YG's iKON determined to pursue own music Members of iKON pose at the 2015 Melon Music Award at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium on Nov. 7. / Courtesy of YG EntertainmentBy Kim Jae-heunYG Entertainment’s new boy group iKON released its new album “Welcome Back,” Monday, and some of the new tracks are said to be similar to Big Bang’s music.It is no surprise, considering that YG’s top producers, Teddy and Kush, who have produced songs for Big Bang, worked on iKON’s new album. iKON is praised for its ability to produce its own music, still, B.I., the leader and producer of the band, acknowledged they have a long way to go to be as good as Big Bang.“Many people compare our music to Big Bang,” said B.I. when asked if their song “Apology” sounds like it is sung by T.O.P and Tae Yang of Big Bang during an interview at a coffee shop in Seogyo-dong, Seoul, Tuesday. “Big Bang’s music covers many genres, though. While we still lack experience, we will try hard to walk a different path than Big Bang. They told us we should not follow their musical path.”B.I. grew up Nov 18, 2015
10 orchestra workers booked for defamation of ex-CEO By Kwon Ji-younPark Hyun-jungTen employees of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) were booked Thursday, on suspicion of having falsely accused their former CEO Park Hyun-jung of sexual and verbal abuse, according to the police Thursday.The ten were among 17 employees of the SPO’s administrative department who issued an anonymous press release in December last year requesting Park’s resignation and an internal audit into her conduct. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA), Park filed a petition in December 2014 asking the police to identify the 17 employees behind the press release that detailed her alleged mistreatment of employees during her term as SPO’s chief executive.Among the 10 booked is an employee surnamed Kwak, who accused Park of sexual assault.The SMPA requested a warrant for Kwak’s arrest on Wednesday. Baek, the secretary of SPO music director Chung Myung-whun identified only by his last name, will also be summoned for questioning soon.“The number of SPO employees booked will likely increase as we confirm more identNov 12, 2015
Korean schoolgirl's cover of Adele's 'Hello' surpasses 5 mil. views A high school girl sings her cover of Adele’s “Hello” in this image capture from YouTube.A Korean schoolgirl has made headlines in foreign media for her astonishing cover of Adele’s “Hello,” captured in a video clip posted on YouTube that has accumulated almost five million views as of Monday.Mashable and UK Cosmopolitan, among others, reported last week that a Korean schoolgirl’s rendition of the British diva’s new song had “everyone stopping dead in their tracks,” stunned by her “astounding” voice and “passionate, heart-rending emotions that Adele has become synonymous with.”“If it’s even humanly possible, she sounds more convinced of her pain than Adele does,” reads a report by New York Magazine.The video of the schoolgirl, a student at Seoul Music High School, was shared on U.S. social media Reddit when it was uploaded to YouTube, Thursday.Mashable picked up the video Friday, posting it with the title “High school student absolutely kills a simple cover of Adele’Nov 9, 2015
컴백 라니아, 걸그룹 첫 흑인 멤버 영입해 화제 이달 컴백한 라니아가 국내 걸그룹 최초로 미국 흑인 멤버를 영입해 화제다. 9일 소속사 DR뮤직에 따르면 최근 새 앨범 '데몬스트레이트'(Demonstrate)를 발표한 라니아는 멤버 재정비를 하면서 미국 출신 흑인 여성 래퍼 알렉산드라(Alexandra·21)를 영입해 활동에 나섰다. 미국 캔자스주에서 흑인 아버지와 백인 어머니 사이에서 태어난 알렉산드라는 텍사스, 뉴욕 등지에서 거주하며 미국에서만 생활해왔다. 그는 카니예 웨스트, 리아나, 드레이크 등이 포진된 미국 유명 힙합 레이블 데프잼에서 15세 때부터 소속된 이력이 있을 정도로 남다른 프로필을 보유하고 있다는 게 소속사의 설명이다. 미국 가수 겸 배우 제이미 폭스의 뮤직비디오 '유 체인지드 미'(You Changed Me)의 뮤직비디오 여주인공으로 출연했으며, 미국 래퍼 에미넴 등과 작업한 작곡가 알렉스 다키드, 브리트니 스피어스와 작업한 작곡가 제이알 로템과 한팀이 돼 작곡가로도 활동했다. 또 미국 음료 게토레이의 지면 광고 모델, 맥주 하이네킨의 CF에도 등장한 적이 있다. 그는 리아나의 전 매니저이자 현재 브루노 마스의 매니저인 스캇과 함께 데뷔를 준비하고 있던 중 우연히 라니아와 인연이 닿아 정식 멤버 계약을 했다. 소속사는 '알렉산드라의 한국행은 높아진 K팝의 위상과도 무관치 않다'며 '알렉산드라는 유튜브 등지에서 K팝 콘텐츠가 큰 인기를 누리는 것을 보면서 평소 K팝에 관심을 두게 됐고 한국행을 결심했다'고 말했다. 이어 '알렉산드라가 합류하면서 라니아의 미주 매니지먼트를 스캇이 전담한다'고 덧붙였다. 미국 빌보드는 지난 6일(현지시간) 'K팝 걸그룹이 아프리카계 미국인을 멤버로 영입했다'며 알렉산드라가 합류한 라니아의 소식을 전했다. (연합뉴스)Nov 9, 2015
Korea is Asian home for Damien Rice Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice will hold a concert at Grand Peace Hall of Kyung Hee University onNov. 22. / Courtesy of Access EntBy Kwon Ji-younDamien Rice calls Korea his “Asian home.”The singer-songwriter’s gig at the Grand Peace Hall of Kyung Hee University on Nov. 22 will be his fourth in Seoul, having visited every year since 2012. He keeps returning because of the invitations, he told The Korea Times in a recent interview.“Much like a friend who invites you to dinner, Korea has been very inviting and each time I go to Korea I enjoy it,” Rice said. “It’s starting to feel like a home in Asia. I have made some friends there and the different promoters I’ve worked with are all very friendly and so the experience is always interesting and enjoyable.”This year, he has added a stop in Busan to enjoy a “new city” experience.“But I try my best not to ever have expectations,” Rice said of his Busan concert. “I find it’s more interesting and rewarding to enter any new experience with an open miNov 8, 2015
Chopin contest victor wins Koreans' hearts Pianist Cho Seong-jin takes a bow at his first recital Paris, Saturday. / YonhapCho Seong-jin, who won the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw last month, hosted his first recital in Paris, Saturday.The two-story Salle Gaveau concert hall of 900 seats was filled with French and Koreans, Yonhap reported. Cho played the encore piece three times.Following the performance, dozens of female fans greeted the pianist and handed him flowers and gifts.Record label Deutsche Grammophon's album of Cho's performance at the Chopin competition has swept major online album charts by subscription sales. The album topped online Kyobo bookstore’s overall best album chart the week following the competition and still remains No. 1. It was released Friday.Meanwhile, tickets for 2,500 seats of Cho's gala concert slated for February 2 at the Seoul Arts Center sold out in 50 minutes.Nov 8, 2015By Kim Bo-eun
Dynamic Duo returns with eighth album /Courtesy of Amoeba CultureKorean hip-hop group Dynamic Duo will make a comeback with their eighth album on Nov. 17.It is their first come back in two years and four months since their last album “LUCKYNUMBERS” in July 2013.They announced their return at midnight Wednesday with teaser images on their agency Amoeba Culture’s official social media site.“As shown in the image, the album is filled with Dynamic Duo’s cheerful and dynamic music,” Amoeba Culture said.The duo plans to be busy doing TV shows and performances to promote the album.Dynamic Duo have had a string of hit songs, including “Without You” and “Guilty,” since their debut in 2004.Nov 6, 2015
Chopin competition winner Cho Seong-jin's record for sale Music lovers line up to purchase the first recording of pianist Cho Seong-jin’s live Chopin competitionperformance at a record store in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, early Friday morning. / YonhapFans of Cho Seong-jin ― winner of the 17th International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw on Oct. 21 ― queued for hours Friday to buy a recording of the young pianist playing in the prestigious competition.The recording, by Deutsche Grammophon, includes four selections from the 14 piano works Cho performed in the piano competition. They are Chopin’s Nocturne, Op. 48-1 in C minor; Sonata, Op. 35 in B-flat minor; Polonaise, Op. 53 in A-flat major; and 24 Preludes, Op. 28. Cho, 21, won the special prize for best interpretation of a polonaise.Comments by critics Park Jae-seong and Park Jong-ho and pianist Kim Joo-young are included on the album.Pianist Cho Seong-jin performs during the final competition auditions of the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition at the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, in Warsaw, Poland, on Oct. 18. / Nov 6, 2015
Yundi Li's calamitous Seoul concert Yundi Li performs with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Seoul Arts Center, Friday./ Courtesy of Sena MusicBy Kwon Ji-younFriday night’s performance by Yundi Li, the youngest pianist to win the International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition at the age of 18, was nothing short of disastrous. The Chinese pianist staged an appalling rendition of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) at the Seoul Arts Center, turning a deaf ear to the orchestra and a blind eye to the maestro’s movements. SSO chief conductor David Robertson, distraught by the noise, lowered his baton and the orchestra followed suit. They resumed playing after a breather, but the tension was palpable. As if to blame the SSO and maestro Robertson for the blunders, Li did not return for an encore, acknowledging the audience just once before retiring to his hotel room. He seemed unshaken by his catastrophic performance _ later that night, he posted a photograph of himself dressed in a Halloween costume on Facebook, with a caption that read “I’m gonna freak youNov 2, 2015
K-pop cover groups to battle at world festival Dozens of young people from 14 countries will compete in their ability to reproduce or reinvent K-pop acts in later Friday, organizers said.Only 57 out of some 12,000 contestants made it to the K-pop World Festival finals set to start at 7 p.m. at the Changwon Sports Park in the southeastern industrial city of Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, they said.Two preliminaries preceded the finals and brought more than 4,000 teams down to 14.The finalists come from countries as diverse as Australia, Malaysia, Finland, Nigeria and more. They arrived in South Korea last Friday and spent a week experiencing traditional Korean culture and meeting K-pop stars.Later Friday, they will perform songs by idol groups such as Kara, VIXX, EXID and Sistar, with some of these groups actually gracing the stage themselves later. The line-up includes SHINEE, 4Minute, EXID, VIXX, AOA and Red Velvet, according to organizers.Performances in Changwon will be broadcast live on KBS's mobile app KBS myK, Navercast and YouTube, with the edited version airing on KBS World in November.The behind-the-scenes of the fOct 30, 2015
