MOON Hyun | Amongst the green mountains

For singer MOON Hyun, he began his activities in Korean traditional music as a hobby but soon it had become his life. Trained as a chemical engineer, MOON spent his leisure hours learning the Danso flute, the Piri, a Bamboo Oboe, and other musical instruments in amateur music clubs. MOON's musical interest eventually lead him to study with the great classical vocalist, and holder of Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 41 (Kasa singing), Yi Yang-gyo. From that moment, the young engineer’s life was changed permanently; he quit his job and devoted himself entirely into mastering the art of classical song.
Sijo is mentioned in the words of the scholar Kevin O'Rourke: "... light, personal and often conversational; the language is simple, direct and devoid of elaboration or ornamentation. The Sijo poet gives a firsthand account of his own personal experiences of lie and emotion..."
At the end of the Joseon Dynasty (late 19th century), the composition of Sijo was on the decline but in the mid-1920s, young intellectuals like CHOI Nam-seon and Yi Kwang-su saw the vernacular Sijo as a distinctive Korean artistic form and used it as a vehicle for expressing nationalist sentiments during the period of Japanese colonization. This revival of Sijo has existed more or less uninterrupted for nearly a hundred years.
MOON Hyun is one of Korea's paramount masters of classical art song. His artistry has allowed him to take these time-honored traditions, reshape them and find new modes of expression. Moon's highly acclaimed album, "Sijo, Walking Metro" takes Sijo as the starting point of a journey that transports the listener from smoky jazz ballads, and ambient soundscapes, and ultimately come to the rest at the heart of the Korean art song. MOON is currently a successor to Intangible Cultural Property No. 41 (Kasa).