Leenalchi | K-MUSIC CRITICS' CHOICE
Leenalchi | K-MUSIC CRITICS' CHOICE
Thu 12 November 2020
Stream time / 7:00pm
Thursday 12 November | YouTube
Alternative pop meets storytelling as Leenalchi sing verses from the traditional pansori tale Sugungga - adventures of a dragon king, turtle, and a wily rabbit.
Leenalchi are currently enjoying viral success with the video ‘Feel the Rhythm of Korea’, in collaboration with Korean dance team Ambiguous Dance Company and the Korean Tourism Organisation, that has over 24 million views
Deconstructing and re-arranging traditional elements, with inspiration from 80’s new wave that you can’t help but move to, the group boasts four traditional vocalists: Song Hee Kwon, Yu Jin Shin, Yi Ho Ahn and Na Rae Lee, who deliver musical storytelling through solos, choir, rapping and dance. The band also features a drummer Chul Hee Lee and two bassists; Young Gyu Jang and Jung Yeop Jeong.
Bassist Jang’s previous credits include films Gokseong and Train to Busan, as well as being a member of Uhuhboo Project (who performed at K-Music 2013) and SsingSsing who opened the 2018 K-Music Festival to a sold out crowd up on their feet in dance and celebration.
‘Leenalchi isn't simply recreating old Korean music — its defining rhythms should be decidedly more familiar to a Western audience. The result is strangely recognizable and wonderfully unfamiliar’
(NPR)
‘Though they’re named after a Joseon-era master of the craft, Seoul’s LeeNalchi aren’t preservationists overly precious about the past......LeeNalchi set off their vocal fireworks against an instrumental backdrop informed by post-punk, new wave, krautrock, and space disco, with kosmische synths and two bass guitars’
(Rupert Bottenberg at Panm360 Canada)
