The four members of Roots Vibe Band, clockwise from left: John McKenzie, Ras Jahlin, Lucas Edwards and Tai Kim / Courtesy of Roots Vibe Band

Fifteen years ago, the Seoul-based reggae band I&I Djangdan pushed the limits for experimenting with traditional Korean music, or gugak. The band has long since disappeared, leaving behind a rare full-length album and earlier EP, but some of its brilliance has been captured on the other side of the planet.

Roots Vibe Band, a Toronto-based roots reggae band, released a seven-song album late last year titled "Tiger Step," named after a song by I&I Djangdan.

Fronting Roots Vibe Band is Tai Kim, a Korean Canadian multidisciplinary who also identifies herself as a practicing Buddhist as well as a Rastafarian.

"The fact is Rastafarian and Buddhist practice are very similar to each other," she said, "not eating meat and meditation and chanting. And for the unconditional love. I am following this way of life, life with Spirituality."

Tai was born and raised in Seoul. She moved to Canada in the late 1990s after her mother passed away.

"My mother was a musician. She played 'gayageum' (Korean traditional zither), and she also was a traditional singer," Tai said. "I am singing, playing music for her and myself."

At a young age, with pressure from her family to pick a lane, she chose the path of fine art painting.

"Tai Kim is a Canadian-Korean artist who is constantly inquiring into the spiritual, Lillian Allen, the seventh poet laureate of Toronto, said in an introduction of Tai. "Working across a variety of mediums, such as music, painting, sculpture, collage, installation and performance, she scores the subtle magnificence of nature and brings a soulfulness of 'one love' to her art. She sails smoothly into ideals of bravery and equality, peace and justice, with a deep respect for all sentient beings. In her work, peace and love shine through."

In more recent years, Tai became a self-taught singer. Hearing Bob Marley's music inspired her to sing reggae.

"I don't want to listen to sad music," she said. "And there's reggae music's positive vibes. Therefore, I play reggae music."

Tai Kim shows off the album art she created for her band Roots Vibe Band's seven-song album, "Tiger Step." Courtesy of Roots Vibe Band

Toronto, where she settled, is known to have a large Jamaican diaspora community. Tai mentioned she has visited Jamaica a few times, and calls the island "my inspiration place."

Things fell into place when she met Ras Jahlin, and they formed Roots Vibe Band in 2010. Ras Jahlin is also the drummer of House of David Gang, a hardworking reggae band also based in Toronto.

For anyone who remembers the recordings by I&I Djangdan, which were technological feats of Korean-Jamaican fusion on a cosmic level, Ras Jahlin's arrangements are more down-to-earth and closer to the roots. Music you might sit on the floor listening to, rather than staying up all night at a dance party.

"Korean folk music riddim is good to work with," he said. "Reggae music is the heartbeat of the people. And we adopted Korean folk music because of Tai. Tai has an ambition to reggaefy old Korean pop music. from the 50s, 60s, 70s etc."

The band's lineup also includes Ras Jahlin's brother Lucas Edwards on guitar and John McKenzie on bass.

Early on when Roots Vibe was new, Tai was curious to find out who was playing reggae in her motherland, and that inquiry led her to Kim Ban-jang, probably the most important figure in Korean reggae, who was active at the time as a drummer and one of the vocalists of I&I Djangdan. He has also played a similar role with Korean reggae band Windy City and countless other projects.

They began a long-term, long-distance collaborative relationship. In 2013, Tai helped invite Windy City to Toronto to perform at Canadian Music Week.

In July 2022, she mounted a group exhibition titled "Peace Exhibition: One Love, One Compassion" at Toronto's Gallery 1313. It featured fellow South Korean artists Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung, the two sculptors best known for the Statue of Peace commemorating Korean victims of wartime sex slavery. Roots Vibe Band performed at the opening reception and closing performance of the exhibition.

Artist Tai Kim, standing, poses with sculptor Kim Seo-kyung and the Statue of Peace at Gallery 1313 in Toronto, Canada, in July 2022. Courtesy of Yafang Shi

Work on the "Tiger Step" album began in 2021, with mixing, mastering and dub tracks done by Sam Weller at Slamm Studio in Toronto. Tai used her fine art skills to create the cover art.

The two lead songs, both the title song and "Culture Tree," are straight out of I&I Djangdan's repertoire. The composition of the third song, "Lover's Call," is also credited to Kim Ban-jang. The album also includes "Three Wise Men" by King Selah, vocalist of House of David Gang, as well as dub remixes of the three songs credited to Kim Ban-jang.

Although the tracks were released on the band's YouTube channel last August, there are plans to give it an official Korean release through the local reggae label Eastern Standard Sounds.

Tai Kim, left, poses with Oh Jeong-seok, head of Seoul-based music label Eastern Standard Sounds, and Ras Jahlin at the Peace Exhibition held at Gallery 1313 in Toronto, Canada, in July 2022. Courtesy of Roots Vibe Band

Visit ampl.ink/XxkmA to listen to Roots Vibe Band's "Tiger Step" on various streaming platforms.