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Special Event: Exploring Korean Culture

Korean games, treats, and music bring together traditional culture with contemporary expressions of Korean and Korean American identity. Registration requested.

This intergenerational program explores different aspects of Korean and Korean American culture, to offer an opportunity for community members to come together, share in cultural experiences and learn about Korean identity. Registration is requested, but not required. Events feature:

Social Hour: 10 - 11 a.m.

During the first hour, explore traditional Korean games and sample beverages and snacks treasured within Korean communities as familiar treats. 

Musical Lecture and Performance: 11 a.m. - noon

Composer, improviser, and master of the haegeum Soo Yeon Lyuh offers a lecture on this traditional Korean two-stringed instrument, discussing some other traditional Korean instruments as well and showing clips of some of her performances. Vocalist Claire Shin follows with English language songs interpreted through her Korean American identity. The program concludes with Soo Yeon Lyuh joining Claire Shin for a performance of the celebrated Korean folk song "Arirang."
 

About the musicians:

Soo Yeon Lyuh is a composer, improviser, and master of the haegeum, a two-stringed Korean bowed instrument. Lyuh’s work strikes a balance between originality and tradition, borrowing and recontextualizing familiar gestures from Korean music. Her soundscape follows a logic of texture, pacing, feeling, and unexpected turns. ​In 2021, Lyuh began doctoral studies in composition at Princeton University. Previously, Lyuh earned her D.M.A. in Korean Traditional Music from Seoul National University. As a lecturer, she is sought after for her ability to impart valuable insight and intercultural understanding to those unfamiliar with Korean traditional music.

Claire Shin, hailing from Queens, New York, is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and daughter of two Korean immigrants. She is a current Princeton junior studying Computer Science and Music. While she loves to sing sad and powerful songs, her songwriting draws from all sides of her life and values, from the classic ups and downs of heartbreak and love, to existential crises, to her fascination for space. Her inspirations are similarly scattered across genres: with influences from Joji to SZA to boygenius to Hozier, her music is a complete representation of her vibrant nerdiness and personality. Check her out on YouTube or TikTok.

Presented in partnership with Woori Mart Princeton and with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Community Room Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Assistive listening system compatible with personal T-coil-enabled devices (compatible headphones also available for use during programs)
• English-language subtitles for films (when available)
• If there is an accommodation that you need or would like so that you can fully enjoy library programs, please visit our Accommodations Request Form.

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