Ssamzie Sound Festival

Last night I went to the Ssamzie Sound Festival at Imjingak close to the North-South border, near Paju. The reason for my three hour trek was to see David Choi perform. His Friday night performance (although it was much closer) was out of the question, so I hoped to see his Saturday night gig at the festival. Getting there I was very disappointed to see that his time slot was moved an hour earlier, so I missed him.

It wasn’t a total waste, though. Generally I’m too busy to spend much time perusing Korean pop-culture and since I do not have a TV (I get all my visual stimuli via the Internet) I’m not up to scratch with the latest Korean hits. Furthermore, although I love music I am not a fan of pop-music and as far as contemporary music is concerned, prefer to listen to alternative music. It turns out that the Ssamzie Sound Festival was just the place for me to go to get a taste of Korea’s alternative music scene.

I got exposed to some really good stuff. One of my favourite performances was by a Japanese band called Sakanaction -- "sakana" means fish; thus "fish" + "action". They have a great electronic alternative rock sound and I was surprised at how well the Korean audience knew Sakanaction’s Japanese lyrics. I’m definitely going to get myself one of their albums. Their most recent album is called Shinshiro.

Ichiro Yamaguchi, the lead singer of Sakanaction in the front, with the drummer Keiichi Ejima and Ami Kusakari, playing the bass. I quite liked Ami Kusakari who quote often took to centre stage to show off her rhythms and her funky boots.




Of the bands I heard, I found the sound of OhOhBoo Project [어어부프로젝트] to be the most unique. I definitely want to look into this indie-rock band a bit more.



A groovy performance was given by 언니네 이발관. I’m not sure how to Romanize the Korean, nor am I sure what the name means. I think it means “Older Sister’s Hair Salon,” but then again, my Korean is really shabby, so don't take my word for it. In any case, they have a nice laidback sound, making for good easy listening. I found it peculiar how the vocalist sings all the songs with his eyes closed!



There was also a Korean Reggae band, called Windy City [윈디시티]. While it is nice to hear Reggae performed in Korean, and while they clearly “get it” (the lead singer even speaks in a Reggae accent), I didn’t find the music to be unique. Searching for a video to paste here, I found their stuff online more interesting, than the live performance I saw yesterday.



Much more impressive was the Kim Chang Won Band (김창완밴드). This ajjushi knows how to rock! And the kids love him!



Undoubtedly the most fun band was The Moonshiners.

The Moonshiners performing live at the 2009 Ssamzie Sound Festival, Korea.

This is a Korean band, obviously inspired by the late 50’s and 60’s Rock ‘n Roll vibe. Their matching red suits, driving rhythms and cheerful charisma is a treat to watch. No way you’re gonna stand still while listening to them. I really hope to see them perform live again.



The festival opened me to the alternative / indie-rock scene in Korea and will definitely help me with the music appreciation / lyrics (“poetry”) analysis class I’m teaching called “Poetry in Music.” I’m sure I’ll impress my students by referring to some local bands.

The Double Stage at the 2009 Ssamzie Sound Festival.

I also liked the set-up. They had two stages alternating. This had two big advantages. There was practically no wait period in between the different bands. Once the one band stopped playing the other stage lit up and the next band started playing. The other advantage is that it had the audience moving from one stage to the other. Since you know the line-up you can go stand in front of the stage where your favourite band is going to play – so that the best standing space is not kept throughout by a few.

Still, I’m sad I didn’t get to see ol’ David do his stuff.