Geomungo-Factory

by ALEXANDER VARTY on JUL 16, 2014 at 12:00 PM

FOR A TRUE sense of the diversity of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival’s programming, take a listen to Geomungo Factory’s latest release, Imago. This is not your everyday folk music—but it isn’t the fact that every note was played on Korean stringed instruments that sets it apart.

Instead, it’s the Seoul-based quartet’s ability to touch on funk, flamenco, and hard rock without ever sacrificing its national identity. If you’ve never heard anything else like it, it’s because there isn’t anything else like it.

That, however, might change. Part of Geomungo Factory’s mandate is to encourage other young Koreans to explore their indigenous stringed instruments, and it’s working.

“After Geomungo Factory,” tour manager Lee Sujin explains, “a lot of students and younger musicians want to try this.”

Band members Lee Jung-Seok, Yoo Mi-Young, Jung Ein-Ryoung, and Kim Sun-A are clustered around a speakerphone in a Winnipeg hotel room, with Lee Sujin translating the Georgia Straight’s questions and taking answers from all four. It’s not the easiest way to conduct an interview, but it’s a task I’ve willingly taken on, because Imago really is quite excellent.

A superbly recorded undertaking, it features the harplike geomungo, its close relative the gayageum, and the chul-hyun-geum, a kind of Korean lap-steel guitar strung in a way that would baffle even David Lindley. Some of these instruments have been electrified, however, while Jung has modified the bridge of her geomungo so that it can be played with a cello bow.

Geomungo Factory is part of a larger movement in Korea towards a fusion of Asian and European elements, While Korean traditional music has generally been performed by small ensembles, there are now many chamber orchestras that apply western harmonization to Korean instruments and compositions. The geomungo hasn’t found favour with these, however, because it’s almost too expressive. Played using a combination of aggressive pick attack and wide pitch bends, it’s hard to control in a chamber format—but the same qualities make the instrument ideal for Geomungo Factory’s more assertive approach.

“Each member has very different tastes in music,” says Lee. “Some of our members like rock, and some of our members like flamenco. So for that reason they are making a new way of playing in the pentatonic style.

“The traditional geomungo has quite limited sound, so this is one of the reasons why they’ve had to make a new-style geomungo,” she adds. “They use a bow, and they use a pick like a guitar, and they hit the geomungo in a particular style, like a percussion instrument. These are some of the ways they make their new sounds—and their new music.”

Geomungo Factory plays a Stage 3 @ Sundown showcase at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival on Friday (July 18). - Georgia Straight (Vancouver)

16-05-13: For all those who saw WOMEX 12 showcase sensation Geomungo Factory last autumn in Thessaloniki and even more for those of you that missed it, here is a second chance to catch these four highly-accomplished young Korean musicians playing live. Your offers for international record releases and touring will be highly appreciated.

Geomungo Factory will be performing their first-ever British concert on Wednesday, 19 June at Cadoganhall, as part of London's Festival of Korean Music.

Geomungo Factory's motto is to develop traditional elements while continuously innovating. In this concert they will first explore the throbbing, percussive, cello-like sounds of the ancient geomungo, before letting loose with their own compositions on this instrument - and new instruments that they have created.

For more info go to www.kccuk.org.uk or contact them directly at geomungofactory[at]gmail.com

(Photo by Jacob Crawfurd)

article submitted by: Anna Pötzsch, piranha womex AG (WOMEX)
- WOMEX COMMUNITY

16-05-13: For all those who saw WOMEX 12 showcase sensation Geomungo Factory last autumn in Thessaloniki and even more for those of you that missed it, here is a second chance to catch these four highly-accomplished young Korean musicians playing live. Your offers for international record releases and touring will be highly appreciated.

Geomungo Factory will be performing their first-ever British concert on Wednesday, 19 June at Cadoganhall, as part of London's Festival of Korean Music.

Geomungo Factory's motto is to develop traditional elements while continuously innovating. In this concert they will first explore the throbbing, percussive, cello-like sounds of the ancient geomungo, before letting loose with their own compositions on this instrument - and new instruments that they have created.

For more info go to www.kccuk.org.uk or contact them directly at geomungofactory[at]gmail.com

(Photo by Jacob Crawfurd)

article submitted by: Anna Pötzsch, piranha womex AG (WOMEX)
- WOMEX COMMUNITY

Think Korean music in 2013 is all about tubby rappers and manufactured girl bands? Think again. Coming up in June is K-Music - a festival of Korean traditional, fusion and rock music which may appeal to the more discerning and adventurous tastes of London Jazz followers.

The headline gig, if one dares call a Barbican appearance by such eminent performers a gig, is the National Orchestra of Korea on 14 June, with their conductor Won Il. (In this preview, names are presented Korean-style, family name first). Won is noted as a composer as well as performer, and his small chamber band Baramgot has performed to standing ovations at the South Bank for the past couple of years. He took on the challenge of the National Orchestra - which was founded in 1995 - last year. The instruments are massed zithers and haegum fiddles which perform much the same task as the string section in a western orchestra, along with Korean equivalents of the flute, oboe and shawm which produce a pungent sound. A few cellos and basses fill out the texture at the bottom, and an extensive percussion section completes the instrumental line-up. Expect a soundworld you haven't encountered before.

Continuing in the fusion vein, the performance by Geomungo Factory at the Cadogan Hall on 19 June will be worth a look. The geomungo is a six-stringed zither usually plucked with a plectrum, but sometimes played with a bow for a more sustained sound. This particular ensemble has had rave reviews from Songlines magazine.

If you're looking for something more traditional, check out the pansori concert at the Cadogan Hall on 21 June. Think Homer’s Odyssey or similar ancient narrative performed by a master story-teller / singer / actor / comedian - the pansori performer combines a bit of each discipline, and more - accompanied only by a drum. Sounds dull? Not a bit of it. There’s always humour in the performance, sometimes bawdiness, always tales of epic feats or magical journeys to the mysterious kingdom at the bottom of the sea. (And there should be surtitles so you get the gist of what's going on). There’s constant interaction between drummer and singer as the former shouts and grunts noises of encouragement, and with an experienced audience there will also be constant shouts of encouragement from the punters as well. In a pansori performance at the Cadogan Hall earlier this year I turned round to look at the faces of the audience members to see how they were reacting. Where in a classical concert you would see expressions of vacant interest and maybe a few heads bowed in slumber, with this audience I saw smiles and expressions of sheer delight, engagement and enjoyment. (Note: in the trailer video you see the pansori singer playing the gayageum zither at the same time – a fairly common performance practice but one which to a certain extent gets in the way of the audience interaction which is a major part of the occasion.)

For a different perspective on Korean popular music, try out the gig at Scala on 15 June – Jang Kiha and Faces is an indie band that has been around for about five years, specialising in a slightly retro sound with maybe a touch of ska which brings a smile to the face. They are joined on stage by melodious singer-songwriter Yi Sung Yol, who has been a personal favourite of mine for a while. More experimental underground music is available on Sunday 16 June from Uhuhboo Project, who provided the soundtrack for a recent short film by Park Chan-wook.

If you can’t wait till the Barbican concert which launches the K-music festival, there’s a small fusion band performing in the intimate space of the Royal Asiatic Society on 6 June. Kim Hyelim, a composer and performer on the daegeum (a Korean bamboo flute) is performing a gig with the Yin Yang Collective in a programme ranging from traditional Korean, Japanese and Chinese folk through to more contemporary music some of it fused with Argentinian Tango and Irish reels. With the daegeum joined on stage by Japanese Shamisen, the moon lute, keyboard and percussion, this promises to be an interesting evening. And as if this weren't enough Korean music for one month, down at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington on 15 June you can catch a piece for gayageum and orchestra alongside some more familiar Tchaikovsky.

If I had to choose just one concert from all of the above, it would be the big Barbican gig – it costs a lot of money to send a 60-piece orchestra over from Seoul. The event is partly in celebration of 130 years of diplomatic relations between Korea and the UK, so you'll have to wait for another significant anniversary before you see them here again.

- LONDON JAZZ NEWS

Think Korean music in 2013 is all about tubby rappers and manufactured girl bands? Think again. Coming up in June is K-Music - a festival of Korean traditional, fusion and rock music which may appeal to the more discerning and adventurous tastes of London Jazz followers.

The headline gig, if one dares call a Barbican appearance by such eminent performers a gig, is the National Orchestra of Korea on 14 June, with their conductor Won Il. (In this preview, names are presented Korean-style, family name first). Won is noted as a composer as well as performer, and his small chamber band Baramgot has performed to standing ovations at the South Bank for the past couple of years. He took on the challenge of the National Orchestra - which was founded in 1995 - last year. The instruments are massed zithers and haegum fiddles which perform much the same task as the string section in a western orchestra, along with Korean equivalents of the flute, oboe and shawm which produce a pungent sound. A few cellos and basses fill out the texture at the bottom, and an extensive percussion section completes the instrumental line-up. Expect a soundworld you haven't encountered before.

Continuing in the fusion vein, the performance by Geomungo Factory at the Cadogan Hall on 19 June will be worth a look. The geomungo is a six-stringed zither usually plucked with a plectrum, but sometimes played with a bow for a more sustained sound. This particular ensemble has had rave reviews from Songlines magazine.

If you're looking for something more traditional, check out the pansori concert at the Cadogan Hall on 21 June. Think Homer’s Odyssey or similar ancient narrative performed by a master story-teller / singer / actor / comedian - the pansori performer combines a bit of each discipline, and more - accompanied only by a drum. Sounds dull? Not a bit of it. There’s always humour in the performance, sometimes bawdiness, always tales of epic feats or magical journeys to the mysterious kingdom at the bottom of the sea. (And there should be surtitles so you get the gist of what's going on). There’s constant interaction between drummer and singer as the former shouts and grunts noises of encouragement, and with an experienced audience there will also be constant shouts of encouragement from the punters as well. In a pansori performance at the Cadogan Hall earlier this year I turned round to look at the faces of the audience members to see how they were reacting. Where in a classical concert you would see expressions of vacant interest and maybe a few heads bowed in slumber, with this audience I saw smiles and expressions of sheer delight, engagement and enjoyment. (Note: in the trailer video you see the pansori singer playing the gayageum zither at the same time – a fairly common performance practice but one which to a certain extent gets in the way of the audience interaction which is a major part of the occasion.)

For a different perspective on Korean popular music, try out the gig at Scala on 15 June – Jang Kiha and Faces is an indie band that has been around for about five years, specialising in a slightly retro sound with maybe a touch of ska which brings a smile to the face. They are joined on stage by melodious singer-songwriter Yi Sung Yol, who has been a personal favourite of mine for a while. More experimental underground music is available on Sunday 16 June from Uhuhboo Project, who provided the soundtrack for a recent short film by Park Chan-wook.

If you can’t wait till the Barbican concert which launches the K-music festival, there’s a small fusion band performing in the intimate space of the Royal Asiatic Society on 6 June. Kim Hyelim, a composer and performer on the daegeum (a Korean bamboo flute) is performing a gig with the Yin Yang Collective in a programme ranging from traditional Korean, Japanese and Chinese folk through to more contemporary music some of it fused with Argentinian Tango and Irish reels. With the daegeum joined on stage by Japanese Shamisen, the moon lute, keyboard and percussion, this promises to be an interesting evening. And as if this weren't enough Korean music for one month, down at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington on 15 June you can catch a piece for gayageum and orchestra alongside some more familiar Tchaikovsky.

If I had to choose just one concert from all of the above, it would be the big Barbican gig – it costs a lot of money to send a 60-piece orchestra over from Seoul. The event is partly in celebration of 130 years of diplomatic relations between Korea and the UK, so you'll have to wait for another significant anniversary before you see them here again.

- LONDON JAZZ NEWS

GEOMUNGO FACTORY RADIO LIVE INTERVIEW - BBC3 IN TUNE

GEOMUNGO FACTORY RADIO LIVE INTERVIEW - BBC3 IN TUNE

LONDON EVENING STANDARD
By Simon Broughton (June 20, 2013)
Five-star rating

The geomungo, a 1,000-year-old Korean zither, sounds like something from another world, says Simon Broughton

Tens of thousands of people in London have Samsung phones but apart from Gangnam Style, how many people have heard any Korean music? Not only one of the best bands from South Korea but one of the most interesting bands in Asia was playing in London last night, thanks to K-Music 2013.
Geomungo Factory — on their first trip to the UK — fuse ancient and modern like nothing we have here. The geomungo is a 1,000-year-old Korean zither, plucked with a stick. It is both melodic and percussive, with lots of tapping on the body of the instrument.
Sonically, it’s something from another world, like plucking a big elastic band — with lots of vibrato. That might sound unpromising — and the traditional music played in the first half is an acquired taste — but the new music that Geomungo Factory create is sensational. It is deeply Korean but it rocks, with the Californian overtones of Steve Reich or Captain Beefheart. Three of the musicians — Yoo, Jung and Lee — play geomungo and the fourth, Kim, plays gayageum, a more delicate plucked zither that adds something softer and more delicate to the texture.
But Geomungo Factory also bring in bowed geomungo, electric geomungo, glockenspiel and a musical saw to create a whole tapestry of sounds.
It might be world music, avant garde or heavy metal — but whatever you call it, it is original, powerful and thrilling. And certainly like nothing you have ever heard before
- LONDON EVENING STANDARD

LONDON EVENING STANDARD
By Simon Broughton (June 20, 2013)
Five-star rating

The geomungo, a 1,000-year-old Korean zither, sounds like something from another world, says Simon Broughton

Tens of thousands of people in London have Samsung phones but apart from Gangnam Style, how many people have heard any Korean music? Not only one of the best bands from South Korea but one of the most interesting bands in Asia was playing in London last night, thanks to K-Music 2013.
Geomungo Factory — on their first trip to the UK — fuse ancient and modern like nothing we have here. The geomungo is a 1,000-year-old Korean zither, plucked with a stick. It is both melodic and percussive, with lots of tapping on the body of the instrument.
Sonically, it’s something from another world, like plucking a big elastic band — with lots of vibrato. That might sound unpromising — and the traditional music played in the first half is an acquired taste — but the new music that Geomungo Factory create is sensational. It is deeply Korean but it rocks, with the Californian overtones of Steve Reich or Captain Beefheart. Three of the musicians — Yoo, Jung and Lee — play geomungo and the fourth, Kim, plays gayageum, a more delicate plucked zither that adds something softer and more delicate to the texture.
But Geomungo Factory also bring in bowed geomungo, electric geomungo, glockenspiel and a musical saw to create a whole tapestry of sounds.
It might be world music, avant garde or heavy metal — but whatever you call it, it is original, powerful and thrilling. And certainly like nothing you have ever heard before
- LONDON EVENING STANDARD

Words by Luke Shekerali

Thanks to YouTube, most people have heard Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’, but it’s unlikely that they are aware of the rich selection of music Korea has to offer other than this one-hit wonder. Well, luckily for Londoners, there is a chance to experience it first-hand at K-Music Festival 2013 this June. Whether you’re a fan of Korean music or not yet sure, this looks set to be a special event, with venues all over London getting involved.

The week-long festival opens with a UK debut from the highly innovative National Orchestra of Korea at the Barbican, who will dazzle the audience with sounds drawn from ancient instruments and Korean shamanic traditions.

Meanwhile, Geomungo Factory (pictured above) will also make their UK debut at the Cadogan Hall, improvising sounds inspired by jazz, folk and ambient on the thousand-year-old geomungo (zither).

Also making a rare appearance at Cadogan Hall is Ahn Sook-Sun, Korea’s most celebrated pansori star (read more about her in our next issue, #93, on sale June 7). Often described as Korean opera, pansori is in fact more rooted in folk. The audience can expect to be immersed in Sook-Sun’s vivid performance in Heungbo-ga, a comic story surrounding two brothers.

Expect all this and more at this year’s UK celebration of Korean culture.

- SONGLINES

Words by Luke Shekerali

Thanks to YouTube, most people have heard Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’, but it’s unlikely that they are aware of the rich selection of music Korea has to offer other than this one-hit wonder. Well, luckily for Londoners, there is a chance to experience it first-hand at K-Music Festival 2013 this June. Whether you’re a fan of Korean music or not yet sure, this looks set to be a special event, with venues all over London getting involved.

The week-long festival opens with a UK debut from the highly innovative National Orchestra of Korea at the Barbican, who will dazzle the audience with sounds drawn from ancient instruments and Korean shamanic traditions.

Meanwhile, Geomungo Factory (pictured above) will also make their UK debut at the Cadogan Hall, improvising sounds inspired by jazz, folk and ambient on the thousand-year-old geomungo (zither).

Also making a rare appearance at Cadogan Hall is Ahn Sook-Sun, Korea’s most celebrated pansori star (read more about her in our next issue, #93, on sale June 7). Often described as Korean opera, pansori is in fact more rooted in folk. The audience can expect to be immersed in Sook-Sun’s vivid performance in Heungbo-ga, a comic story surrounding two brothers.

Expect all this and more at this year’s UK celebration of Korean culture.

- SONGLINES

FINANCIAL TIMES
By David Honigmann (June 14, 2013 6:43 pm)

Seoul sensations
For the second summer in a row, the streets of London are filled with the sounds of Seoul. Last year, South Korea’s musical ambassador was the K-Pop and YouTube sensation Psy. His surprise hit “Gangnam Style” might almost have been an experiment to determine whether being sung in Korean would be a bar to global success for a song with a catchy chorus, cosmopolitan dance beats and a viral-hungry video.
This year, London is hosting the K-Music festival to give a wider picture of the music of the Korean peninsula: last night the National Orchestra of Korea played its first concert in the UK; later this week Ahn Sook-Sun, one of Korea’s officially designated National Living Treasures, brings pansori, a form of folk opera; and Seoul rock bands play two concerts at the Scala.
One of the most intriguing groups playing in the festival are Geomungo Factory, one man and three women who met as students in Seoul. The geomungo – pronounced with an initial hard G – is a six-stringed zither played while seated. Its strings are struck with bamboo sticks and its sounds never quite resolve into a single note. Like the west African kora, the geomungo is a centuries-old court instrument, and Geomungo Factory are reinventing the traditional repertoire.
They have constructed variant after variant – the cello geomungo, played with a bow; a portable version; an electric version; a xylophone geomungo. The interlocking patterns made by the instruments have prompted comparisons with Steve Reich, but, instead of Reich’s smooth shimmering pulse, Geomungo Factory have a more grainy texture and their rhythms are often angular and unsettling.

The band spoke to me from Seoul through their manager Sujin Lee. “The geomungo has a long history,” says Jung-seok Lee, “but not many people study it in Korea today. It is hard to learn and to play at a good technical standard.” But for him, the secret of the instrument’s attraction is plain. “Even though it’s hard, the style is epic!”
Their other instrument is the gayageum. “The right hand plucks, the left hand bends,” explains Sun-a Kim, who plays it. “It is a different style, like vibrato.”
It is flatter and less resonant than the geomungo, and plays the higher melodies. The band use the new instruments to push forward the geomungo repertoire. “For a long time we studied traditional music; now we compose and make our own,” says Jung-seok Lee. “We improvise together, discuss, play and chat. Writing it down is the very last thing.”
For all their love of traditional Korean forms, each member has differing tastes in western music, and their ambition is to synthesise the traditional and the exotic. The western model is most clearly heard on “Byeolgeumja”, which interpolates the melody from The Nutcracker’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” with the group’s leader Mi Young Yoo playing bell-like notes on a xylophone geomungo.
Sun-a Kim admires George Benson and Paco di Lucia – hence, perhaps, the flamenco coda at the end of “Jeong-jung-dong”. And Jung-seok Lee drops the names of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Marcus Miller and Stanley Clarke.
This does not align them with their country’s most visible musical exports. “They’re not part of K-Pop,” says Sujin Lee, before adding, unconvincingly, “but they really enjoy it. Geomungo Factory make music and art. K-Pop is entertainment, it’s a very industrial product.”
Not so this group, despite their name. This is a factory in the Warholian sense of a workshop or atelier, not an assembly line. The idea they might sell some of the new geomungo variants produces shock. “Only for Geomungo Factory!” They are the only people in the world to play the cello geomungo or the electric or the xylophone geomungo. “Maybe some day,” offers Sujin Lee. - FINANCIAL TIMES

It was a great setting for a performance – a wooden pavilion in the extensive grounds of Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul. In the 19th century, the king particularly loved walking in these gardens, but he’d never have heard anything like Geomungo Factory. In fact none of the small professional group that were in Seoul for the musical showcases organised by the Korea Arts Management Service had heard anything like this extraordinary geomungo quartet.

The geomungo is one of Korea’s distinctive zithers, played by plucking or hitting the strings with a short stick. They started with some traditional pieces, but the performance took off with the new music that they’ve written for four geomungo playing together – it’s Korean tradition meets Steve Reich. The instrument has a powerful muscular sound with the thump and clack of the stick adding a percussive ingredient and the fingers of the left hand pressing the strings down to make typical Korean vibratos. Geomungo Factory then add exciting rhythms and toss repeated phrases back and forth between different instrumentalists in the group. It is innovative, contemporary and distinctively Korean. I’m pretty sure they will be winging their way to Europe in the next 12 months. Don’t miss them. - Songlines / Simon Broughton

It was a great setting for a performance – a wooden pavilion in the extensive grounds of Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul. In the 19th century, the king particularly loved walking in these gardens, but he’d never have heard anything like Geomungo Factory. In fact none of the small professional group that were in Seoul for the musical showcases organised by the Korea Arts Management Service had heard anything like this extraordinary geomungo quartet.

The geomungo is one of Korea’s distinctive zithers, played by plucking or hitting the strings with a short stick. They started with some traditional pieces, but the performance took off with the new music that they’ve written for four geomungo playing together – it’s Korean tradition meets Steve Reich. The instrument has a powerful muscular sound with the thump and clack of the stick adding a percussive ingredient and the fingers of the left hand pressing the strings down to make typical Korean vibratos. Geomungo Factory then add exciting rhythms and toss repeated phrases back and forth between different instrumentalists in the group. It is innovative, contemporary and distinctively Korean. I’m pretty sure they will be winging their way to Europe in the next 12 months. Don’t miss them. - Songlines / Simon Broughton