As both a scholar of traditional Korean music and a leading musician on the cutting edge of modern Korean avant garde music, ByungKi Hwang occupies a unique position on the world music scene. Known for his stellar mastery of the Korean zither known as a kayagum, Hwang's music reflects both the long history of Korea as well as the country's eager advance toward the future.

Teenage wonder

Hwang was born in Seoul in 1936. He showed an early affinity for the kayagum, and began studying it in his teens. After graduating from Seoul National University with a law degree in 1959, he began composing a new type of music for the kayagum.

"The Forest"

His breakthrough was a piece called "The Forest". Korea was shaken by this new music: it was the first modern composition in Korea, and opened the door for many other musicians to begin rebuilding and growing Korea's musical reputation. "The Forest" can be heard on the Chimhyang-moo CD.

Modern tastes

Using traditional Korean instruments to play music written frm a modern perspective, Hwang and his contemporaries offered the world a new, impassioned and forward-thinking kind of music for Korea. Hwang, for his part, was eventually completely focused on the kayagum, drawn to it, he said, "like butterflies attracted to flowers".

Honolulu

His fame spread worldwide in 1965 at the Festival of Music and Art of This Century, an international event held in Honolulu, Hawaii. After that, he began performing his kayagum pieces all around the world. Hwang is primarily a concert musician, and there are only a few scattered recordings available.

Awards

He has won several presitgious awards in his lifetime, including:

1954 - National Traditional Music Competition

1956 - National Traditional Music Competition

1965 - National Music Prize

1973 - Korean Cinema Music Award

1990 - Performing Artist of the Year (Korean Critic's Association)

1992 - Jungang Cultural Grand Prize

Encouraging a new generation

Besides his seminal "The Forest", other notable works by ByungKi Hwang include "The Silk Road", "The Labyrinth", and "Spring Snow", and "Chimhyang-moo". In addition to his busy playing schedule, Hwang has always sought to encourage new generations of musicians through his writings and teachings in Korea.

How to get
a ton of
free music

1. Find some albums you want to hear.

2. Register for a free trial at Rhapsody.

3. Stream unlimited music for 14 days, then cancel with no obligation!

3,000,000+ songs available, including these albums:

No database selected