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Korean indie bands make mark in UK

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Jambinai performs at the 'Korea Spotlight' stage Saturday at The Great Escape Festival 2019 held last Saturday at Brighton, U.K./ Courtesy of KOCCA
Jambinai performs at the 'Korea Spotlight' stage Saturday at The Great Escape Festival 2019 held last Saturday at Brighton, U.K./ Courtesy of KOCCA

By Jung Hae-myoung

Korean bands fascinated the crowd with their authentic sounds at The Great Escape Festival (TGE) 2019, held last Saturday in Brighton, the United Kingdom.

Four Korean rock bands ― Jambinai, Wetter, YESEO and Drinking Boys and Girls Choir ― joined the festival for a showcase event named "Korea Spotlight" which drew in around 850 people.

Jambinai is a five-member post-rock band that plays on traditional Korean instruments, giving a full dynamic range. Korean instruments include the haegeum (fiddle), piri (bamboo flute) and geomungo (11-string zither). The group also performed at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018 and Coachella in the U.S. last month.

Wetter is a British rock-style band debuted in 2016 that has gathered a big following and is expected to be the next big rock band in Korea. The group joined the festival in the U.K. during its world tour, and showed its professionalism on stage during the performance.

Drinking Boys and Girls Choir heated up the scene with its youthful skatepunk sound, and YESEO, who caught the ears of Adam Ryan, the head director of TGE festival, showed off her electronic sound and dreamy voice finishing the showcase with success.

"We have been organizing K-pop showcases every year since 2016," said Natalie Rotts, the music director of TGE said. "We hope Korean pop music spreads, not only in England but all over Europe."

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) organized the event to introduce talented Korean artists to international audiences, as part of a Korean music showcase prepared by TGE 2019.

KOCCA has been running "Speed Meeting," a one-to-one meeting with domestic musicians and global music distributors in order to promote their artistic talents in other countries.

The organization also prepared a networking party and TGE's official music conference showcases of other artists.

"This festival was a great opportunity for Korean musicians to show different genres of music to international audience, showing off their strength in artistic talent," a KOCCA staffer said. "We will support more Korean artists so that more diverse genres of Korean music can be heard in the global music market."





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