Saturday, August 02, 2008

Korean Pachelbel

Andrew Leonard at Salon has an short, interesting piece on the odd permeation of Johann Pachelbel in Korean pop culture. He links to a small number of Korean versions of Pachelbel's pieces, including a beatboxing piano player. The best of that set is a version of his Canon in D, the most famous of his pieces, played on the gayageum, a sixth-century Korean instrument akin to the zither. It's a fantastic rendition. I'm sure there's a lot of the stuff out there, but I don't think that I've ever heard one classical tradition interpret another. If anybody knows of anything, clue me in.

On another note, I'm sorry for my absence from the blog over the past month. Sometimes, no matter how much I love doing it, the process of writing is the most brutally frustrating experience in the world for me.