Jambinai – traditional Korean music for the 21st century

Jambinai brought Korean folk music into the 21st century. They ran oboe-like (piri), violin-like (haegum), and zisther-like (geomungo) instruments through a range of effects and added electric guitar. In a short time, they won several Korean awards for young bands and contests focusing on blending genres. In recent years they played at festivals such as Glastonbury, SXSW, Roskilde, and Primavera. They are releasing their second album "a Hermitage" in a couple of days and will perform at the airport in Trenčín in a monthʼs time.

08. June 2016

Contemporary popular music is often reproached because of its stereotype, dynamic and melodic flatness, and harmonic triviality. None of that applies to what the trio from Seoul, South Korea, offers to their fans. Ilwoo, Bomi, and Eun Youg met at university where they were studying traditional, classical, and ritual music. Their debates about the possibilities of presenting Korean musical traditions in new ways in the 21st century led to the foundation of the band, which quickly became one of the most avant-garde bands in South Korea. The Guardian writes of them: “Their live performances are a mixture of slow meditative lyrical moments with frenetic metal passages. Their instrumental expression is exciting, full of twists, while perfectly under control of the musicians”.

This East Asian band can remotely resemble a concerto grosso composed of Scandinavian metal band and members of Sigur Rós, but thatʼs it for European parallels. What is characteristic of their music are rhythmic and melodic patterns of East Asian music. After all, the electronics that completes the unusual mosaic of their sound is mostly of that origin... Excellent technical mastering of instruments as well as their innovative approach to genres ensures a great experience for all who seek fresh and progressive elements in music.