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

The four members of Korean Irish band Gan Ainm / Courtesy of Gan Ainm

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 suggested 'Gan Ainm,' and everyone agreed," Choi said.

The current lineup was only finalized last year, although the four members have all known each other for a long time. The band previously had several foreign members, and the current all-Korean roster wasn't deliberate.

"I guess it might seem unique to some people, but personally, I don’t consider it particularly special," Choi said. "Perhaps it’s because, although the music has 'Irish' attached to it, it has a certain universality like rock or jazz, and is performed all over the world."

Choi himself was first exposed to Irish traditional music back when he took a course at Hanyang University on folk music from around the world.

"The professor, a Korean who had studied in Ireland, focused heavily on Irish traditional music, and I — then in a rock band — was quite captivated by it," he said.

"I held onto that feeling for a long time, but in those days, there was no one around me actually playing Irish music."

He said this changed around 2010, when Irish music gatherings became more common. "That was the beginning," he said.

He went on to perform with various Irish music groups, including Ceoltoiri Korea and Wild Atlantic Way. In 2022, he released an instrumental single with Soomee Han.

Although Koreans are often called "the Irish of Asia," he said the music remains far from the mainstream here.

"In Korea, Irish music is still largely unfamiliar to the general public, Choi said. "As a result, it is much more often received as something curious or novel rather than being appreciated for its originality. I expect this will remain the case for the next few decades as well."

Although he cautioned against drawing conclusions too hastily regarding any parallels between Korean and Irish culture, he acknowledged a couple similarities.

"First, both countries experienced periods of colonial rule. Second, people often think of elements like music, dance and drink — an important one, in its own way," he said. "I think the combination of these two characteristics can make the two countries seem similar in the sense that both have a tendency to transform historical hardships into a kind of spirited enjoyment — 'heung' in Korean, or what the Irish call "craic.'"

Gan Ainm is scheduled to take the stage at 1:45 p.m. for the St. Patrick's Day Festival held at the D-Cube City Plaza by Sindorim Station. Follow @irishassockorea on Instagram for more information about the festival or @ganainmkorea to learn more about the band.