K-Music Critics’ Choice III - Leenalchi

Thursday 12 November 19:00 | YouTube (Free)

‘Leenalchi are a collective who’re really making waves at the moment.’ - Nikki BediBBC Radio London)

Leenalchi are currently enjoying viral success with the video ‘Feel the Rhythm of Korea’, in collaboration with the Ambiguous Dance Company and the Korean Tourism Organisation, the video on YouTube has been seen over 27 million times.

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.

The performance Leenalchi will present for K-Music Critics Choice is about their first album, Sugungga, which is a pansori piece which consists of musical storytelling by a vocalist and a drummer. The performance was recorded at the Yeowoorak Festival hosted by the National Theater of Korea.

  - ‘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)