KOREA FOUNDATION

REVIEW

2021 ASEAN Lecture Series: Musical Journey of the ASEAN Region

Every Friday from April 9-23, the ACH hosted its 2021 ASEAN Lecture Series, “Musical Journey of the ASEAN Region,” which aimed to give viewers of the concert series, ASEAN Music Meets Korean Instruments - ASEAN X SINAWI, a better understanding of ASEAN music. The first lecture, focusing on the traditional music of ASEAN and Korea, was delivered by Prof. Lee Yong-sik, an expert on traditional Korean music at Chonnam National University. Lee’s lecture introduced the characteristics of music in the different ASEAN countries, while also showing how some of these aspects bear similarities with traditional Korean music. In the second lecture, music director Won Il as well as vice conductors Jang Tae-pyeong and Lee Il-woo discussed the preparations for the “ASEAN × Sinawi” online concert series, including how the respective pieces were arranged and performed. In addition, they revealed some interesting behind-the-scenes incidents. The last lecture, by Prof. Shin Hyun-joon of Sungkonghoe University, was about Southeast Asia’s discovery of pop music and explored pop songs that were popular in the 1960s and 70s in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand. The ASEAN Lecture Series will return several more times this year and focus on a range of different topics.