Black String - Mask Dance (2016)

New sounds from the ancient instruments of Korea: Black String create a unique musical language drawing on Korean traditional music, jazz and free improvisation. Yoon Jeong Heo, the bandleader, instigator and passionate driving force behind Black String, is a specialist on the geomungo (a long-board six-string zither played with a bamboo stick). The instrument is at the very heart of Korean musical tradition, with a role comparable to that of the piano in the West. Heo doesn t just carry the tradition, she is on a mission to extend it, to bring it to life by connecting it with other music. Korean music is a remarkable sound-world. In the words of American composer Alan Hovhaness 'It is one of the most expressive music types in the world, majestic and free. The naturalness and mysteriousness of its melodies are unmatched by any other music in the world.' What Black String have done is to create an astonishing coalescence of the old and the new. Theirs is a captivating sound world where power and beauty are both present in every moment.