“Jazz that enables spontaneous music-making has much in common with our music,” Nah said during a news conference. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Apr. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Jazz singer Nah Youn-sun pledged Thursday to show collaborations between traditional Korean music performers and foreign instrumentalists and vocalists for an upcoming music festival here.
In a departure from earlier editions focused on established and rising artists in the traditional Korean music genre, collaborations between foreign and Korean artists will shape the sixth edition of the “Yeowoorak Festival” set to run from July 1-26 at three theaters in Seoul, said Nah, the festival’s new music director.
The annual traditional Korean music festival hosted by the National Theater of Korea will feature 14 concerts by a dozen artists.
The lineup of performers includes South Korean geomungo (Korean musical instrument with six strings) player Heo Yoon-jeong; South Korean vocalist Jeong Eun-hye; South Korean drummer Namgung Yeon; Iiro Rantala, a Finnish jazz pianist and Jocelyn Mienniel, a Vietnamese-French guitarist.
Nah will also perform several songs and recite poems by renowned Korean poet Ko Un together with him in the festival’s “director’s stage” category. The iconic Korean folk song “Arirang” likely will be part of her repertoire.
“Jazz that enables spontaneous music-making has much in common with our music,” Nah said during a news conference.
Nah spoke about a personal experience in which she introduced a local traditional Korean wind instrument player to her French flutist friend living in France last year.
“I heard the two had a jam session for five hours as soon as they met, which made me think that there is something going well between the two genres,” she said.
The 46-year-old vocalist is one of the best-known South Korean musicians in France. She has earned top awards at events around the country, including the France St-Maur Jazz festival in 1999 and the Antibes “Jazz a Juan” festival in 2005.
In 2009, she received the prestigious Chevalier des Arts et Lettres medal from France, becoming the first Korean artist to receive a national medal from a foreign government.
The medal, established in 1957, is awarded to those who have made a noteworthy contribution to the arts.
She currently lives in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, where she is taking a break from her 20-year-long musical career in which she performed more than 100 times a year around the world.
“Foreigners used to ask if my voice originated from traditional Korean music or if I received special training. So I came to think deeply about what made my voice different from others’.”
“I personally want to study traditional Korean music, especially a vocal genre called ‘jeongga,’ during the gap year,” she said. “I also want to learn pansori, a traditional Korean narrative song, if I have a chance.”
(Yonhap)
