Gayageum, geomungo and haegeum. Three stringed instruments with a thousand-year history. The two former a kind of large zithers, and the latter a standing stringed instrument. Behind them sit three musicians from South Korea: Yoin Cho, Yerim Kim and Somin Park. The soundscape they evoke is ancient and earthy. At the same time suggestive, dreamlike and timeless.<\/p>\n
With a classical education from the Korean National University of Arts in his luggage, Hilgeum decided to create contemporary music using South Korea’s traditional instruments. The trio composes each piece collectively. Sometimes a composition begins with mere breaths, or a gentle strumming of a single string, then over a few minutes grows into a veritable tidal wave of notes. The listener is thrown between whirlwinds of staccatory rhythms and quieter passages where an ocean of drawn-out notes slowly rises.<\/p>\n
Their first full-length Utopia, from 2022, conjures up images of a journey to a distant place. Since then, they have also traveled far and wide, with acclaimed concerts in, for example, the USA, Argentina and Belgium. On the latest EP Wasteland, the songs are shorter and more intense: bamboo plectrums hammer hard on silk strings. Maybe it’s the present that intrudes \u2013 as in the tumbling song Clock \u2013 but Hilgeum’s pieces always find ways to open up cracks for us to climb through together. Out into a more universal and poetic reality.<\/p>\n
Yoin Cho<\/strong> – gayageum Organized together with the Clandestino Festival.
\nYerim Kim<\/strong> – geomongo
\nSomin Park<\/strong> – haegeum<\/p>\n
\nBook a place at studio@rorane.se<\/a><\/strong>
\nEntrance SEK 220.<\/p>\n