NEW YORK (AP) ― I’ll tell want you want, what you really, really want: Girl groups.Even if you don’t want them ― they’re back on the scene. A new batch of pop tarts are ready to dominate the charts and fill a void since best-selling groups like Destiny’s Child, TLC and the Spice Girls aren’t dropping songs as fast as music fans want them.The duo Icona Pop has one of the year’s biggest hits ― and possible song of the summer ― with the anthem “I Love It.’’ Little Mix won U.K.’s “The X Factor’’ in

July 17, 2013

DAEGU ― Large red balloons with white polka dots hang like big character balloons at an amusement park, greeting viewers as they enter the fun, strange world of Yayoi Kusama created at Daegu Art Museum.More fun awaits as one takes a closer look inside the balloons ― infinitely mirrored space with small red-and-white polka-dotted balloons stretching endlessly into the distance. The large-scale installation, which fills up to the ceiling of the three-story museum, is one of the new works by the ac

July 16, 2013

Singer Roy Kim’s agency on Tuesday denied rumors that Kim plagiarized a song by another musician while writing his debut single “Spring Spring Spring.”“After consulting several experts on the matter, we came to conclude that it is not plagiarism,” CJ E&M, the 20-year-old singer’s agency, said in an official statementThe agency added that Kim and other artists who participated in the composition of the song had never listened to “Love is Canon” by indie artist Acoustic Rain, which Kim is suspecte

July 16, 2013

The world-renowned Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, is due to perform various classical choral pieces at Seongnam Arts Center on Aug. 8. Led by conductor Stephen Cleobury, the choir will be performing for the third time in Korea. The choir has a history of more than 500 years. After King Henry VI founded King’s College in 1441, he established and designated an official choir for daily mass at the university.  Cleobury, the choir’s music director, has been conducting the choir since 1982. The

July 15, 2013

The 110 members of KBS Symphony Orchestra and China National Symphony Orchestra will have a special joint concert this month in both countries. The first performance will be held in Beijing on July 20 at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, which will be followed by the Seoul concert on July 26 at the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall. The Seoul concert will raise the curtain with Chinese composer Li Huanzhi’s “Spring Festival Overture” under the baton of Li Xin Qiao, principal director of

July 15, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― Since it began, rap has found ways to offend. Whether for political content, sexual imagery, misogyny, violence or coarse humor, rappers have found themselves having to defend their words on a regular basis, no matter how innocuous ― or extreme.Those defenses have typically been defiant. So it was a bit startling when both Lil Wayne and Rick Ross ― under intense fire over rhymes deemed offensive ― gave mea culpas for their words amid threats of boycotts and a loss of major endors

July 15, 2013

Long before the emergence of El Zorro and Batman, there was Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy and at times silly Englishman who disguised himself as the elusive “Scarlet Pimpernel” to rescue French aristocrats from death in Revolutionary France.Hungarian-born British novelist Emma Orczy’s (1865-1947) 1905 novel “The Scarlet Pimpernel” is what created the “original hero with a secret identity,” that eventually inspired subsequent and famous literary hero characters such as Don Diego de la Vega, a nob

July 14, 2013

If music is a universal language North Korean pianist Kim Cheol-woong found perhaps one of its best uses.On Saturday, Kim illustrated his spoken account of his journey in pursuit of musical freedom with a mix of compositions at a concert at Haechi Hall in Seoul, organized by the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), for which Kim is a cultural ambassador.Kim, who comes from an elite North Korean family, entered the stage exuding modesty and a warm sense of humor.In between pla

July 14, 2013

Korean rock legend Shin Joong-hyun will be joining the all-star line-up at this year’s Hyundai Card Super Concert 19 City Break festival in August. Going head-to-head with rival summer music festivals such as Ansan Valley and Incheon Pentaport Rock Festivals, the two-day City Break event will feature the 75-year-old guitarist alongside headliners Metallica, Muse, Iggy and The Stooges and Limp Bizkit. They will be joined by local acts including Jang Ki-ha and the Faces and Kwon Soon-kwan. Shin st

July 14, 2013

Dance“Onegin”: Korea’s Universal Ballet Company is presenting John Cranko’s three-act ballet using Tchaikovsky’s music in an arrangement by Kurt-Heins Stolze. It is based on Alexander Pushkin’s 19th-century novel “Eugune Onegin,” which features the tragic love story of a young, but selfish and arrogant man. Two American Ballet Theater dancers ― Korean-born Seo Hee and Roberto Bolle ― have been invited to perform the leads. Meanwhile, the show on Saturday will be the troupe’s long time principal

July 12, 2013

Roy Kim’s 1st album showcases soothing vocals Roy Kim “Love Love Love”(CJ E&M)Roy Kim’s first album, “Love Love Love,” shows off his soft, calming vocals with a mix of gentle acoustic sounds and soft rock. The album includes a total of nine tracks, including “Spring Spring Spring,” which was released in the spring as a single. The title track “Love Love Love” is one of the more fast-paced songs on the album, starting with a simple guitar and voice melody that builds up to a five-instrument ensem

July 12, 2013

The lavish and decorative paintings of Alphonse Mucha, the master of Art Nouveau, are on exhibit in Seoul for the first time, shedding light on the first era of modern art and its development in the late 19th century. The “Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau and Utopia” exhibition at Seoul Arts Center introduces 235 works of Mucha, one of the most celebrated artists in the Czech Republic, which are leading examples of the Art Nouveau style. “Mucha is regarded as an artist known for his decorative poster

July 11, 2013