Explore East Asian History, Arts and Cultures at USC Libraries: Traditional Korean Music

Join us as Gamin Kang, the distinguished Korean-born award-winning multi-instrumentalist who specializes in traditional Korean wind instruments known as the piri (double-reed Korean oboe), taepyongso (double-reed horn), and saenghwang (mouth organ), introduces us to some of the best of traditional Korean gugak (national music).

Gamin tours the world performing traditional Korean music and engages in numerous cross-disciplinary collaborations. She holds a doctorate in Korean traditional music from Seoul National University and she is a designated Yisuja, official holder of South Korea’s Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 46.  From 2000 to 2010, Dr. Kang was the principal piri player at the National Gugak Orchestra in Seoul. Since moving to the United States, Kang has received several cultural exchange program grants and fellowships. She was an Artist-in-Residence at the Asian Cultural Council and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania in 2018. Her book on piri techniques was awarded the Art Research Award from Seoul Arts Council in 2016. Dr. Kang has collaborated in cross-cultural improvisation with world-acclaimed musicians and she has premiered new compositions at venues such as Roulette Theater, The New School, and the Metropolitan Museum. She was a featured artist at the Silkroad concert in Seoul (2018), performing on stage with the founder, Yo-Yo Ma. Since 2018, Dr. Kang has curated performances at the Center for Remembering and Sharing in New York City. In 2020, Dr. Kang was selected as an Artist-in-Residence at the HERE Arts Center, NYC, and her album “Nong” was released by Innova Records. Her Carnegie Hall solo début, accompanied by Nangye Gugak Orchestra, was scheduled for March 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic. In 2021-2022, Gamin Kang was awarded the prestigious two-year Jerome Hill Foundation Artist Fellowship.

Sponsors: USC Van Hunnick History Department and Korean Heritage Library