The four members of Korean Irish band Gan Ainm / Courtesy of Gan Ainm
One of the music acts set to perform at the St. Patrick's Day Festival this Saturday is the somewhat mysteriously named Gan Ainm.
Gaelic for "without name," the band features four talented Korean musicians. This includes banjo player Darren Choi, fiddler Koh Hae-young, concertinist Koh Seulki and vocalist and guitarist Zee.
This will be Gan Ainm's first appearance at the annual festival, organized by the Irish Association of Korea.
When Choi, a Korean national whose real name is Jong-wook, joined the band in 2013, it wasn't all Koreans. He entered the picture when he attended a traditional music session and met Patricia Jones, the band's button accordion player. After the departure of some of the original members, it was down to him, Jones and Hae-young on fiddle. They went busking almost every weekend, and occasionally played other shows, including for charities.
It was around this time when the band settled on Gan Ainm as the name, as they didn't want to spend too much more time thinking it over.
"After much deliberation, Patricia, feeling a bit lazy about the whole process, simply suggested 'Gan Ainm,' and everyone agreed," Choi said.
The current lineup was only finalized last year, although the four members have all known each other for a long time. The band previously had several foreign members, and the current all-Korean roster wasn't deliberate.
"I guess it might seem unique to some people, but personally, I don’t consider it particularly special," Choi said. "Perhaps it’s because, although the music has 'Irish' attached to it, it has a certain universality like rock or jazz, and is performed all over the world."
Choi himself was first exposed to Irish traditional music back when he took a course at Hanyang University on folk music from around the world.
Source: Korea Times News
