Sunday was a special day. I went to the Jarasum International Jazz Festival with another teacher, Seongji. Alice, the usual suspect, was busy writing her law school applications, which I fully supported so that she can get back to living the Korea life with me in later October. (Get those done, Alice!) (Update: now completed)
Jarasum is an “island” in Gapyeong county in the same province as Seoul, about an hour and a half northeast of Seoul. Every year since 2004, the island has hosted an international jazz festival. About 300 000 people attend EVERY DAY. We were two. This is our story. *cue theme music*
Don't put that in your mouth!
Seongji and I met at 11 at Sangbong station in NW Seoul to find the bus terminal that would take us to Gapyeong. The Sangbong bus is a lesser known bus terminal in the city, but much closer to our apts. We bought our tickets (5600W. FIVE DOLLARS! CANADA: LISTEN AND LEARN) and a bus came in 10 minutes. It was really nice just to get out of Seoul again. I can’t believe how pretty Gyeonggi-do is. The leaves haven’t changed yet in the city, but on the mountains, the trees on the top have turned orange and red. It’s like all the mountains are ginger.
Gapyeong is tiny. Tiny, but surrounded on all sides by mountains and halved by the Han river (cleaner than in Seoul.) I have to say, I didn’t notice that Seoul air was dirty, but I noticed a big difference in the countryside air. It feels like it moves through your lungs more quickly.
We walked 15 minutes to one of the jazz islands and bought our tickets for 30 000W, saw that nothing was really started yet, and walked back to town to find some food. After tasty galbi we found a stage and sat to wait for a performance.
Here is a summary of the bands we saw:
1. Julien Wilson Trio
Guitar, tenor sax, and keyboard accordian = good sounds. Who’d have thought? The first number they played was called “Grace”. We felt as if it were fate. Honestly, I don’t remember the details. It was a while ago, and I was just giddy to be there. Also, distracted by the monument they were playing on: dedicated to Canadian, American, Australian, and Kiwi soldiers who fought in the Battle of Jarasum during the Korean War. Apparently there’s a monument solely for the Canadians elsewhere in Gapyeong http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gapyeong_Canada_Monument
Julien Wilson Trio
monumental
2. Rising Star 2009
I didn’t get any good pictures, but it was a standard 5-piece combo, all Korean. I won’t lie. Seongji and I wished they were better looking, but we have high standards. Kidding. (Maybe.) They were great though, especially after the lukewarm feeling I had after All That Jazz in Itaewon. After a few numbers a female singer came on and sang “It Might as Well Be Spring”. Fab fab fab. Her English diction … not so hot, but her voice was just so silky smooth that I didn’t care at all.
3. Duo Lijbaart & Brederode
A piano-drums team from Amsterdam. We stumbled into their venue about 20 minutes late, after listening to Rising Star 2009 too long. Unline the other two bands, this one was playing in an indoor venue. It was ABSOLUTELY DARK inside except for the dim coloured lights on stage. It took a handfull of ushers with tiny pen lights to guide us around and down steps and into seats, each handing us over to the next usher. They got me to the edge of a row and then…left me! I couldn’t see a cm in front of me. I was just so shocked to be in such a DARK concert environment. Maybe it’s not that out of the ordinary? Thoughts? Seongji saved me with her cell phone light.
Their music was much more abstract and atonal than the other two bands (muuuuuch much more than Rising Star 2009) and a lot of it was about sound experience and timbre and harmony rather than melodic structure. Two years ago, I would have hated it. This time, I loved it. Seongji too. (Also, we agreed that the pianist had it going on.) I only have videos, no pictures.
4. Sinne E & band
Danish female singer. Is everyone in Denmark beautiful? Sinne E has one of those classy jazzy voices you want to hear when you drink real hot chocolate. You know the one. Look her up.
BREAK:
We walked back to the island, got lost, kept walking, found what seemed to be an outdoor restaurant, but was really a row of bonfires hosted by mobile T. If T was your provider, they gave you a fleece blanket (it was COOOOLD) and a sweet potato wrapped in foil for you to roast. T is not my mobile provider, but it is Seongji’s, and because I am a foreigner, they gave me the goods too! I was so happy. Jazz in the air, fleece blanket wrapped around me, sitting on a log by a fire on an island in Korea roasting a sweet potato.
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- Don’t put that in your mouth!
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- Julien Wilson Trio
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- monumental
5. Richard Galliano Tangaria Quartet
Anything I say about this will be a wild understatement. It was unbelievable. (Wild understatement.) We finally found the main bandstage (which is HUUUUUUUUUUGE) and fought our way to the front and found some space for our fleece blankets. Then we waited, and waited, and waited, and it was totally worth it. This group totally blew our minds. It was amazing. They played tangos, they played Satie’s L’Ocean, Galliano did a solo piece on a mouth-accordian (which I have never seen before,) people were screaming and dancing and laughing. The best.
Please note that Galliano uses his accordian bellows to make ocean sounds.
http://www.jarasumjazz.com/2009/english/main.htm
Please feel free to check out what I experienced online. If you are ever in the neighbourhood of Seoul, or even of KOREA during this festival, go go go.
