Korean Gayageum Rips Into Modern Music

[mandru]

I always have deep appreciation for musicians who demonstrate a level of virtuosity on their instrument.

This young artist Luna Lee has caught my attention.  She gives a whirlwind trip through various artists and styles (like Johnny Cash through Dire Straits and into Radiohead  ) with her traditional Korean instrument.  Amplifying and engaging audio effects like echo and reverb and by over dubbing layers of herself for the different parts in complex music scores I find she gives often surprising bang on renditions of the pieces she has posted.

Some songs demand a drum track.  In those pieces she does include another artist's beat track (I believe the original) that she is playing over.  But I don't find that a distraction against her ability's end results.

Here's one good example:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjoVOLHe75U

If this catches your attention you might want to visit her channel www.youtube.com/user/luna422422 and see if she had covered a few of your personal favorites.

 

[Dweller_Benthos]

Very cool, I've always liked covers of songs by non-traditional means. As in, by an artist who plays the song with an instrument never intended to play that kind of music, exactly like this you lady. This also brings to mind this pair of cello players:



They have many videos as well.

A good "cover tune" is one that takes a good song and somehow makes it better. That of course is very subjective, but at least taking a good song and making it "different":



Yes, "open a grand piano, and hit the strings directly with a large mallet" different.

[Art Blade]

pretty good stuff mandru and dweller 

[nex]

Wow!!!! thanks for posting the clip and the link mandru
She also has a lovely voice, just watched a clip on youtube
singing Cyndi Lauper's song Time After Time.

[mandru]

D_B, the 2cellos video was awesome.  I played it for Mrs mandru (who plays violin) and she loved its technical skill as well as the laughs it gave her.  The flying broken bow strings and the parents trying to rein in the head banging kids grooving on the vibe among the horrified audience was prime. 


We've been able to see the Blue Man Group live shows twice.  The first time we saw them it was at the Venetian Hotel Blue Man theater in Vegas.  The "Get Wasted" paper drop (shown in the video you posted) wasn't just fired off from the Tubulums they were wearing but add to that a literal avalanche of paper which also fell from the ceiling.

There must have been almost 2 feet of paper shreds (on the crowd and floor) that came down over the entire theater when the drop happened.  We were in the 2nd row center of the upper balcony.  It was almost as if the entire mob up on our level gained the manic purpose to dump every scrap of paper off the front lip of the balcony to rain down on the attendees on the level below. 

It was a blast. 

The second time we saw them was here at the Salt Lake City arena where the Jazz basketball plays their home games and while the show was great it lacked the ambience of the BMG's having total control over their theater in Vegas.


Nex, I agree Luna Lee's voice is lovely (in the context of that song) with very pure tones uncolored by vocal inflections such as injected fry, vibrato, and the modulation of sliding pitch between notes etc... .  Not to detract from her rendition I'm still smitten by Lauper's accent and quirks of her vocal skills.  I struggled to emulate Lauper's rendition of the song (as close as possible in a male voicing) when I was playing guitar and singing Time After Time some 30 years ago.

Wow.    That stung a bit adding up the years in realizing just how long ago that actually was. 

[Art Blade]

Cyndi Lauper.. long ago? As if it had been yesterday.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah, those songs were somehow done a long time ago - 20, 30, 40, even 50 or 60 years? That doesn't seem possible (in other words, who's getting old? not me, must be you getting old that a song you fondly remember is now 40 or 50 years old).

Mandru, thanks for the memories of the BMG shows, I like their music quite a bit, and the DVD that the video is taken from is very good. I ripped the audio to play in the car as it's not released on CD separately. The newer concerts are good as well, but that tour was especially good with Tracey Bonham guesting on vocals and violin.

[Art Blade]

what the.. typing from a cell phone, D_B?

[mandru]

D_B, when we attended that Vegas BMG show at their home theater there was a gift shop out front where I was able to buy a CD of the music from their show at that time.

If you happen to go through Vegas and if the theater is still operating the CDs may still be there as well as any more recent ones. 

[Dweller_Benthos]

Art - I did some edits to maybe make that a little more coherent, must have typed that in a hurry hehe. Sometimes my fingers can't keep up with my brain and gibberish comes out.

Mandru - If I ever get to Vegas, I'll keep an eye out, I think they also had a show for a while in NYC, and maybe New Orleans as well? They also released a recording of one of the theater shows called Live at the Venetian. Those shows are usually a bit different than the "rock tour" shows which are similar but more geared towards a concert with some visuals as opposed to the theater shows which are much more visual with music.

[BinnZ]

These types of remakes never really attract me. That started with the Andino musicians playing on the streets with their pan flutes popular beatle songs. She is very good, that's for sure, but I'd rather hear that instrument being played in the music it fits better. I once came across a video of a woman (Japanese) who played it with an Orchestra, some traditional music, really good.
Here, take a listen:

[mandru]

Thank you BinnZ for adding that here.

It was enjoyable hearing the instrument being played in a more traditional composition. 

[Dweller_Benthos]

I like how her arm and hand movements make it look like she's not even playing really, like how with such small graceful motions can she make that much sound? Very cool.

[BinnZ]

Yes it is amazing, isn't it?
All the songs I come across, when I search for musician playing this instrument, are being performed by women. Seems a traditional female instrument, somehow.