28–29 March 2022
The music of composer/performer Park Jiha blends classical minimalism and improvised music with traditional Korean instruments like the Piri (double-reed bamboo flute), Saenghwang (bamboo mouth organ), and Yanggeum (hammered dulcimer). Deftly combining the instrumentation and complex expression of traditional Korean music with an array of contemporary forms and sounds, Park Jiha has staked her place in the international music scene over the last few years as the official showcase for The World Music Expo, WOMEX and Classical:NEXT.
Trained in Korean traditional music, Park Jiha started her career by founding the duo 숨[su:m], which had a major impact upon the “new Korean music” scene. Her first solo album, Communion (2018, tak:til/ Glitterbeat Records), pursued more distant sound traditions and an eclectic instrumental palette. Collaborating with musicians from different genres, the project pursues a form of experimental minimalism that rejects ornamentation in favor of a stark clarity and meticulous balance. Pitchfork said of the album, “Jiha’s gift is in her ability to skirt dull prettiness in favor of exploiting the edges of her instruments, yet not at the expense of tangible, straightforward melodies.”
With her last album titled Philos (2019, tak:til/ Glitterbeat Records) Park Jiha has defined an even more immersive sound experience, for a Solo act she is now performing both in Korea and abroad. Par Jiha is now preparing the release of her new Solo album ‘The Gleam’ planning to come out by the end of February 2022 via Glitterbeat. This will be Coming along with a Live Improvisation recording for the BBC in collaboration with the English Artist, Roy Claire Potter, planned to be released on CAFE OTO’s imprint OTOROKU current 2022.
Roy Claire Potter has released duo and solo audio works with labels like Cafe OTO’s Otoroku and Takuroku, Sub Rosa, Chocolate Monk, and Fort Evil Fruit, and has worked with a broad range of musicians and sound artists including Park Jiha, Ziúr, Kieron Piercy and Bridget Hayden. With a visual art background in experimental art writing and drawing, Roy tells stories built from fragmented, intense images that depict moving bodies or domestic scenes and architectural settings, often focusing on group dynamics or the aftermath of violent events with a dark, sometimes wilful humour. They publish writing and make exhibitions internationally, and recent collaborations for stage and broadcast have been made possible by BEK, Counterflows, Reduced Listening for BBC Radio 3, and Wysing Art Centre’s Polyphonic music festival with Somerset House.
Left Hand Cuts off the Right (Robbie Judkins) is an outlet for exploratory methods and composition. During live performances Robbie plays with a zither, bent electronics, objects, field recordings, loops and effects. The sounds are of habitual drones, gear-grinding metallic buzzing, crackling rhythms and aural oddities. Compositions and improvisations reflect on work and labour and the creation of sound as therapy.
In April 2023 he released, Free Time/Dead Time (Brachliegen Tapes), an album of focused minimalism, experimental electronics and twitching musique concrete. Free Time/Dead Time is a series of meditative compositions that reflect on the precarious boundaries between labour, leisure, and the quality of lived experience under late-capitalism.
"The freshness of Judkins's restrained approach is felt in an enjoyably weird atmospheric balance between sustained calm and sticky anxiety." The Wire
“Hardcore yoga music” The Quietus
He has created works for the Barbican, ICA, Resonance FM, Turner Contemporary, Whitechapel Gallery, University of Central Lancashire, Supernormal Festival and more. He is also the creator of Animal Sounds (Resonance FM), Parallax View (Threads Radio) and ex-member of punk-noise band Bruxa Maria.
www.lefthandcutsofftheright.bandcamp.com
www.soundcloud.com/lefthandcutsofftheright
www.cargocollective.com/robbiejudkins
