer of Korean hardcore band Slant and owner of Sinchon live music venue Baby Doll, offered to book shows in Korea, a nice turn of reciprocity after Pederzolli had booked Slant to play shows in Italy late last year. "I was happy t

Feb 2, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Italian hardcore punk band Golpe skips Winter Olympics to play Seoul

Global Community

Biggie's Sports Bar brings excitement back to HBC

Just in time for the Winter Olympics, there's a new sports bar in central Seoul's multicultural Haebangchon neighborhood. Biggie's Sports Bar opened late last year and is located in a corner of the former Woori Mart. It's just a little below street level, not quite a half-basement but what co-owners Yong and Sunny call a "1/3-basement." People passing by on the street get a welcoming view of the crowd inside and what is playing on a big screen on the far wall. The interior is a clean, simple rectangle, contrasting with many of the older spaces nearby, described by Korean American Yong as having "quirky layouts." Although the name Biggie's might at first give off a hip-hop vibe, Yong explained the truth behind it. "My nickname in high school was 'Big Head' because I had a big head," he said. "By college, half my friends called me Biggie and the other half Heddie — Heddie Murphy, Heddie Munster, etc." He left those names behind in the U.S., but that changed last summer when friends visiting from Philadelphia called him Biggie in front of his partner Sunny. "Sunny thought it was a fun nick

Feb 1, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Biggie's Sports Bar brings excitement back to HBC

Global Community

Tradition meets tomorrow for gugak event at Insa-dong KOTE

Tradition collides with tomorrow at KOTE in central Seoul's Insa-dong neighborhood on Saturday, Jan. 31, where performers will explore traditional Korean music, or gugak, including the vocal narrative style known as pansori. On the ground floor, two DJs will play distinct sets, one blending traditional motifs with contemporary beats, the other layering modern energy over ancient melodies. Meanwhile, the members of Bikabi, a troupe of foreign pansori singers, will lead an interactive pansori jam in the basement. Tab Jones, a producer and DJ from New Jersey, will share the turntables with DJ Rio Anderson, former guitarist of Kontrajelly, who will reinterpret Korean traditional music, weaving together samples collected from electronic percussion and performances by masters of traditional music. "More than just a genre, the philosophy and craftsmanship behind gugak are what made Korean music what it is today," said Cindy Kwak, founder and CEO of Muzikey, the organizer behind the event along with COO and co-founder Garry Kwon. "While the modern industry is often monetized and mass-produced, w

Jan 15, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Jon Dunbar

Read more

All-Korean band to perform Irish music for St. Patrick's Day Festival

Japan's Melt-Banana returns to Korea after 17 years

Seoul goes green for St. Patrick's Day Festival

New music and skate shop Spin and Grind opens in Seoul's Sinchon

Playwright explores 'gay voice' with script reading

American folk musician Seth Mountain goes 'Over the Mountains' in latest EP

Montreal hardcore band Desecrate tours Seoul, Busan

Italian hardcore punk band Golpe skips Winter Olympics to play Seoul

Biggie's Sports Bar brings excitement back to HBC

Tradition meets tomorrow for gugak event at Insa-dong KOTE

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