| Park Je-chun, right, jazz artist and executive director of Jeonju International Sori Festival, has released a new crossover album in collaboration with "pansori" (traditional narrative music) master drummer Kim Cheong-man. / Courtesy of Jeonju International Sori Festival |
By Chung Ah-young
Jazz artist Park Je-chun, 54, who serves as executive director of the Jeonju International Sori Festival, has recently released a new crossover album in collaboration with "pansori" (traditional narrative music) master drummer Kim Cheong-man, 69.
The album titled "Records and Recordings" features Park's musical experiment in the form of jazz improvisation with a pansori drum performance by Kim.
The collaborative work is already causing a sensation in the traditional music scene as the two musicians have merged brilliantly despite their different genres.
"Our ages and genres are different but we share the same goals for musical achievement," Park said in a statement released by the festival organizers.
On the album, Park combines Western and Korean traditional beats and rhythms through his signature improvisation. In addition, musical interaction between the two is a key feature of the album.
The results have received high praise from critics. "The two musicians don't reduce musical differences. Instead, they play their drums in their own styles, creating unique sounds," Kim Hyun-jun, a jazz critic, said.
Park and Kim performed together at the opening ceremony of last year's festival, coming into the spotlight of the event with its fusion of genres.
Born in 1961, Park is well-known for performing across musical genres such as jazz, contemporary classical and traditional Korean music and has been actively performing since the mid 90's.
Park is renowned for inventing his own percussion technique called "Korean Grip," which can create Korean traditional rhythms using Western drums. He performs sitting on the floor which comes from Korean sedentary culture of drum playing.
He has performed overseas more than 200 times and collaborated with prominent foreign musicians such as Lauren Newton and Otomo Yoshihide.
Park studied classical and contemporary music composition at Chung-Ang University and Korean traditional pansori, shaman music and samulnori (traditional percussion music consisting of four instruments). He has incorporated diverse music elements into European contemporary and jazz music.