TORI ensemble

WOMEX is delighted to announce a special, exclusive event for the Opening Concert – The Chaosmos of Korean Music: Heaven, Earth and Human, presented in association with the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism of the republic of Korea and the Korea Arts Management Service.

Three of the finest bands on the contemporary Korean music scene, namely the Tori Ensemble, Be-Being and Baramgot, will take to the stage on Wednesday evening in Danish Broadcasting’s Koncerthuset. This high-profile Jean Nouvel concert venue in Copenhagen, afforded WOMEX delegates and artists supreme sound conditions last year and once again will house all WOMEX night-time performances under one roof.

A special Korean Presentation session at WOMEX 10: 'Korean Music: Into the Light' will accompany the Opening concert, featuring leading musicians from the three groups performing. Please find full details on this session here.

The Story: The Chaosmos of Korean Music: Heaven, Earth and Human

The late October nights in Denmark will bring a magical experience to WOMEX 2010 in Copenhagen: a gathering of some of the most accomplished Korean musicians will take centre stage on the opening night to reveal innovative renditions of traditional music from their homeland, presenting melodies and instruments that have been hidden too long from audiences in Europe.

Images of modern Korea come in fragmentary news clips for most people on the other side of the world: tension along the North-South border; reports of rapid economic development; or a midfielder for Manchester United, who seems to surge out of nowhere to score vital goals. But in the world of music, the native sounds of Korea still remain largely unheard, despite a 5,000-year history strikingly distinct from its Asian neighbours. Just as Ji-Sung Park’s sporting skills won over European football fans, the vitality of Korean music will come as a pleasant surprise to the uninitiated when WOMEX 2010 places it in the spotlight this October.


The Chaosmos of Korean Music

The following provides a brief guide to the concepts powering Korean music.
According to ancient Korean texts, our universe originated from sounds. In other words, in Korea, sounds represent the world of Chaosmos where Cosmos and Chaos were intermingled before the birth of the universe. Chaosmos is an aesthetic that engenders a unique philosophy of sound that invokes dynamic changes and raises awareness.

In this Global Era when civilisation and industrialisation are bringing unprecedented accomplishments and demands, some Koreans are reviving sounds endemic to their ancestors’ music to re-awaken waning spiritual values.

At the WOMEX opening, guests can enjoy the fruit of these musicians’ labour in works based on the three elements of the universe: Heaven, Earth and Human - the Chaosmos of Korean Music. Korea’s spiritual flow stems from Taoism, Buddhism, and Shamanism. Together, they are the basis for the country’s philosophy and arts. Folk songs are one of the musical incarnations of this melding of ideas, but they have never been comprehensively introduced to the world music scene. These young Korean masters will guide listeners through the mystic, dynamic sounds of their traditional music.

•Music of Heaven: Tori Ensemble brings back the geomungo (the large and characterful deep- stringed zither) and traditional gagok songs. For classical scholars, music cultivated the mind, and the geomungo was their favourite means. They practiced music in order to reach a divine mental state – one closer to heaven and the spiritual world. The leader of Tori Ensemble, Heo Yoon- jeong, is a geomungo master. His work has been featured on the BBC on Charlie Gillett’s World of Music.

•Music of Earth: Buddhism has long been one of Korea’s main religions, and Buddhist music is now designated as an important intangible cultural asset. In their piece “Yi and Sa,” Be-Being gives a modern interpretation to Buddhist music and its ritual dances jakbeop and barachum, successfully combining the traditional and the contemporary. Be-Being’s leader JANG Yeong-Gyu has been called a “musical guerilla.” He is an active composer and performer working across various genres including popular music, soundtracks and contemporary dance, having worked with such notables as Pina Bausch.

•Music of Human: Shamanism plays a key role in Korean music, and sinawi is the music that traditionally accompanies the rites of Korean shamanism. Led by Won Il, a composer and piri (Korean double-reed oboe) performer, the traditional ensemble Baramgot exhibits the unique tones and rhythms within the wide spectrum of various traditional instruments, to give Sinawi a modern spirit. Their lively improvisation is providing an indispensable contemporary approach to playing and understanding gukak (Korean traditional music).

Chaosmos Jam Concert: In this jam session, Tori Ensemble, Be-Being, and Baramgot present an unusual mix of original Kor - WOMEX

The late October nights in Denmark will bring a magical experience to WOMEX 2010 in Copenhagen: a gathering of some of the most accomplished Korean musicians will take the center stage on the opening night to reveal innovative renditions of traditional music from their homeland, presenting melodies and instruments that have been hidden too long from audiences in Europe.

Images of modern Korea come in fragmentary news clips for most people on the other side of the world: tension along the North-South border; reports of rapid development; or a midfielder or Manchester United, who seems to surge out of nowhere to score vital goals. But in the world of music, the native sounds of Korea still remain largely unheard, despite a 5,000-year history strikingly distinct from its Asian neighbours. Just as Ji-Sung Park's sporting skills won over European football fans, the vitality of Korean music will come as a pleasant surprise to the uninitiated when WOMEX 2010 places it in the spotlight this October.

According to ancient Korean texts, our universe originated from sounds. In other words, in Korea, sounds represent the world of Chaosmos where Cosmos and Chaos were intermingled before the birth of the universe. Chaosmos is an aesthetic that engenders a unique philosophy of sound that invokes dynamic changes and raises awareness.

In this global era, when civilization and industrialisation are bringing unprecedented accomplishments and demands, some Koreans are reviving sounds endemic to their ancestors' music to re-awaken waning spiritual values.

At this jam session, Tori Ensemble, Be-Being and Baramgot present an unusual mix of original Korean vocals, dynamic percussion and unique traditional instruments. The stage represents the world of Chaosmos where Heaven, Earth and Humans are drawn into harmonious communication by uniting the connections and the philosophical elements that each embodies. - Click KOREA (Access to Korean Arts & Culture)

A mid all the painful attempts to modernize traditional music -- the jazzed-up Mozart, the rocked-out Verdi, the desperate pastiches that try to pass for "new" - there sometimes comes a work that reinvents traditional music with such authenticity, power and originality that all you can do is drink it in with grateful ears.
That's what happened on Tuesday night at the Freer Gallery, when the Tori Ensemble (a sui generis group comprising three Korean virtuosos and three luminaries of New York's cutting-edge music scene) performed a spectacular and utterly beautiful new work called "The Five Directions." A collaborative effort based on Asian conceptions of circulation, balance, harmony and discord, its roots went deep into ancient Korean musical traditions: from the hypnotic rhythms of shamanistic rituals to the strange, compelling story-telling vocal music called panosri.
But this was music fully of the 21st century, in all its global, post-modernist glory. Set in five movements, it unfolded fluently and imaginatively across a kaleidoscopic range of styles, anchored in tradition but speaking an exuberant new language. Meditative solos on the geomungo - the Korean zither - would give way to racing drum duets, bamboo flutes would rise and fall with impossible delicacy; a singer would send her clear, penetrating voice over a field of electronic percussion.
It was an astounding performance, with the effect of a profound journey across centuries of culture that led firmly to the current day, and the audience exploded into cheers at the end. Superb performances by geomungo player Yoon Jeong Heo, singer Kwon Soon Kang, drummer Young Chi Min, together with the New York contingent -- reeds player Ned Rothenberg, cellist Erik Friedlander and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi - made this one of the most satisfying performances of new music this season.
- The Washington Post