How do you match a gayageum and an ajaeng behind the Tiny Desk? That is the query I whispered into the ear of our Tiny Desk audio engineer, Josh Rogosin, after we first noticed ADG7 taking part in these five-foot lengthy string devices at globalFEST in New York Metropolis on the prime of 2020. The Tiny Desk group solved the puzzle and the nine-piece Korean band crammed the room with pleasure and a sound that is distinctive in Tiny Desk historical past. ADG7 mixes conventional, shamanistic ritual sounds with Korean folks songs from Hwanghae Province. The group’s full title is Ak Dan Gwang Chil: “Ak Dan” interprets as band, whereas “Gwang Chil” is in honor of the band having fashioned in the course of the seventieth anniversary of Gwangbokjeol, the Nationwide Liberation Day of Korea. The music is from the band’s 2020 album, Such is Life,and its self-titled 2017 album.
The three singers, Hong Okay, Myeong Wol and Yoo Wol, instantly seize my eyes and ears however my consideration begins to sway towards Lee Man Wol, who seems to be blowing right into a pipe organ she holds in her arms. The instrument is a saenghwang, simply certainly one of ADG7’s transfixing devices — together with sensible percussion and a big bamboo flute referred to as a daegeum performed by bandleader Kim Yak Dae — that make this enthusiastic and adventurous live performance an eye-opener.
SET LIST
- “No matter”
- “Yeong Jeong Geo Ri”
- “Hee Hee”
MUSICIANS
- Hong Okay: vocals
- Myeong Wol: vocals
- Yoo Wol: vocals
- Weon Meondongmaru: gayageum
- Choi Byung Hwal: ajaeng
- Chun Gung Dal: percussion
- Sunwoo Barabarabarabam: percussion
- Lee Man Wol: piri, saenghwang, taepyeongso
- Kim Yak Dae: daegeum
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer/Sequence Creator: Bob Boilen
- Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
- Director: Kara Body
- Sequence Producer: Bobby Carter
- Editor: Joshua Bryant
- Videographers: Kara Body, Michael Zamora, Pierre Kattar, Joshua Bryant
- Audio Assistant: Andie Huether
- Manufacturing Assistants: Jill Britton, Alanté Serene, Joby Tanseco
- Tiny Desk Staff: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Maia Stern
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
- Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
