BUSAN CHORAL FESTIVAL

Last week I spent two days shooting photos at the Busan Choral Festival & Competition, an annual celebration of choral music featuring singers from all over the world. It was fun getting to see the colorful costumes and chat with choirs from places like Indonesia, Norway, China, and Latvia.

The highlight of the festival was a performance by the renowned Incheon City Chorale, who made a grand entrance down the aisles with thumping drums, hanbok (traditional clothes), and a powerful arrangement that sounded like something from the days of the Chosun Dynasty. Unfortunately, from there their performance devolved into a silly display of Gangnam Style dance moves and pantomimed lovers’ quarrels. I’m all for not taking yourself too seriously, but it seemed strange to undermine an art as elegant as choral music for the sake of a few laughs. The audience seemed to love it though, so maybe I’m just old-fashioned.