Lang Lang meets pop art in SeoulBy Lee Hyo-won Lang Lang recently made headlines when a video clip showed the Chinese piano prodigy working his “11 fingers” (as Barenboim put it) on an iPad piano game. The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea took notice of the pianist’s popular appeal and appointed him Thursday in Seoul as the honorary ambassador for an Asian pop art exhibition, “Made in Popland.” “Lang Lang is a powerful culture icon and we are very excited to have him represent this exhibition, which features artworks by Korean, Chinese and Japanese pop artists,” Ki Hei-kyung, who curated the event, said during a private ceremony with VIP guests. “I’m very honored to be honorary ambassador for this great exhibition at this great museum,” said Lang, who came straight from the airport to accept the position, which is only one of his engagements during his recital tour here. The 28-year-old arrived late due to a delayed flight from China, but fans waited patiently to meet the artist for a sneak preview of his concert Saturday at Seoul Arts Center. He played snippets of Chopin’s Etude, Op. 2Dec 3, 2010
Album reviewsJimmy Strain ‘Human to Human’ (SAIL MUSIC) Why we recommend it: Jimmy Strain isn’t just a catchy name; his genre-hopping tunes have a way of sticking in your head. Best tracks: “Lucky,” “Goodbye” Emerging Korean artist Jimmy Strain — a stage name comprised of idols Page and Morrison, and the word for a musical phrase — takes a new direction for his third studio album, combining all his talents for a release ringing with earnestness. The self-taught musician, who once played hooky from the Seoul Jazz Academy, dives into his own native cultural fodder for inspiration. Dedicated to his father’s 60th birthday, a milestone event in Korea, “Human to Human” deals with those well-discussed social topics indicative of the national perspective: from high suicide rates to the priority of self-image and appearance. Another twist is the language: Korean. Though born and raised here, Strain previously marked his albums with his all-English lyrics. The budding musician shows his diversity in the genre-exploratory ambiance of the album, with tracks quickly moving Nov 30, 2010
MTVs concert to raise awareness on AIDSBy Han Sang-hee Dec. 1 marks World AIDS Day and MTV is holding a special concert and campaign to raise awareness. A total of 13 K-pop artists will appear at MTV’s Live Wow Special Wednesday evening to perform their catchy tunes and also inform the audience about the devastating and contagious disease. “Two people are infected with HIV every day on average in Korea, and some 6,000 patients are suffering in Korea. (The concert) is aimed to offer more information on the disease and also actively raise awareness,” MTV said through a press release. Singers Horan, Tim and pop group W&Whale were appointed as goodwill ambassadors for the concert, and they will perform with fellow singers Kim Tae-woo, Secret and 8eight. The music channel will also air a special documentary “Me, Myself and HIV,” which features young patients of AIDS talking about their lives and also their illness openly to the public. The program follows the lives of two individuals, one from the United States and another from Zambia, who are HIV positive. They both explain the complicated layer thatNov 29, 2010
Pianist Kim Sun-wook offers a night to beholdBy Lee Hyo-won It was a night to behold, and the audience showed it without hesitation with a full house standing ovation. Korea has seen its fair share of classical music prodigies and young stars, but few receive the degree of attention — and more importantly the respect, rather than just mere curiosity about some amazing finger work — that is showered upon the 22-year-old Kim Sun-wook. Maestro Chung Myung-whun once remarked that no pianist has achieved what Kim has at his age. He wrapped up Saturday at Seoul Arts Center a cross-country recital tour that marked a big homecoming after studying abroad for two years in London — tickets of the 2,400-seat hall were sold out for the first time since master pianist Paik Kun-woo’s historic Beethoven piano sonata series in 2008. The tastefully arranged program made the tour a much anticipated one for classical music aficionados here, and the evening began with Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30. The audience greeted the young player with a loud round of applause but hushed instantly as Kim entered the stage with aNov 28, 2010
Seoul opens up to indie music sceneBy Ines Min What defines a “good” live music scene may vary from country to country, but Seoul’s crowd is inarguably changing — toward a more Western-filled outlook and constitution. The next couple of months will see a relatively dense indie line-up for Seoul, starting with witty rap duo Das Racist from Brooklyn playing this weekend, and moving all the way up to the Icelandic post rock of Sigur Ros’ Jonsi next week. Local, established promoters such as Mint Paper and Private Curve have been scheduling new shows appealing to an edgier crowd, but it has been newcomer Super Color Super (SCS) who has brought Korea into the touring eyes of established hipster acts. The fervent activity from all sides, however, has resulted in a vibrant list of concerts unlike the city has seen before. “Our shows are higher in energy and interest,” Sean Maylone, founder of SCS, told The Korea Times in a phone interview. “And we’re bringing these bands that no one’s doing.” The former Californian, Maylone served as music writer for the alternative weekly San Francisco Bay Guardian. AftNov 26, 2010
Album reviewsXuefei Yang `Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez’ (EMI Classics) Why we recommend it: It’s a rare piece of work ― not just because the classical guitar is still the minority in the classical music community, but because it’s so polished and well-rounded. The album features hallmarks of the classical guitar repertoire ― posing thus a true test of an instrumentalist’s caliber, which Yang jumps over lightly with her virtuosic playing. Best track: Albeniz Concerto When Xuefei Yang made her Madrid debut with Joaquin Rodrigo’s ``Invocacion y danza,’’ the Spanish composer, virtually blind at the time, could not believe she was barely 14. The rather small classical guitar community has seen the rise of young soloists in recent years, such as Japan’s Kaori Muraji and Belgium’s Denis Sung-ho Janessens. As China emerged from the Cultural Revolution, when all things Western were banned, Yang became the first guitarist to attend a local music school and debut overseas. As Gramophone magazine put it, ``the guitar world has a new star.’’ For twenty years since surprising Rodrigo, the viNov 23, 2010
Album reviewsBob Dylan ‘The Bootleg Series Vol. 9’ (SONY MUSIC) Bob Dylan lovers have cause to rejoice this holiday season. The ninth volume of The Bootleg Series (the first released in 1991, to satiate the needs of those Dylan fans in search of real bootlegs) comprises of the rough studio recordings for the Witmark and Leeds Demos. It is in the fact that these performances are not intended for mass consumption lies their charm. You hear the musician joke, laugh, cough throughout the recordings, even a door slamming in the background. Remastered in mono — just the way Dylan intended — the recordings were created in that timeframe between 1962 to 1964, when he was still finding himself as a writer. The older material sees Dylan emulating idol Woody Guthrie in songs such as “Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues’’ and “Oxford Town.” While the American folk he grew from is evident through much of the material, the second half of the 2-disc compilation sees Dylan branch out into his own, such as the lightly fingered, sweetly meandering “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” Nov 16, 2010
Flaming Lips to make Korean debutBy Ines Min Whether it was the human hamster ball stunt rolling above a roaring crowd of an outdoor venue or the imaginative sweet sounds of that electro-psychedelic mix that first caught your ear, The Flaming Lips has indelibly made its mark on those in the music world. The Oklahoma crew, led by frontman Wayne Coyne, makes their Korean debut Saturday at the Melon-AX Hall, eastern Seoul. Closing the Asian leg of a tour for their 2009 albums — “Embryonic” and a track-by-track remake of Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” — the band’s first concert here plans to retain the combustion-style fantasy grandeur while entertaining in the intimate Melon-AX (characteristic antics involving the aforementioned crowd surfing via a large-scale plastic ball and the unleashing of thousands of massive balloons into the sky). Coyne and his fellow members’ stage presences have led to an oft-headlining trait of The Flaming Lips, who’ve closed out such festivals as Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. The psychedelic-rock group first rose to fame in the 1990s, and hit it bNov 16, 2010
Cleveland Orchestra returns to Korea after 32 yearsBy Lee Hyo-won It would be an understatement to say that much has changed since the last time the Cleveland Orchestra played in Korea, 32 years ago under the baton of Lorin Maazel. Back in 1978, it was a rare occasion for local classical music aficionados to hear a world-class foreign orchestra live — the upcoming concert on Saturday comes on the back of those by such ensembles as the Israel Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw. It will take place at the Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Complex in Gyeonggi Province, a new hall, barely six-years-old with state-of-the-art acoustics, catering to the ever-growing demand for live music performances outside the arts capital of Seoul. The top American ensemble, known for its distinct European sound, will present fans a full orchestral program of works by the European masters — though without concertos featuring a star soloist, it is expected to deliver a powerful, roof-raising experience with Debussy’s Prelude “A l’apres d’un faune,” Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K. 136 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica.” “The music is moNov 16, 2010
Russian violinist to make Seoul recital debutBy Lee Hyo-won The Old Russian School of classical music emphasizes warm tones and a rich romanticism, crowned by a rigorous precision that gives flight to each and every note even when playing at breathtaking prestissimo. Early 20th-century Russian violinists David Oistrakh and Jascha Heifetz are widely considered champions of this style, and continuing this lineage in the new millennium is a young Russian-American, Eugene Ugorski. Given his Russian pedigree ― having family roots there and having trained underNov 15, 2010