The music of "The Whale in the Moon" at Yeowoorak

My most recent Korean performance attendance, thanks to the KTO, was seeing "The Whale in the Moon" at the Yeowoorak Festival.  From the website and program, Yeowoorak means "Here is Our Music" and the concerts include new Korean music from a variety of artists.

The concert was held at the National Theater of Korea, in the Daloreum Building - a smaller theater with a more intimate setting for this unique event.

Before the concert I had time to explore a bit more of the grounds and found a sculpture garden hidden among the trees along the front of the complex. 

I also had a chance to grab a quick drink at the downstairs cafe - Sun and Moon - which had me humming music from Miss Saigon for a bit.

This serious little chap was watching over the place as I drank...

I picked up my ticket inside, as a K-Performance Supporter, and purchased the festival program for 3,000 W - as an added bonus, they gave me a program from last year's festival, as well!

Inside, the theater was beautiful, comfortable, and the acoustics were great during the concert.

"The Whale in the Moon" was a collaborative concert of Korean music fused with folk music from all over the world, performed by two excellent groups - 2nd Moon (두번째달) and Coreyah.

I thoroughly enjoyed this concert - the musicians were outstanding, the staging and light effects complimented it well, and the fusion of styles was wonderful.  During the course of the night I could detect a variety of genres and styles - traditional Korean, Irish, klezmer, blues, western rock, latin - I am sure there are some I am forgetting! I liked it so much, I bought two CDs on the way out.

With a little online searching, I found these clips for your listening enjoyment:

2nd Moon video clip:  Palace Medley

Coreyah video clip: Handed Over

And they brought the house down with a version of this song:  Wrong

This festival has more concerts going on through July 26th, so anyone reading this in Korea should try to go to one or more - great experience!  Tickets are only 30,000 W and foreigners can get 50% off the price of tickets with their passport or ID.

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And as it seems to be my new tradition after performances, I tried a new drink from the subway vending machine on the way home - this time it was a tasty Peach Demi Soda!