INTO THE LIGHT MUSIC OF KOREA 5

Park Min-hee is a young gagok singer known to have versatile vocal timbre and a great vocal range. Park’s voice is serene and calm—ull of mystical tones that speak to the deep inner self and a mind in contemplation. She exhibits great vocal control and production that expresses the spectrum of human emotions, which are indeed complicated and personal. Indirect expression is another aspect of the beauty of gagok. Metaphors and poetic words, all about love, are revealed in exceptional text settings through elaborate melismatic vocal lines, as if love were precious and hidden, only able to be expressed through music rather than words. She breaks conventional boundaries in her gagok performances. Park has been working with a number of other performing arts media and genres, such as poetry, language, physical movements, and fine arts, creatively searching for and experimenting with new ways of bringing gagok to contemporary audiences. 

The renowned music critic, Yun Jung-kang, wrote, “Park Min-hee is an intelligent artist who is not afraid of the stage and artistic environment changes ... she profoundly understands the contemporary role of a traditional singer, as a homo loquens ...”
Finally, I feel like I know all about GAGOK and react with it soundly. She and GAGOK changed me. Now I desire Gakok through Park Minhee. _Journal Auditorium, Yoon Jung-gang (music critic)
Most traditional art-form became most radical. Park Minhee introduce s GAGOK directing the visual and auditory images like vision and hallucination. Her faint and graceful voice sounds like calling a ghost. _Yonhapnews, Kang Il-jung guest reporter


Park Min-hee | Baramdo

Contact:
minipark227@gmail.com

Han Chung-eun is one of the most influential woodwind players today and is also a principal member of the KBS traditional music orchestra. Besides his traditional training and performances, Han has frequently appeared on television and radio broadcasts as a leading member in a variety of chamber ensembles as well as a soloist of the daegeum (transverse bamboo flute), sogeum (small flute), and danso (vertical bamboo flute). He has also collaborated with top K-pop artists such as BoA and Park Jung-hyun, among others. Han’s musical collaborations have expanded globally to include performances with the American vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin, British legend guitarist Martin Taylor, Swedish jazz guitarist Ulf Wakenius, and composer and pianist Ryo Kunihiko.

KBS World Radio described him as “competent in many areas as a jack-of-all-trades . . . He is the young Da Vinci of Korea . . . His music has a depth and breadth unusual for a Korean traditional musician.”
Han’s creative output can be found among his own compositions for daegeum and danso, showcasing his highly acclaimed artistry and the instruments’ unique timbres. Han has released two albums, Morning and Forest.


HAN Chung-eun | Starlight Forest

Contact:
iris.you@am.sony.com

Gamin is 46th yisuja, a technique successor, of the Important Intangible Cultural Asset for piri and Daechita, and one of the most celebrated piri and taepyeongso (Korean traditional oboe family) performers in Korea today. Gamin has received numerous awards and prizes from some of the most prestigious music competitions, including the grand prize from Nangye Gugak Competition in 1993, Dong-A Gugak Competition in 1996, and the New Artist Award from the Korean Art Critics Association in 2006. From 2001 to 2010, she was a member and assistant principal player of the Contemporary Gukak Orchestra at the National Gukak Center, the hub for training and preserving Korean traditional music. Having been interested in producing her own music, she has released three albums; “Attraction” was the first album made to popularize piri music to the general public. The “Juxtaposition” explores the harmony between the oriental instrument piri and the western instrument marimba. The third album, “Progression” contains more progressive contemporary music that features various instruments including synthesizer. Today, she produces interdisciplinary projects that are in collaboration with international artists, and expands her musical realm to multi-complex art projects in new formality. Her recent project, “Eight Sounds,” utilizes the structure of a museum as a means to express her artistic vocabulary.

In 2011, she was a recipient of residency program grant from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and has toured for lecture concerts at Harvard University, Dartmouth University, and University of Pennsylvania in the U.S.. She also gave a solo recital and recorded improvisational works with local musicians at Bennett Media Studio in New York. Currently, she is a candidate of Ph. D. in Traditional music at Seoul National University and writes her own column for the magazine, “Arts and Culture.”gamin is a master No. 46 of the Important Intangible Cultural Asset for piri and Daechita, and one of the most celebrated piri and taepyeongso (Korean traditional oboe family) performers in Korea today . Interested in producing her own music, she has released three albums. She produces interdisciplinary projects that are in collaboration with international artists, and expands her musical realm to multi-complex art projects in new formality. Currently, she is a candidate of Ph. D. in traditional music at Seoul National University.


Gamin (Hyosun kang) | Jeongseon Arirang

Juris Kuns is an instrumental ensemble consisting of five young ambitious musicians who use instruments from both the East and West—coustic and bass guitars, gayageum (12-string zither), janggu (doubleheaded hourglass-shaped drum), and percussion—entered on the multitalented artist, Kim Juri, who plays the two-string spike fiddle, haegeum. Apart from “assumed” and trendy stylistic fusion, Juris Kuns creates a highly original and astonishing sound that crosses the border between tradition and modernity, all accentuated and reinforced with the lyrical expression of the haegeum. Remaining intact from its first introduction to Korea from China in the 12th century, the haegeum continues to retain its sonority of antiquity, rustic simplicity, and naivete, yet it is surprisingly modern at other times, the bow trapped in between the two strings creating a piercing and edgy resonance. Perhaps that is why the haegeum is known for constantly seeking freedom! Juris Kuns recently released their first album, Juri's First Passage, which has drawn the attention of music critics and listeners alike for the innovative new music for haegeum. 

Music critic Seo Jung Min-gap comments, “Kim Ju-ri does not limit herself to common ideas of the beauty of haegeum but has a strong conviction to seek freedom . . . she goes beyond the expected lyricism from the instrument, achieved by being truthful to herself . . .”

Juris Kuns | Yeomyangchun, Revisited

Kwak Soo-eun is an inspirational musician on the gayageum as well as a composer. As reflected in her intellectual approach to performing and composing music for the gayageum, the instrument representing the heritage and history of Korea, Kwak has been a constant musical presence for both traditional and contemporary music-making, unequaled by others of her generation. Kwak is also one of the musicians who popularized the modern version of the 25-string gayageum instead of the original 12-string one. She expanded the body and repertoire for that new instrument, often getting criticized for mimicking the sound of the Western harp. However, Kwak’s music has neither a “Western” nor “harp” sound. Rather, she has seen an opportunity for a broader unfathomable expression and language that entices the artistic conversation between the musician and listeners.

According to the renowned music critic Yoon Jungkang, “Kwak hopes to transcend the boundaries of raw ability and trained talent to participate in a purely artistic tradition. She does not pursue her creativity in an insulated way but aspires to a new level . . . If she composes and plays faithfully following or believing in her great artistry and authenticity, as she thus far has done . . . we can expect her to inherit the mantle of Master Hwang Byungki, the founder of new music for the gayageum.”


KWAK Soo-eun and Gayageum Ensemble La on G
| Sanjo for 25-string Gayageum