the singer Kim Yong-woo performs in Seoul

김용우: 모개비 / Kim Yong-woo: Mogaebi The singer Kim Yong-woo will perform on 21-23 this month in Chongdong Theater in downtown Seoul behind Deoksugung palace (Hankyoreh article; see concert info from the theather site); good news for those in Korea, but a bit sad for those like me who have a chance to appreciate his voice only from recordings. (Well, we are happy to have even those!) Kim Yong-woo can be said to be a singer of traditional Korean music, but like many of his peers he uses modernized arrangements, and often uses instrumentation from jazz. The article tells that Kim is dreaming of elevating Korean fold songs to world music that can be enjoyed by worldwide audiences. Korean traditional music and song deserves to get a wider audience, and there are many fine examples of contemporarized Korean folk or traditional music (Won Il's Sinbaennori performed by Seulgidung [large mp3 file] is one masterpiece), but I'm not really enthusiastic about Korean melodies ending up being sung on Western pop in the name of "world music" (which doesn't mean Kim Yong-woo would aim towards this). Just thinking what Western world music producers would do to the peculiar Korean rhythms for example. Update. For the anonymous commenter, I'm not able to give you any direct references to Kim Yong-woo's clips except for what there is in the huge Korean Traditional Music collection of mp3 files. (I got three of his albums, so I haven't needed to find any files.) • Jeongseon arirang (mp3) performed by Kim • Kim appears in the ranks of Seulgidung at least in the album From Evening to Dawn, of which you'll find all tunes in the Korean Traditional Music file link above. • Kim Yong-woo's homepage Soriggun The music you mention that you heard may well have been something in with Kim Duk-soo (Kim Tôk-su, 김덕수) was involved. He is the samul-nori master, and has done a lot of work with jazz musicians, for example Jamaaladeen Tacuma. Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: music