[Herald Interview] Park Yoo-jin blazes trail for violins in jazz

While the thought of jazz may conjure up images and sounds of Miles Davis on the trumpet and John Coltrane on the saxophone, it’s a safe bet to say few would ever consider, or know of, a jazz violinist. The jazz scene is dominated by the uniquely free-styled sounds of brass, woodwinds and percussion. Up-and-coming Korean jazz violinist Park Yoo-jin is looking to slowly tear away at this genre stereotype. “It is true that the world does not have that many well-known jazz violinists, I mean you ca

PerformanceJuly 6, 2016

Smokey Robinson honored with national pop music prize

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Whether he was singing his own compositions or writing for other artists, Smokey Robinson was instrumental in shaping the Motown sound that changed American popular music in the 1960s. Now, his accomplishments have won him the pop music prize from the national library.The Library of Congress announced Tuesday that Robinson, 76, is this year's recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The lifetime achievement award is named for the duo of George and Ira Gershwin and was

PerformanceJuly 6, 2016

Iran cinema conquers world despite restrictions

TEHRAN (AFP) -- The outpouring of tributes for Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who died Monday, has reminded the world of Iran’s huge impact on art-house cinema despite restrictions on its artists.“On the one hand, there is the state cinema, financed by the authorities ... then there is an independent sector that is flourishing,” Kiarostami told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival in May. A few days later, the point was underlined when “The Salesman,” by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, wa

FilmJuly 6, 2016

Seventeen returns to spotlight with repackaged album

Two days after releasing the repackaged version of the group’s first album “Love & Letter,” 13-member K-pop boy band Seventeen is returning to the stage.Starting with a performance on MBC’s weekly music program “Show Champion” on Wednesday, the group is scheduled for more broadcast appearances, including Mnet’s “M Countdown,” KBS2’s “Music Bank,” MBC’s “Show! Music Core” and SBS’ “Inkigayo” in the coming weeks.  The repackaged album includes five additional tracks: “Very Nice,” “No F.U.N,” “Heal

PerformanceJuly 6, 2016

Noah’s ark of biblical proportions ready to open in Kentucky

WILLIAMSTOWN, Kentucky (AP) -- A 155-meter-long, $100 million Noah’s ark attraction built by Christians who say the biblical story really happened is ready to open in Kentucky this week. Since its announcement in 2010, the ark project has rankled opponents who say the attraction will be detrimental to science education and shouldn’t have won state tax incentives. “I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history,” said Ken Ham, president of Answers in

CultureJuly 6, 2016

Saint-Exupery’s Spanish civil war press pass found

MADRID (AFP) -- An amateur historian has found the press pass issued to French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery when he covered Spain‘s 1936-39 civil war for several French newspapers, officials said Tuesday.The pass was lost because it was not stored with others given other reporters such as German photojournalist Gerda Taro, the partner of war photographer Robert Capa, Maria Jose Turrion, the assistant head of Spain’s Salamanca-based civil war archives told AFP.Dated April 16, 1937 th

BooksJuly 6, 2016

Book probes Ohio’s role as national presidential bellwether

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Just in time for the Cleveland-hosted Republican National Convention this month and as the general election campaign heats up, a new book, “The Bellwether,” examines Ohio’s importance in picking the nation’s president.Every four years, Ohio becomes, to paraphrase its former tourism slogan, the heart of it all, with the candidates, their surrogates and news crews overrunning the state while a seemingly endless loop of campaign ads dominates its airwaves.The stakes couldn’t be h

BooksJuly 6, 2016

T-ara's Soyeon, Click-B's Oh Jong-hyuk break up after six years

Soyeon of Korean girl group T-ARA and Oh Jong-hyuk of Click-B put an end to their six-year relationship, their management agencies confirmed on Tuesday."Oh Jong-hyuk recently broke up with Soyeon," an official of DSP Media, Oh's management, said. "The separation is a personal matter that we are not familiar with." (Yonhap)Soyeon's agency, MBK Entertainment, also confirmed that the two celebrities' relationship "naturally dissolved due to their busy schedules.""Having been together for a long tim

EntertainmentJuly 5, 2016

New era of multinational K-pop groups dawns

A new generation of multinational K-pop groups is emerging, ready to take on the global music scene.Some earlier experimental groups, such as girl group ChoColat, created by Paramount Music in 2011, included members of German, Italian and Puerto Rican descent. The group, however, has not been active since 2013.  Miss A, one of K-pop’s most popular multinational groups with Chinese members Fei and Jia, is facing a shaky future with Jia having left the group’s agency JYP Entertainment in March. On

PerformanceJuly 5, 2016

[Hallyu Power] B-boy Wing helps Korean break dancing take flight

When it was first introduced by young street dancers in New York City in the early 1970s, the distinctive art of break dancing, or B-boying, was widely seen as a nonglamourous, low-level style of street dance. Despite its absence from the mainstream pop culture spotlight, B-boying eventually made its way to Korea in the ’80s. For decades, however, break dancing was far from the mainstream and had just a small following among young, amateur dancers whose only opportunities to perform were on the

PerformanceJuly 5, 2016

International Youth Fellowship hosts cultural camp

The 2016 World Cultural Camp of the International Youth Fellowship, a Christian-based global youth initiative, opened in Busan’s Haeundae Beach Sunday. Some 4,000 university students from over 50 countries, about 30 ministers from 27 countries and the presidents of 23 universities attended the opening. In its 19th edition, this year‘s camp is organized under the slogan “The Ship of Change.” The annual event takes place each summer and includes diverse programs such as lectures, cultural performa

CultureJuly 5, 2016

‘Uncontrollably Fond’ set for global premiere

The new KBS television series “Uncontrollably Fond” is set to air in 11 countries, according to the show’s production company Samhwa Networks at a press conference on Monday.Samhwa Networks has sold the show’s broadcasting rights to Youku Tudou, one of China’s biggest online video platforms, for approximately 280 million won ($250,000) per episode. The hit series “Descendants of the Sun” was sold to iQIYI, China’s largest online streaming website, for a similar amount.  In addition, “Uncontrolla

TelevisionJuly 5, 2016

Beast returns as five-member group with new album

After a yearlong hiatus, boy band Beast has returned as a five-member group with its third full studio album “Highlight” released on Monday. This marks the group’s return to the spotlight after one of its members Jang Hyun-seung left the band in April to pursue a solo career.  Within one day of the album’s release, its lead track “Ribbon” topped eight domestic music charts, including MelOn, Mnet, Bugs, Olleh Music, Naver Music, Soribada, Genie and Monkey3. The rhythm and blues tune “Ribbon” is a

PerformanceJuly 5, 2016

Georgia O’Keeffe gets big London show

LONDON (AP) -- Georgia O’Keeffe has come to London, like a bracing American desert wind rippling the River Thames.An exhibition of more than 100 works opening this week at Tate Modern is the American art icon’s biggest-ever show outside the United States.Curators hope it will surprise visitors who know the artist mainly for her giant flowers and sun-bleached animal skulls. The exhibition also offers O’Keeffe the pioneering abstract artist, O’Keeffe the surrealist and O’Keeffe who painted New Yor

PerformanceJuly 5, 2016