Q+A with Ha-Yang Kim

1. Can you briefly describe how you first were exposed/inspired bynon western music?As a young girl growing up in a Korean household in Seattle, I first heard the beautiful and mysterious sounds of traditional Korean songs which sounded familiar yet felt distant. Perhaps one of the reasons why I am attracted to music from other worlds is my desire to diminish that feeling of "distance." Over the years, in addition to listening to music from every part of the world, I have played Balinese gamelan, worked with Korean samulnori musicians, and studied South Indian classical music (Karnatic) concepts, all which have profoundly shaped my creative ideas.2. What qualities attract you to have personal experiences with nonwestern music/musicians? What do you find meaningful in thisexchange and why?The spirit of the music and music making, first and foremost. The power and magical transformative nature of the music and process. The essential relationship and value music has within all communities and our everyday life. To better understand the individual and collective spiritual existence through the evocation of dreams, memories, mythology, play, spirit, intensity.3. In what ways have these experiences changed or affected yourcreative process, in composition and performance?To start, an internalization process is crucial for the music to become alive and authentic. The aural approach in Balinese, Korean and Karnatic music traditions emphasize an intense listening and feeling for the music before reading or notation. This approach complements my Western conservatory studies which prominently places notational literacy as the typical method in communicating musical ideas. From my experiences in non western music, I have incorporated wholly into my musical thoughts/being, in broad terms: astounding rhythmical sophistication, vast tuning systems and microtonality, variations of form and structure, an exuberant and brilliant palette of sounds, dynamic performance practices, virtuosity which yields infinite expressions, the inseparable connection to rituals and a spiritual existence.