Outkast reunite, headline Coachella music festival

Outkast reunited onstage after a near decade-long hiatus with a jam-packed set at the Coachella music festival, their first of many performances planned this year. The rap duo headlined the first night of the music festival Friday in Indio, California, performing well-known hits such as “Hey Ya!” “Ms. Jackson,” “The Way You Move,” “Elevators (Me & You)” and “So Fresh, So Clean.” The Grammy winners performed two dozen tracks ― seen via its livestream on YouTube ― as they celebrated 20 years in mu

April 13, 2014

[Weekender] Dancing like K-pop stars

A quick search on YouTube will bring up hundreds of videos of K-pop “cover dances.” All over the world and here in Korea, fans of K-pop are fascinated by the dance moves of idol stars and hope to imitate them.That desire to learn K-pop dance moves has led to a boom in classes that offer the chance to learn both cover dance and the general style of K-pop dance.Renowned choreographer Hong Young-joo, most famous for choreographing for singers Wax and Baek Ji-young, said she first started teaching i

April 11, 2014

[Weekender] Korean b-boying breaks new ground

The distinctive and dynamic style of break dancing was first introduced to the world by young street dancers in New York City in the early 1970s. B-boying eventually made its way to Korea about a decade later after being introduced by American soldiers. However, for decades, break dancing was far from being a mainstream style of dance as it enjoyed only a small following among young, amateur dancers. “When I first started getting into the b-boy scene in the late ’90s, b-boying itself didn’t have

April 11, 2014

Eyelike: Akdong Musician impressive on debut album

Akdong Musician impressive on debut albumAkdong Musician“PLAY”(KT Music)Akdong Musician, a teenage duo from Mongolia that won the audition show “K-Pop Star 2” last year, has made its much-anticipated debut with the studio album “PLAY.”The 11-track album features the siblings’ unique interpretations of everyday experiences that anyone can relate to. Despite their young age, their compositions demonstrate musical maturity and are marked by relaxing melodies and acoustic colors. The male singer-son

April 11, 2014

Science and art: Unlikely partners create beauty

In this wired society, checking Facebook news feeds and Twitter updates is an hourly routine. Swipe the screen of your smartphone and you will instantly be immersed in a sea of information. Social networking services have become so addictive that the first thing many people do after waking up is fiddle with their smartphone to check for updates that arrived while they were asleep. This modern-day obsession with staying updated is critically observed by London-based art trio Troika in its latest

April 10, 2014

Lorde, Imagine Dragons lead Billboard nominations

NEW YORK (AP) ― Newcomers Lorde and Imagine Dragons are the top contenders at next month’s Billboard Music Awards. The breakthrough acts are finalists in 12 categories, thanks to Lorde’s Grammy-winning multiplatinum hit “Royals” and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” also a multiplatinum Grammy winner. Those smashes are nominated for top Hot 100 song against Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.”Imagine Dragons is also up for top artist and will battle

April 10, 2014

Classic nude gets modern reworking

French sculptor Xavier Veilhan is holding his first exhibition in Korea, presenting life-size and miniature human figures along with architecture-inspired mobiles. His works have been exhibited in such prominent places as Versailles in 2009 and the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2004. His sculptures are displayed on the streets of New York, Lyon, Sweden and Seoul. One of his blue geometric human sculptures is on permanent display near the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His horse sculpture is part

April 9, 2014

Bruno Mars brings sexy, groovy ‘Moonshine Jungle’ to Seoul

International music sensation Bruno Mars lit up Seoul’s Olympic Park on Tuesday night as 13,000 rowdy fans filled the Gymnastics Stadium for the Hawaii native’s first-ever concert in Korea.“We came to get you all moving, to get you all shakin’ and to get you all dancing, so get off your feet!” Mars shouted as he kicked off the show. Through his ongoing worldwide Moonshine Jungle Tour, the original hooligan himself pulled out all the stops in a near-nonstop 90-minute show that closed with an elec

April 9, 2014

More accordion fans squeezing in lessons

LOS ANGELES ― Across the street from a wine lounge and a gourmet sausage spot in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles, a small red-and-white neon sign reads: “DAVE’S ACCORDION SCHOOL.”Inside, black and tan cases sprawl in a row along the floor, and two shelves hold a hodgepodge of squeezeboxes for sale. Business cards of norteno stars blanket a corkboard near the door, and nearby there’s a printout of the dictionary’s definition of the word “accordion,” with a suggested alternative: “

April 9, 2014

Korean National Ballet stages ‘Swan Lake’

After its season opener “La Bayadere,” the Korean National Ballet, under the leadership of internationally acclaimed ballerina Kang Sue-jin since February, is staging the timeless Tchaikovsky classic “Swan Lake.”The famous ballet tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse. She tries to break the spell with her love interest prince Siegfried, but fails as the prince is tricked by the magician. Just like its 2012 run of the ballet, the Korean National Ball

April 8, 2014

Mamma Mia: ABBA marks 40 years since breakthrough

LONDON (AP) ― Four decades on from the flares, fame and fabulousness, the members of ABBA say they have no regrets ― not even about the clothes. Members of the Swedish supergroup marked 40 years since their international breakthrough hit “Waterloo” on Monday with a party for hundreds of guests at London’s Tate Modern gallery. Bjorn Ulvaeus said he felt “extremely proud and humbled” by decades of success that includes hit records, the stage and movie musical “Mamma Mia” and a Stockholm museum ded

April 8, 2014

Tate research curator to head Venice Biennale Korea Pavilion

Lee Sook-kyung, research curator of Tate Research Center, has been selected to curate the Korea Pavilion of the 2015 Venice Biennale, while duo artists Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho have been chosen to represent the Korean Pavilion, according to the Korea Arts Council. The selection was made based on recommendations by a committee of seven art experts and interviews with candidates. Lee has curated numerous exhibitions, including those of Korean media artist Nam June Paik and American media arti

April 8, 2014

What art can tell us about society

Hundreds of students take a nap with their heads down on wooden desks. There are piles of books, Coke and juice bottles on the long rows. Posted on the wall are slogans encouraging students to stay awake and study harder. The sight offers a hint of strict study plans and the weight of pressure on students before their big exam day. The exhausting scene recalls the intensive study that Korean students endure in their final year of high school. “The competitive college entrance exam poses a lot of

April 6, 2014

Sexy variety show for women, by a woman

The 70-minute show billed as a “sexy variety show” exclusively for women left many in the audience reeling from giddiness even after the curtain had gone down.The sight of eight good-looking young men with ripped bodies ― six-packs, pecs, deltoids and biceps ― tearing off their shirts with abandon, pulling down their pants in the blink of an eye, and lap-dancing for women pulled on to the stage from the audience had the women, ranging in age from 20s to 60s, clapping wildly, squealing with delig

April 4, 2014

Eyelike: NS Yoon-G brings back sexy on ‘Yasisi’

NS Yoon-G brings back sexy on ‘Yasisi’NS Yoon-G“Yasisi”(LOEN Entertainment)Solo female K-pop singer NS Yoon-G has returned to the local music scene with the new EP “Yasisi” and a lead single with the same title that is shamelessly sexy.“Yasisi,” which roughly translates to “sexually alluring,” speaks for itself. The music video features NS Yoon-G dancing seductively while dressed in revealing clothes. She teases and smiles at the men, who are startled by her presence.The lyrics are also quite fl

April 4, 2014

‘Britain’s Got Talent’ child star Connie Talbot returning to Korea

Connie Talbot, who first came into the public eye after competing in the popular TV talent competition program “Britain’s Got Talent” when she was only 6 years old, will be holding her first performance in Korea since nearly six years ago. The now 13-year-old Talbot will be performing live at the Osan Culture & Arts Center in Gyeonggi Province on April 23 and at the Blue Square theater in Hannam-dong, Seoul, on April 27. In her first “Britain’s Got Talent” audition in 2007, the youngster sang an

April 4, 2014

World DJ Festival to return in May

The eighth World DJ Festival, an annual outdoor electronic music festival, will take place at the Yangpyeong Gangsang Sports Park, Gyeonggi Province, next month.The festival will be held May 4 and 5. Each day it will begin at 2 p.m. and continue all night until 5 a.m. the next day. This year, the event falls on a long weekend that includes the national holidays of Children’s Day (May 5) and Buddha’s Birthday (May 6).DJs from both Korea and abroad will play mostly electronic dance music, with hip

April 4, 2014

Stolen Gauguin on Sicily kitchen wall for 40 years

ROME (AP) ― A Paul Gauguin still life stolen from a wealthy collector’s home in Britain decades ago has been recovered after hanging for 40 years in a Sicilian autoworker’s kitchen. The worker bought the painting along with one of lesser value by another French artist, Pierre Bonnard, for about $100 at a 1975 Italian state railway auction of unclaimed lost items, said Maj. Massimiliano Quagliarella of the paramilitary Carabinieri art theft squad. Italian authorities on Wednesday estimated the st

April 3, 2014

Society portrayed in media art

Some 40 Chinese workers stride into a pond, form a line in the middle dividing it into two parts, then shortly after disperse, walking freely in the water. This odd performance is found in a scene from a 1997 video by Zhang Huan of China. His video is among the diverse media artwork by 24 international artists currently on view at the Total Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibits satirically, critically or sometimes humorously depict today’s political and social problems. Zhang intends to “rais

April 3, 2014

Jazz legend Wayne Shorter to perform with quartet April 12

Wayne Shorter, one of the greatest saxophonists in the history of jazz and a 10-time Grammy winner, will stage his second live concert with the Wayne Shorter Quartet at the LG Arts Center in Seoul on April 12.The Wayne Shorter Quartet’s first performance in Korea in 2010 was entirely impromptu, with the pure improvisation dazzling local audiences at the time.The veteran ensemble will return to Seoul once again next week, with new jazz sounds, fresh interpretations and innovative compositions.The

April 3, 2014