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| Pansori singer Kim Yul-hee sings with NST & the Soul Sauce at Understage in Itaewon, Seoul, March 9, 2019. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
By Jon Dunbar
It's been a terrible year for live music, but all the extra time and social distancing has resulted in plenty of recorded music. Korea's small reggae scene has been busy, with three bands already releasing music this year.
NST & the Soul Sauce continues its collaboration with Kim Yulhee, a singer of pansori, a narrative musical style dating back to the late 17th century. Their latest digital single "Swallow Knows" ― also available on 7" record ― spotlights the band's soul influences and experiments with the rhythms of soca, a Caribbean genre that emerged in Trinidad and Tobago based on calypso, itself a highly lyrical genre.
"Swallow Knows" is the group's interpretation of "Jebi Nojeonggi" from the pansori play Heungboga. Kim's fluttering vocals depict Heungbu rescuing an injured bird which flies away, then returns with a gift of seeds. Their 2019 album featured the song "Bak Taryeong" (gourd song) which reveals what happens next in the story. On the B-side is a dub version of the song mixed by Naoyuki Uchida.
"Traditional music should be treated as a living thing, not a historic artifact," NST frontman Noh Seon-teck told The Korea Times last year. "As Bob Marley said, 'My first song was crying'; pansori and minyo in Korea are also shouting for the freedom and truth of the people, criticizing corrupt men and the ruling class with humor and satire."
They released the songs on March 14 in an online showcase, and donated the proceeds to support victims of COVID-19.
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| Kim Jang-hyup sings for reggae band the Reseters in Salon Nomad on Dec. 29, 2018. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
Months later, the "boss reggae" band the Reseters released its first self-titled digital single, featuring the Korean-language songs "Pup" and "Like Adam & Eve."
Reseters frontman Kim Jang-hyup previously played in ska-punk band Skasucks, 2tone ska band the Rulerz and skinhead reggae band Pegurians, as well as several punk bands. Here, he expands his existing influences with the more relaxed sounds of lovers rock, a subgenre of reggae that arose in London in the 1970s and contrasted with the more politically conscious Rastafarian influence in contemporary Jamaican music.
"I think it is a natural flow for me who was interested in skinhead culture," Kim said. "I enjoyed reggae before oi! punk, and it is good to listen to, and the unique relaxation and especially rhythm are very good."
They will have a release party for the digital single this Friday at Club SHARP in Mangwon-dong, western Seoul. Other bands playing include NST & the Soul Sauce, Sons of Tiger and Tilde.
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| Shin Hantae (left) and Reggae Soul / Courtesy of Eastern Standard Sounds |
And earlier this month, the young roots reggae band Shin Hantae & the Reggae Soul released its debut nine-song album "Ark of Ideals" produced by Smiley Song on local reggae label Eastern Standard Sounds.
Despite their powerful roots reggae sound, the members are all in their early 20s or late teens, and they've earned the title of "The next generation of Korean reggae."
"I saw a video of Bob Marley performing No Woman, No Cry in 1979. After that, I fell in love with reggae music and got friends to play together and played reggae music," the band's frontman Shin, who gave his age as 19, said in an interview earlier this year. "We have been able to fall deeper into reggae music under the influence of NST & the Soul Sauce, and we are studying Jamaican roots reggae and dub music from the 70s and 80s."
Their songs have a strong local vibe, citing Korean locales in "Daeya Myeon Dub," "The 38th Parallel" and "Hometown." And just like NST and the Reseters in their latest releases, their songs are almost entirely sung in Korean.
Reggae may have come from Jamaica, but over the decades it has spread to almost every corner of the world. Korea doesn't have much reggae, but local musicians continue finding ways to make it relevant to local culture and express themselves through it.
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