Park Jiha

Park Jiha first gained attention as the leader and producer of the duo 숨[su:m], which she founded with a fellow musician. Park played traditional Korean instruments like the piri (a double-reed bamboo flute), saenghwang (a mouth-blown pipe organ), and the yanggeum (a hammered dulcimer).

Now Park has begun a new ensemble named Park Jiha. The Seoul-based group’s instrumentation is similar to 숨[su:m]’s but adds percussion, saxophone, bass clarinet and vibraphone.

Park Jiha‘s sound is not easy to categorise. The pieces feature cavalcades of notes that crescendo and then fade to a whisper like great post-rock songs. At times Park’s compositions feel as unbound and as improvisatory as free jazz. The dense textures recall ambient electronic music. The first album of Park Jiha, entitled Communion, was released in 2016. A selections from this album will be played in this showcase.