How quickly the world has changed! So many of us are spending more time inside as we try and stay safe from Covid-19 and help our countries flatten the curve of this pandemic. This time can be scary but it can also be an opportunity to explore new things and music is one of them. Let me introduce you to a wonderful Korean musician whose work you can hear online.

This February I Had the joy of seeing Park Jiha in concert at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne, Australia. Every seat was full! Park Jiha plays traditional Korean instruments and writes her own avant garde modern music. She began her career as a classical Korean musician playing pansori and evolved into writing her own music played with traditional Korean instruments. She was very gracious and sincere in her music.

It was wonderful to be introduced to three Korean instruments, the saenghwang, piri and yanggeum.   I have never seen an instrument like the saenghwang before! It was so interesting to be able to see it up close before the concert. The saenghwang looks like a beautiful stalagmite  and the player uses all her fingers to evoke the most amazing musical sounds. It is made from 17 bamboo pipes which can each be played individually.  Sounds are made from both inhaling and exhaling. There are pictures of the saenghwang going back to 735B.C.  Park Jiha also plays the piri and yanggeum. The piri resembles a recorder but with a reed and the yanggeum is  a dulcimar with metal strings.

Park Jiha played the entirety of her latest album,  Philos.  The music was haunting with one piece having a spoken word background. You can listen to her music online from a number of places. I think you will find it very expressive and meaningful. When I attended the concert there were people from all walks of life and cultures. We were brought together by our interest in Korean music. It’s a sad thing we can’t have a concert like this now but we can still enjoy having a different cultural experience online. I will be listening to Park Jiha’s music and thinking about how music speaks to all people, it is the universal language.

It was an amazing, different, interesting evening! Thank you Play On and Immigration Museum for this opportunity! I hope that when our times of isolation have been lifted I can attend another such event.