East Asian Music Performance in the Music Library-Friday, March 5th

Friday, March 5th

Time: 6:30p–8:00p

Location: 14E-109, Lewis Music Library

MIT’s pungmul group, Oori, will perform a short set followed by KIOKU‘s experimental and improvisatory approach to East Asian music. MIT Visiting Assistant Professor Christopher Ariza is a member of the trio comprising KIOKU.

The NYC based ensemble KIOKU creates a new terrain between traditional Asian music and collaborative improvisation. The trio consists of MIT Visiting Assistant Professor Christopher Ariza (live electronics), Wynn Yamami (taiko and percussion), and Ali Sakkal (saxophones). The group has performed at the Vision Festival, Edgetone Summit, Galapagos, Rubin Museum, and Noguchi Museum, and held an artist residency at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, New York. KIOKU’s premier CD, Both Far and Near, was described in All About Jazz as “fiercely aggressive in its crusade for a powerful, liberated music that takes the great tradition of free jazz and steeps it in Japanese spirituality.”

Oori, MIT’s student pungmul group, performs traditional Korean music. Employing jang-goo (an hour-glass shaped drum), kwaeng-ga-ri, (a small gong), jing (a larger gong), and buk (a barrel drum), Oori brings to life musical traditions extending back hundreds of years. The group consists of MIT students and community members from a variety of backgrounds.

This event is free and open to the public.  It is co-sponsored by the MIT Libraries and the Music and Theater Arts Section.