Unreleased songs part of companion album to Springsteen book

NEW YORK (AP) -- Songs Bruce Springsteen recorded in the 1960s and early ’70s will be released in September.Five previously unreleased tracks from the Boss will be released on Sept. 23 on a companion album to the icon’s autobiography, “Born to Run,” which will be released Sept. 27.　  The compilation album “Chapter and Verse” will include the unreleased songs “Baby I” and “You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover,” recorded in 1966 and 1967 when Springsteen was a teenager in the band the Castiles. The

July 29, 2016

HyunA returns to spotlight as solo artist

HyunA, a former member of the disbanded K-pop group 4Minute, is getting ready to unleash new releases.After marking her debut as a solo artist at the Viral Fest Asia 2016 in Bali, Indonesia earlier this month, the 24-year-old singer is scheduled to perform the track “How Is It?” from her upcoming mini album “A’wesome” on KBS2’s “Music Bank” on Aug. 5, according to her management agency Cube Entertainment on Thursday. 　“Starting with ‘Music Bank,’ HyunA will continue to make more broadcast appear

July 29, 2016

Kim Soo-ja explores body, mind with clay

A huge wooden table fills an entire exhibition hall at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, overwhelming visitors with its scale. A museum employee hands visitors a lump of clay and asks them to make a ball with it on the elliptical wooden table that has a diameter of 19 meters. “I don’t think I have made anything out of a lump of clay for many years. It used to be a familiar material when we were young,” said artist Kim Soo-ja at the press preview for her solo exhibition a

July 28, 2016

EXID to perform at Chinese digital game expo

K-pop group EXID will perform at the 2016 China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference -- also known as ChinaJoy -- on Thursday and Friday at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. This is the first time the event organizers have invited a Korean girl group to the global conference.  Held every year in Shanghai since 2004, ChinaJoy is a multiday expo that brings together companies from the digital gaming industry. This year’s event is expected to attract over 300,000 participants and att

July 28, 2016

Nam June Paik in the age of social media

Nam June Paik, a pioneer of video art, is both famous and unknown to many in Korea. A query on the name “Nam June Paik” on Korean web portal Naver brings up several questions posted by young students asking who the artist is for their schoolwork. “My son, who is a first-year middle school student, doesn’t really know much about him either,” said Kim Bang-eun, president of Gallery Yeh, currently hosting the Nam June Paik exhibition at Seoul’s landmark Dongdaemun Design Plaza. “I think it’s becaus

July 27, 2016

‘Treasure Island’ musical arrives in time for school holidays

A young boy’s wildest dreams become a reality in the Seoul Arts Center‘s new musical play, “Treasure Island.”Based on the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson's novel by the same title, the musical follows the life of the young Jim Hawkins, a wide-eyed cabin boy aboard the Hispanola. In a desperate search for adventure, Hawkins decides to make his way to the dangerously mysterious Skeleton Island in search of treasure. During his travels, Hawkins encounters a string of unworldly characters inc

July 27, 2016

[Herald Interview] Biffy Clyro is done making ‘weird’ music

When three childhood friends, including a pair of siblings, started the band Biffy Clyro over 10 years ago in Kilmarnock, Scotland, they strived to make music that was “as weird as possible.”“That’s what we thought was good,” said Simon Neil, the group’s lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, in an interview. The band, which is also made up of twin brothers drummer James Johnston and bassist Ben Johnston, met with The Korea Herald before performing at its first show in Korea at the Jisan Valle

July 27, 2016

‘The Age of Shadows’ invited to Toronto film festival

“The Age of Shadows” by director Kim Ji-won has been invited to screen under the Special Presentations program at the 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).“The Age of Shadows” follows members of an independence group in the 1920s as they fight for Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.In addition to the historical thriller, Park Chan-wook’s globally-acclaimed production “The Handmaiden” and Kim Sung-soo’s “Asura: The City of Madness” have also been invited to the Speci

July 27, 2016

SHINee gears up for comeback

After a 16-month-long hiatus, K-pop group SHINee is ready to unveil new material. The five-member boy band is scheduled to release a new album in September, the official date depending on how the group’s currently scheduled events pan out, a local media outlet reported quoting an industry insider. To promote its fourth Japanese studio album “D×D×D,” SHINee performed 20 concerts throughout Japan from January to May, attracting a total of over a million fans.The group’s entertainment agency S.M. E

July 27, 2016

Beyonce, Adele lead MTV Video Music Award nods

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Beyonce on Tuesday led nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards as she basked in acclaim for her film-album “Lemonade.”The pop diva was in the running for 11 awards at MTV‘s annual extravaganza, which will take place Aug. 28 in New York’s Madison Square Garden, a shift from the more common venue in Los Angeles.Adele came in second with eight nominations. All but seven were for the chart-topping English balladeer's “Hello,” which with more than 1.6 billion views is the fifth m

July 27, 2016

Oh My Girl releases teaser image for new album

Oh My Girl is returning to the spotlight with a new album.The rookie K-pop girl group released a teaser image for its upcoming summer special album on the group’s official social media channels at midnight on Tuesday. The new album contains four remakes, including the 2000 hit song “Listen to Me” by one of the first generation K-pop girl groups, Papaya. Recorded in collaboration with the reggae duo Skull & Haha, the updated track still boasts the refreshing tunes found in the original version, a

July 26, 2016

Wagner festival given rapturous reception on opening night

BAYREUTH, Germany (AFP) - Germany’s legendary Bayreuth opera festival, dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner, got off to a rapturous start on Monday with a brand new production of the composer's last opera, “Parsifal,” enthusiastically received by the first-night audience.While this year’s month-long proceedings have been overshadowed by a series of deadly attacks in the country, the performers were tumultuously applauded at the end of the six-hour performance.However, opera critics were less

July 26, 2016

[Herald Interview] Pop duo Tegan and Sara advocate LGBT rights

Though Tegan and Sara Quin of pop duo Tegan and Sara, identical twins and both openly gay, are prominent advocates for the LGBT movement, they’re also aware that “people in other countries don’t always understand.”“We try to be very sensitive to social and religious norms in other countries,” Tegan said at an interview before their first Korean performance at the Jisan Valley Rock Music & Arts Festival on July 22. The sisters have been vocal proponents of LGBT issues for the length of their musi

July 25, 2016

In charged times, Kendrick Lamar subversive in subtlety

NEW YORK (AFP) - Kendrick Lamar wrote the unofficial anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement yet, in charged times, the rap star found he could be mellow while staying salient.Lamar, whose live schedule has been surprisingly sparse since he triumphed at the Grammy Awards in February, on Saturday headlined the inaugural Panorama festival, a New York expansion by promoters of Coachella in California.The hip-hop star has won acclaim for dramatic live performances. At the Grammys, he entered as a

July 25, 2016

Yoon Jong-shin, Gaeko to release collaborative single

Singer-songwriter Yoon Jong-shin and rapper Gaeko are scheduled to release a collaborative single this week, according to Yoon’s management agency Mystic Entertainment on Monday. Since 2010, Yoon has run a monthly musical project which involves him working with artistes from various musical backgrounds. Those he has worked with this year include Epik High’s Tablo, Hanhae, KittiB, K-pop band Seventeen and VIXX’s Ken. The upcoming track “Empty City” is the seventh release of the year. Last month’s

July 25, 2016

Red Hot Chili Peppers sizzle at Jisan

ICHEON, Gyeonggi Province -- The screen blazed red. Crowds scattered throughout the grounds at Jisan Valley Rock Music & Arts Festival swarmed the main stage. As 10 p.m. approached on Friday night, the Red Hot Chili Peppers clambered onto the Korean stage for the first time in 14 years.Jisan Forest Resort rang with cheers as the iconic rock band kicked off the show energetically with “Can’t Stop,” during which drummer Chad Smith delivered a spirited drum solo, and followed up with the 2006 hit “

July 24, 2016