Live review: K-Music Festival, London

A playful, knowing reference to one of the standout moments in jazz history highlighted the broad vocabulary of Korean artists appearing at this year’s K-Music festival. On stage at King’s Place Sol Daniel Kim quipped that if 5/4 was good enough for pianist Dave Brubeck then it certainly works for him. He is the cellist in Cellogayageum the duo formed with gayageum player Dayoong Yoon, and as they launch into the odd time of ‘Ut!’ there is no sense of the players trying to grab a piece of western musical action, for this is also a traditional Korean meter which they handle perfectly, gently cradling the lopsided groove with sounds that are both warm and grainy. Part of the pleasure of K-Music is the discovery of instruments rarely seen on European stages and the gayageum is a sight to behold, loosely equivalent to a zither with its flat triangular board and 12 strings making it look almost like a loom from which a emerges cut and thrust of notes rather than warp and weft of fabric. 

Yoon’s virtuosity comes into its own on pieces such as  ‘Dream Like Fantasy’, 

‘Sound Of The Ocean’ and ‘Am Kanal’, which all synthesize the many influences that she and Kim weave into their partnership, and when bamboo flautist Dasom Baek, who opened the evening, joined them for the finale it becomes clears that Korean music is a place of experimentation as well as tradition, In any case there is a new crop of artists able to make fascinating music through their embrace of electronics and cut-up sounds as well as their respect for far reaching cultural historical sources.  

Other concerts in the festival certainly revealed the stylistic richness of contemporary Korean music. Jung Jaelicollaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican saw a large audience assemble to hear the composer-guitarist-pianist give the soundtracks for breakout Korean movies Squid Game and Parasite the kind of sweeping grandeur that made them so impactful on screen. Jaeli’s varied set also featured material that didn’t quite have the same harmonic nouse and inherent drama of the aforementioned yet he has sufficient imagination to make the most of the vast resources at his disposal. The artist is halfway down an exciting developmental road.

At the other end of the spectrum the emotional power generated by just four musicians led by drummer Sun-Mi Hong at Milton Court is arguably one of the most original offerings in the whole festival, again making the point that there is a generation of Korean artists that is entirely comfortable making different sound worlds collide. Vocalist Song Yi Jeonand pianist-keyboardist Gee Hye Lee are both impressive but Hyelim Kim on daegum proves to be the standout performer. Her command of the bamboo flute - her control of wavering overtones, crisp buzzes and gentle whispers, with all the attendant ferocity and intimacy - is really startling.

This is a group in which the whole is greater than the sum of the not inconsiderable parts, and, given the restraint and economy of Hong’s work on the kit, there is a floating, drifting quality in the music which lends a mysterioso atmosphere to the set, whether the material is wildly abstract or based on the tenderness of a Korean lullaby.

The end of K-Music, celebrating its 10^th anniversary, dovetailed with the start of the London jazz festival, which meant that I missed the mighty Jambinai but what I did see made it clear that Korea has talent in abundance. It just needs greater exposure.