Belly dancers to perform with indie bands in concert
Harry Big Button is one of the indie rock bands to perform in the fifth of a concet series “The Shake Shop” at Club Freebird in Hongdae, Friday.
New series shaking things up
By John Redmond
What do you get when you combine belly dancing and indie rock bands on a stage in a popular student neighborhood? The Shake Shop, a monthly concert series featuring Canadian-born belly dancer Eshe and local indie bands at Club Freebird in Seoul’s live music mecca, Hongdae.
Eshe, who runs her own belly dance studio in Mangwon called Dream Dance Studio, wanted to combine her love of belly dance and local music, and in February started a new monthly concert series called The Shake Shop.
The shop shows have Eshe and her Navah belly dance troupe (which is made up of expat and Korean belly dancers) doing live collaborations with Korean indie bands.
The fifth edition of the shop will take place at Club Freebird in Hongdae, Friday. The event will see Eshe and Navah performing with shoegazer band Vidulgi Ooyoo, punk act The Strikers, and hard rock group Harry Big Button.
The Korea Times spoke with Eshe and Harry Big Button guitarist and vocalist Lee Sung-soo about the audience response to these shows and the general direction of performance in Korea.
Eshe and her Navah belly dance troupe, made up of expat and Korean belly dancers, will cooperate with indie bands.
Q: How has Korea responded to your performances so far?
Esthe: I believe your name is your currency. Artistically, after five years in Korea and hundreds of shows, people trust in what I can do.
Now that The Shake Shop has a resume of sorts, it's getting easier to reach out to new-to-me artists with whom to collaborate.
As a performer, Korean audiences are world-class in their support for artists. From little Insa-dong busking performances to full-fledged professional theater shows, Koreans have always been kind, energetic and loving in my experience. Korean audiences are my favorite in the world.
Q: What section of the community is your biggest audience?
A: When I look into the audience at The Shake Shop shows I truly see a mix of people. The dancers in my Navah troupe all come from different countries, speak different languages and are from different walks of life and the same is true for our audience. The beautiful thing about The Shake Shop is that we really are shaking things up. Most of the bands have never worked with belly dancers before.
No two Shake Shops resemble each other. I think that's what makes it so attractive.
Q: Who inspired you to get into this style of performance?
I started belly dancing in Tokyo but I didn't get into working regularly with live bands until I came to Korea. I was at DGBD just grooving a bit to Cocore and their manager approached me about doing a live collaboration. Around the same time I saw a music video by Orgeltanz on YouTube. I reached out to them and then later went to see them play a show at Salon Badabie. Afterwards we went to dinner and arranged a trial rehearsal together.
The idea for The Shake Shop concert series came from a performance I did last November during my last week of pregnancy. I wanted to make a special show as a sort of celebration of life before I gave birth to my first child. So I asked three bands I had collaborated with previously ― Apollo 18, Ninano Nanda, and Romantiqua ― to join me and Navah. The night was so, so I decided to turn our pairing of local indie music and belly dance into a regular event.
Q: Where do you see things going from here?
A: Music and dance are ancient companions. They belong together. I want to honor that timely bond while making fresh offerings and new friends. I want to keep challenging myself and my Navah troupe with new projects and unlikely pairings while also challenging the idea of what "goes with" belly dance.
Q: Why were you interested in collaborating with belly dancers for June’s The Shake Shop?
A: Lee Sung-soo: Music is all about mixing all sorts of art forms. I think you can mix virtually any type of art with music. I think performing with belly dancers will make a deep contrast. Also, it’s a live collaboration, which means anything can happen. That should make things really fun for us, the dancers, and the audience, too.
Q: What do you hope to achieve through your collaborative performance with Eshe and Navah?
A: I hope this collaboration with them will inspire me to further extend my own artistic expression and activities.
Q: How does it feel being an indie band and having to compete with all the K-pop hype?
A: I haven't thought about competing with the K-pop hype. When it comes to Korean music, a lot of people do think of K-pop right now. But at least that means that they are interested in Korean music and culture. So that’s a good start. I think if we keep working hard, Korean indie music has the potential to find a wider audience. So let’s keep rocking!
Q: How do you see indie music in Korea developing in the future?
A: There are many young talented musicians in the Korean indie scene right now. As long as we keep focusing on creating music that is strong and unique, the future of our scene will always be bright.