The K-Sori Festival, a gukak contest to promote Korean traditional music, is being held in L.A. on August 4. The Korean Traditional Music Global Association (KTMGA) announced recently that the first K-Sori Festival will take place at the Korean Education Center, located in Koreatown, Los Angeles. The competition is targeting 1.5-generation and second-generation Korean Americans living in the U.S. in order to promote Korean traditional culture and unearth promising gukak talents.
Kim Won-il, Chairman of the KTMGA, said that “this contest will be a joyous festival created by all those who love and learn gukak, as well as a site of harmony for gukak musicians,” and that it “will be of great help in imbuing second-generation Korean Americans with the Korean identity.”
Pansori master Cho Tong-dal, Professor Hwang Seung-ok, and Choi Mo-se will be judging the contest, while Bob Horn, the Grammy-winning music engineer, will serve as the local judge. At the festival, Sammy Sam of Public Enemy will appear for a celebratory performance of hip hop and pansori. The event will be conducted by Korean Hollywood actor Kim Jong-man and Buzzfeed’s Claire Lee.
