2018 WOMEX (World Music Expo) Official Selection

2018 Mundial Montreal (North America's World Music Summit) Official Selection 

2019 SXSW (South by South West) Official Selection - DUO BUD

2021 SEOUL PAMS CHOICE Official Selection 

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Korean percussionist, performance artist, world musician, and producer Kim So Ra is celebrated for her uninhibited, boundary-crossing activities in the World Music scene. After the release of her 1st album A Sign of Rain in 2018, she successfully debuted in Europe and North America as an official showcase artist at the world’s biggest music exposition WOMEX 2018 and North American World Music Summit Mundial Montreal, respectively. In 2019, her first album A Sign of Rain was nominated for Korean Music Awards Best Jazz & Crossover Album. During her solo world tour, Kim was invited to reputable venues and festivals in 24 cities across 7 different countries in Europe and North America. In order to play and perform more freely with Korean rhythms, Kim has participated in numerous collaborations and projects, ultimately forming a genre of her own. She is on a continuous journey to explore the outer limits of Korean drumming, Korean performing arts, and world music at large to make new music that is both familiar yet distinctly hers.

 

The complex and energetic performances of Kim So Ra’s 2nd album Landscape (2021) are more expressive and less restrained. She aims to present the distinct rhythms and timbres of traditional percussion, changed yet unchanged, in a more modern and sophisticated format. Pungmul and Shamanic rhythms have been passed down for generations across Korea’s eight provinces. Through contemporary reimaginings of those traditional patterns and the expression of joy and release in her music, Kim aims to create a sort of ritual in which we can all take part in and find comfort. In the deep and boundless realm of Korean rhythms, there is endless variety. With the addition of the thick and raspy tones of the piri, the taepyeongso, and the saenghwang, Kim aims to provide immersive performances with a deep harmony between the performers that goes down to the breath. As you listen to the music of Landscape, may you reflect on the landscapes that lay before each one of you. Whether they are fantastic and joyful or desolate and dismal, may hope always be on the horizon.

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Achievement

• 2021 Seoul Art Market PAMS CHOICE Official Showcase Artist [Kim SO RA]

• 2021 ARKO Selction Repertoire of the Year [Kim So Ra]

• 2021 Kim So Ra’s Reflections [A sign of Rain] Publication 

• 2020 WOMADelaide, WOMAD N.Z Festival Official Performance [Kim So Ra]

• 2019 Europe & North America World tour 22 cities 6 different countries [Kim So Ra] 

• 2019 South by South West (SXSW) Official Showcase Artist [DUO BUD] 

• 2018 WOMEX [The World Music Expo] Official Showcase Artist [Kim So Ra] Las Palmas de Gran canaria, Spain 

• 2018 Canada Mundial Montreal North America’s World Music Summit

        [North America’s World Music Summit] Official Showcase Artist [Kim So Ra] 

• 2018 Seoul Music Week Official Showcase artist [Kim So Ra]

• 2017 Ulsan Apam [Asian Pacific Music Meeting] Official Showcase artist [Kim So Ra]

• 2016 France Babel Med Music festival official Showcase artist [DUO BUD] 

 

Major Works

• kim So Ra - Landscape <2020>

• Kim So Ra Janggu Project III - A Sign of Rain <2017>

• Kim So Ra Janggu Project II - Rhythm Connections <2014>

• Kim So Ra Janggu Project I - Turn the Stage <2010>

 

Discography​​

• 2021 Kim So Ra 2nd Solo album released [LANDSCAPE]

• 2021 DUO BUD 2nd album released  [BODERLINE] 

• 2019 Kim So Ra [Honam U-do Jeong cup Nongak Garak ] album released 

• 2018 Kim So Ra 1st Solo album released  [A SIGN OF RAIN] 

• 2017 DUO BUD 1st album released  [STARLIGHT CONSOLATION ] 

• 2016 DUO BUD Digital Single released [ LIGHT ]
  2016 Numori 1st album released [Guna Guna] 

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• Studied Honam Udo under Master Yu Ji Hwa, horder of Jeongup Nongak

        (Jeollabuk-do Province intangible cultural treasure No. 7-2)

• Founder and Director of Norikkot, Women’s Traditional Arts Troupe, Korea

• Founder of World music Duo ‘BUD’, South Korea

 

Awards

• Jung-gang Gukak Prize / South Korea 2018

• First Place ( KB Sori Prize) in World music Category at the Sori Frontier, JeonJu International Sori Festival in 2015 / South Korea

• First Place in the pungmul category at the 10th National Women’s Korean Traditional Music Festival in 2012 / South Korea

• First Place in the creative performing arts category at the 13th In-cheon Bupyeong Pungmul Festival in 2011/ South Korea

• First Place at the 10th Anseong Baudeogi Pungmul Festival in 2010

• First Place in the drum accompaniment category at the 11th Seopyeonje Boseong Sori Festival in 2009 / South Korea

• First Place in the percussion category at the 11th Bupyeong Pungmul Festival in 2007 / South Korea

 

Education

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Kyung Hee University Ph.D. course completion. South Korea

Chung-Ang University, Bachelor, Master course Degree. South Korea 

2012 August, Master of Music in Korean Music, Awarded a Full Scholarship.

2012 August, Master of Music in Korean Music, Awarded a Full Scholarship.

2004 Enter percussion and performance course at Chung-ang University’s School of Korean music, Awarded a Full Scholarship.

2007 Start master course at Chung-ang University’s Graduate school of Korean music.

2007 Studied Korean music for orchestra as minor at Chung-ang University’s School of Korean music.

2007 Early graduation with honors from Chung-ang University’s School of Korean music with major in percussion and performance.

 

Thesis: The Development of and Performance of Janggu Nori of Jeoungeup Nongak: with a Focus on Yu-Ji Hwa Janggu Nori.

 

Bachelor of Music in Korean Music, August 2007. Awarded a Full Scholarship