K-Music Overseas Expansion Led by Overseas Korean Cultural Centers
by Lee Jonggil
Published 19 Apr.2024 09:23(KST)
Year-Round Stages for Classical, Gugak, Jazz, and More
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: "We Want to Widely Promote Gugak, the Original Source"
On the 19th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that K-music stages featuring classical, gugak, jazz, and more will be held year-round, centered around overseas Korean Cultural Centers. They plan to introduce K-music locally by organizing collaborative performances with prominent local cultural and artistic institutions. Yong Hoseong, Director of the International Cultural Promotion Policy Office, stated, "We will actively support the expansion of interest that began with K-pop into various music genres," adding, "In particular, we aim to widely promote gugak, the original source."
The Korean Cultural Center in Poland will participate as a cooperating institution in August's "Chopin and His Europe International Music Festival," inviting the KBS Symphony Orchestra for a joint performance. The Korean Cultural Center in Spain will provide a stage for the fusion gugak band Dongyang Gojuppa at the September street arts festival "La Merc?" and the arts market "Mercat de M?sica Viva de Vic." The Korean Cultural Center in Sydney will hold the "K-Indie Music Festival X Vivid Sydney" in June alongside the city festival "Vivid Sydney."
The cultural centers also continue to serve as bridges for young musicians to enter local markets. Jazz pianist Jin Su-young has been collaborating for two years with local modern arts orchestras through the "Resident Artist Program" at the Korean Cultural Center in Hungary. The Korean Cultural Center in New York will host the "Young Korean Artist Series" this month in partnership with the CJ Cultural Foundation, supporting performances by the Kim Do-yeon Band (gayageum) and the Ryu Da-bin Band (jazz piano), among others.
The Korean Cultural Center in Germany will assist the overseas expansion of the Gyeonggi folk singer Lee Hee-moon's project band next month. They will present fresh gugak that fuses folk melodies with disco, punk, reggae, and jazz. The Korean Cultural Center in Sweden will hold the gugak concert "Kulturvecka: Sounds of Korea" in September, showcasing the essence of creative gugak through performances by Kim Deok-su and Ensemble Sinawi.
In addition, the cultural centers are preparing various events to promote Korean music, including a collaboration between gugak orchestra and Japanese musicians this month (Korean Cultural Center in Osaka), the K-Music Festival in October-November (Korean Cultural Center in the UK), support for inviting Korean musicians to the "Free Space Jazz Fest" in October (Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong), and the Arirang Competition in October (Korean Cultural Center in Mexico).
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