2015 Rainbow Island Music & Camping Festival Music, starlight and the beauty of Namiseom Island
The Rainbow Island Music & Camping Festival combines good music with the simple joy of sleeping under the stars. Hosted on the beautiful riverine island of Namiseom in Gapyeong, three sets — Holiday, Midnight Fantasy and Dreamville — feature performances by a dozen or so Korean artists and bands, including the Kim Chang Wan Band, Sultan of The Disco and Seoul-based samba school Escola Alegria. There’s also a “Rainbow Hippie Fleamarket,” among other events for the festival community. The real star, however, is the island itself, a small piece of rural tranquility less than an hour outside of Seoul.
VENUE: Namiseom Island, Gapyeong, Gyeonggi-do PERIOD: June 6-21 MORE INFO: T. 010-3360-7846, rainbowfestival.co.kr (Korean) ADMISSION: KRW 44,000-66,000 GETTING THERE: Shuttle buses are available to take you to Namiseom Island from Exit 9 of Hapjeong Station (Line 6) or Exit 2 of Sports Complex Station (Line 2). See the website for reservation information.
Celebrate the beauty and passion of Latin American culture at Seongbuk-gu’s Latin America Festival. Take in performances of Latin American music and dance, do a bit of dancing yourself at the Best Latin Dance Contest, chug beer at the Beer Drinking Content, and yes, partake in the Limbo. And of course, sample the best foods Latin America has to offer.
VENUE: Seongbukcheon Fountain Square DATE: June 13, noon-8 PM ADMISSION: Free MORE INFO: http://global.seoul.go.kr/seongbuk, T. 02-2241-6381 GETTING THERE: Exit 2, Hansung University Station (Line 4)
French Musical Gala Concert 2015
The stars of French musicals “Les Miserables” and “Notre-Dame de Paris” will be performing selections from each show at a gala concert at Kyung Hee University. Among the performers are Korean fan favorite Matt Laurent (Quasimodo from “Notre-Dame de Parisâ€), Robert Marien, Sophie Tremblay, Cyril Niccolai, Nadia Bel and Richard Charest. The singers will be accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra.
VENUE: Grand Peace Palace, Kyung Hee University DATES: June 12-13 MORE INFO: T. 02-961-9250, khugpp.khu.ac.kr ADMISSION: KRW 77,000-110,000 GETTING THERE: Exit 1, Hoegi Station (Line 1)
Maksim Mrvica: First Solo Classical Concerts
Known for his crossover classical music, Croatian pianist Maksim Mrvica comes to Suwon and Incheon. Extremely popular in Korea, Japan and Taiwan, Mrvica looks like he’d be more at home in a punk band with his arms covered in tatoos and spiked hair, and his concerts have a distinctively rock-ish, techno vibe, but his real love is classical, and on this tour he’ll remain faithful to this passion with selections from Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky and Chopin, with the unexpected addition of rock band Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody, no less). His concerts sell out quick — his October 2013 concert at Seoul’s Sejong Center set a sales record, in fact — so reserve your seat early.
VENUE: Suwon’s Gyeonggi Arts Center, Incheon Culture & Arts Center DATES: June 12 (Suwon), June 13 (Incheon) MORE INFO: ticket.interpark.com ADMISSION: KRW 70,000-110,000
Hamlet Cantabile
Performance Group TUIDA evoke Hamlet in a grotesquely comic way as four jesters dance and sing with bits and pieces the poor Hamlet left behind when he exited stage left. The performance, which combines puppeteering, clowning, singing and dance, has been a hit with Korean audiences since it debuted in 2005.
VENUE: National Theater Company of Korea’s Baik-Chang Theater PERIOD: June 6-21 MORE INFO: T. 0505-369-5369 ADMISSION: KRW 10,000-30,000 GETTING THERE: Seoul Station (Line 1, 4, Gyeongui Line and AREX), Exit 4. The theater is across from the exit, which is on the AREX side of the station.
RASKB Excursion: Special exhibition on Korean Shamanism and Folk Beliefs
The RAS invites you to join a tour to the special exhibition on Korean Shamanism (musok) and Folk Beliefs of Korean villages at the National Folk Museum of Korea. Before entering into the special exhibition hall on Korean Shamanism, at the garden of the National Folk Museum of Korea, you will take a look around the variety of objects on Korean folk beliefs such as Sotdae, Jangseung, stone piles, stone sculptures of sexual organs, which were discovered easily at traditional villages in the past, a memorial gate & stone for the filial piety from Buan county, statues of civil officials (Muinseok), a stone tablet and an epitaph to be discovered near tombs as well as a replica of tomb.
The special exhibition is titled “Korean Shamanism from the Vision of Folklorist Kim Tae-gon”. At the ongoing exhibition you will be able to find rare relics and materials with regard to Korean Shamanism, collected by pioneering master folklorist, Kim Tae-gon.
VENUE: National Folk Museum of Korea DATE: June 6 (2 PM–5 PM) COST: KRW 20,000 for members and KRW 25,000 for non-members MORE INFO: See this link. GETTING THERE: See link above.
EVERYDAY KOREANS
Beautiful sunset over Mt. Namsan, seen from the Graddhyllan cafe in Itaewon’s Gyeongnidan neighborhood. Photo by Robert Koehler.
NOTIFICATIONS
Survey on Korean language learning – Jini Shim, a visiting graduate student at the Academy of Korean Studies, is conducting a survey on the user preference of Korean language study methods. If you have a few moments to spare, please click on over to the surveys and fill them out: English/Korean.
Seoul Selection’s Free Book Giveaway – Our free book give-away continues! Check out the list in last week’s newsletter here.
Seoul Selection Offline Bookshop Sale –One of the greatest repositories of Korea-related English-language books anywhere, Seoul Selection is offering a 10% sale on any and all books published by Seoul Selection purchased from our OFFLINE bookshop next to Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Looking for Translators – Seoul Selection is looking for a few good translators (Korean to English) for general translation work. Those interested should send a resume and cover letter to Kyehyun at atoz@seoulselection.com. Experienced translators only.
Seoul Selection eBooks – You can purchase some Seoul Selection titles in ebook format via Amazon.com (for Kindle) and Apple’s iBookstore. Titles include Ask a Korean Dude, Moon Tides, Doing Business in Korea, Once Around the Sun, and seven volumes of our Korean Film Directors series: BONG Joon-ho, IM Kwon-taek, KIM Jee-woon, LEE Chang-dong, LEE Man-hee, PARK Chan-wook, and SHIN Sang-ok.
Send Your Event Info – If you would like to advertise any upcoming events you are organizing, please send us the press release material at pubco@seoulselection.com by the preceding Friday in order for it to appear in the following Tuesday’s issue.
Freelance Contributors Wanted – SEOUL Magazine needs writers who are fluent in both Korean and English. Writers should have a strong interest in Korean culture and be able to interview Koreans. Send your resume and writing samples to english@seoulselection.com.
https://magazine.seoulselection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Seoul-logo.png00rjkoehlerhttps://magazine.seoulselection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Seoul-logo.pngrjkoehler2015-06-05 07:22:542015-07-18 17:38:45SEOUL Weekly: 2015 Rainbow Island Music & Camping Festival
Seongsu-dong Style
The stars of French musicals “Les Miserables” and “Notre-Dame de Paris” will be performing selections from each show at a gala concert at Kyung Hee University. Among the performers are Korean fan favorite Matt Laurent (Quasimodo from “Notre-Dame de Parisâ€), Robert Marien, Sophie Tremblay, Cyril Niccolai, Nadia Bel and Richard Charest. The singers will be accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra.
Known for his crossover classical music, Croatian pianist Maksim Mrvica comes to Suwon and Incheon. Extremely popular in Korea, Japan and Taiwan, Mrvica looks like he’d be more at home in a punk band with his arms covered in tatoos and spiked hair, and his concerts have a distinctively rock-ish, techno vibe, but his real love is classical, and on this tour he’ll remain faithful to this passion with selections from Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky and Chopin, with the unexpected addition of rock band Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody, no less). His concerts sell out quick — his October 2013 concert at Seoul’s Sejong Center set a sales record, in fact — so reserve your seat early.
The RAS invites you to join a tour to the special exhibition on Korean Shamanism (musok) and Folk Beliefs of Korean villages at the National Folk Museum of Korea. Before entering into the special exhibition hall on Korean Shamanism, at the garden of the National Folk Museum of Korea, you will take a look around the variety of objects on Korean folk beliefs such as Sotdae, Jangseung, stone piles, stone sculptures of sexual organs, which were discovered easily at traditional villages in the past, a memorial gate & stone for the filial piety from Buan county, statues of civil officials (Muinseok), a stone tablet and an epitaph to be discovered near tombs as well as a replica of tomb.
