Riyadh abuzz with excitement ahead of BTS concert

    RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Major landmarks in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, were lit up in purple late Thursday as the city welcomed global K-pop act BTS and its upcoming concert here.     The septet arrived in Riyadh early Thursday for their historic "Love Yourself: Speak Yourself" concert in the Middle Eastern city's King Fahd International Stadium, set for Friday evening.     One day before the first-ever stadium concert by non

Oct. 11, 2019

BTS' J-Hope becomes 1st BTS soloist to land on Billboard singles chart

J-Hope, a dancer and rapper of K-pop superband BTS, has become the first of the band's seven members to land on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart with a solo song, chart results showed Thursday.J-Hope's "Chicken Noodle Soup," featuring American diva Becky G, a fashionable revival of American musician DJ Webstar and rapper Young B's street hip-hop song of the same name in 2006, landed at 81st on the Hot 100 for the week of Oct. 12, according to Billboard's website.The feat was achieved

Oct. 10, 2019

BTS' pop-up store to entertain fans in Seoul this month

K-pop world stars BTS will open a pop-up store in southern Seoul this month to entertain fans with artworks and fan merchandise, the band's management agency said Thursday.The pop-up store, "House of BTS," will open at a four-story building in Seoul's posh district of Gangnam next Tuesday, according to Big Hit Entertainment. It will run for 80 days till Jan. 5. The fan event, an upgraded version of what Big Hit operated on the sidelines of BTS' world tour concerts in Los Angeles, Chica

Oct. 10, 2019

Trio Owon celebrates 10th anniversary with Russian elegy release

Chamber music ensemble Trio Owon is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the recent release of a new album of Russian elegies. Trio Owon, consisting of cellist Yang Sung-won, pianist Emmanuel Strosser and violinist Olivier Charlier, released its latest album on Oct. 1, including Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50, Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 and Weinberg’s Piano Trio, Op. 24. Philip Bullock, a professor of Russian literature and music at the Uni

Oct. 9, 2019

Baroque music with French flair to grace stage in October

Two Francophone Baroque music ensembles will go onstage here this month. One of the groups, Les Arts Florissants, is a French ensemble founded in 1979 by William Christie. It is credited with efforts to revive 17th to mid-18th century European music. Christie, a conductor and harpsichordist, is often referred to as “a pioneer in the rediscovery of Baroque music” in France, introducing lesser-known French Baroque music pieces. On Oct. 17, the ensemble will present Handel’s

Oct. 7, 2019

[Herald Review] Jarasum becomes island of jazz

GAPYEONG, Gyeonggi Province -- The Jarasum International Jazz Festival took place from Friday to Sunday on Jarasum in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province.The event, launched in 2004, is one of the most successful music festivals here. Hosted on a once-abandoned island, it has garnered a total of 2 million attendees over the years.  On Friday, with the sun glaring, the 16th edition of the annual festival kicked off, featuring 121 artists, 15 overseas acts and eight local acts. Gugak-inspired ja

Oct. 6, 2019

TikTok hopes to form ties with K-pop

Short-form video sharing app TikTok stresses it can be a powerful tool in promoting the ongoing K-pop trend around the world. On Thursday, TikTok officials took to the podium for at the 2019 Seoul International Music Fair held at Coex in southern Seoul to give a presentation titled “The New Kid on the New Music Block: TikTok.”The Chinese app, launched in 2016, is available in 150 countries in 75 languages, and bills itself as a music discovery app, allowing “TikTokers” (T

Oct. 3, 2019

Super Junior, Kang Daniel join lineup of Busan's annual K-pop concert

The organizer of the Busan One Asia Festival, a major annual K-pop concert in the city of Busan, on Wednesday announced the final lineup of its 2019 event, which includes Super Junior, NU'EST and Kang Daniel.BOF 2019 is scheduled to run from Oct. 19-25 at Busan's Hwamyeong Ecological Park, Haeundae Beach and the Busan Cinema Center, as well as other public areas in South Korea's biggest port city, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul.  The festival's three main events -- the K-pop Concert, Hip

Oct. 2, 2019

Tomorrow X Together to release 1st full album this month

K-pop rookie band Tomorrow X Together, also known as TXT, will release its first full-length album this month, its management agency said Wednesday.The upcoming record, "The Dream Chapter: Magic," set for release on Oct. 21, is TXT's second music release since the five-piece band debuted with "The Dream Chapter: Star" in March. The new album is also the second edition in the band's first "The Dream Chapter" album series that follows "the story of boys pursuing

Oct. 2, 2019

EXO's Chen drops 2nd solo EP with retro music

Chen, the main vocalist of popular K-pop boy band EXO, unveiled Tuesday his second solo EP, a six-track record led by the retro pop number "Shall We?"The new EP, "Dear My Dear," follows his first solo EP, "April, and a flower" released in April."Shall We?" targets the autumn music scene, which captures the sentiment of a man having to bid goodnight to his lover through Chen's trendy vocal quality.  Including the lead track, the new album carries "

Oct. 1, 2019

Police search multiple agencies over audition show's alleged vote rigging

Police on Tuesday raided multiple K-pop agencies as part of an investigation into allegations that the entertainment firm CJ ENM's cable music channel rigged the results of its fan-voted idol competition show, "Produce 101," police said.Cyber investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stormed several agencies that represent members of new boy band X1 in Seoul to secure related documents and information. The 11 members rose from obscurity to stardom in the Mnet audition sho

Oct. 1, 2019

Ex-Virgin Music chief says BTS opened door to success in US for other K-pop acts

The wild global success of Korean boy band BTS is not a stand-alone case but has opened the door for many more K-pop music acts to make inroads into the American music market, a high-profile US music executive said Tuesday."BTS is a great success story. But BTS broke the ice; it is not the ice," Phil Quartararo, CEO of Tripod Partners, said in a press conference on the sidelines of MU:CON, the biggest K-pop fair in South Korea. Quartararo has served in top roles at Virgin Music, Warner

Oct. 1, 2019

MAMA stirs controversy with decision to hold this year's event in Japan

CJ ENM is generating a bit of controversy over its choice of Japan as the sole destination for this year's Mnet Asian Music Awards despite unprecedented trade and diplomatic rows between Seoul and Tokyo.A week earlier, the media and entertainment unit of the conglomerate CJ unveiled Nagoya as the city to host the biggest K-pop award event in Asia, set for Dec. 4 at the 30,000-seat Nagoya Dome.This marks the third year in a row a Japanese city will be hosting MAMA after CJ held the award show as

Sept. 30, 2019

[Herald Review] Seoul Forest carried away by jazz music

Over the weekend, jazz music took over Seoul Forest, a park in eastern Seoul. The third Seoul Forest Jazz Festival took place Saturday and Sunday, and one of the highlights was a performance by the legendary jazz vocalist Park Sung-yeon. Park paved the way for jazz musicians in South Korea with Janus, the first jazz-only club in the country.    At 76, Park appeared onstage in a wheelchair but her voice was as powerful as ever, with soulful touches that gave the songs a sorrowful y

Sept. 30, 2019

FT Island's Lee Hong-gi enlists in Army

Lee Hong-gi, a member of K-pop boy band FT Island, temporarily left the music scene to join the Army on Monday.The 30-year-old started his mandatory military service at a boot camp of the Army's 21st Division in Yanggu, Gangwon Province, as an active duty soldier."I am really grateful (to the fans) and will be back safely," Lee told journalists and fans who came to the site of his enlistment.  "I will be safeguarding my voice as I promised. ... We will meet again someday,&quo

Sept. 30, 2019

BLACKPINK's 'Kill This Love' video tops 600m YouTube views

The video for BLACKPINK's latest song, "Kill This Love," surpassed the milestone of 600 million YouTube views on Sunday. The music video topped the threshold Sunday morning, 177 days after its official release on YouTube in April, according to the K-pop band's management agency, YG Entertainment.  It is the shortest period a K-pop music video has amassed more than 600 million YouTube views. Previously, BLACKPINK's "Ddu-du Ddu-du" held the record as the K-pop video that a

Sept. 29, 2019

BTS' J-Hope releases collaboration with Becky G

J-Hope, a member of K-pop boy band BTS, will release Friday a hip hop single featuring American musician Becky G, his management agency said. The song, "Chicken Noodle Soup," set for release Friday evening through BTS' official social media channels, is a recreation of the namesake song released by American musician, DJ Webstar and rapper Young B.  The new song will also come with a music video featuring J-Hope and Becky G, according to Big Hit Entertainment. J-Hope wrote Kor

Sept. 27, 2019

Gugak orchestra to present works composed by foreigners

The Contemporary Gugak Orchestra will present gugak, traditional Korean music, composed by foreigners. The orchestra will hold its 98th regular presentation “Hidden Sides & Unique Beauty of Gugak” on Friday and Saturday at the National Gugak Center.  According to the project’s music director Kye Sung-won, the audience will be able to see the difference between foreign and Korean composers’ approach to gugak.“The title ‘Hidden Sides’ refers to h

Sept. 26, 2019

Music festivals coming this fall

While rock festivals cooled us down in the summer heat, autumn is the perfect time to appreciate other music genres. Starting this weekend, jazz and pop music festivals are set to take place around the country. Celebrating the beautiful fall weather, these outdoor festivals afford a chance to enjoy colorful foliage from a picnic mat, sipping wine with family and friends. Jazz at Seoul Forest  Seoul Forest, located in eastern Seoul, is a park that covers 1.16 million square meters. On Friday

Sept. 25, 2019

BTS video 'Blood Sweat & Tears' hits 500m YouTube views

BTS' 2016 music video "Blood Sweat & Tears" surpassed the YouTube milestone of 500 million views Wednesday, becoming the eighth BTS video do to so.The video for "Blood Sweat & Tears," the main track of the K-pop band's second full-length album, "Wings," hit the threshold Wednesday morning, nearly three years since its release in October 2016. It was the eighth BTS music video to pass the milestone. Other BTS videos that have achieved the feat include "D

Sept. 25, 2019