Gamin And Sanctuary To Present UNFORGOTTEN SONG

Gamin and Sanctuary will present "Unforgotten Song," a music and multimedia work, that commemorates the anguish of the Comfort Women, local women enslaved throughout Japan-occupied East Asia, 1932-1945.

This tribute is intended to include all women who are and have been victims of sexual violence and exploitation. These songs of our strong and resilient Mothers and Grandmothers must be "unforgotten" to inspire the following generations of women and men.

At its heart, the concert transforms archived songs sung by survivors into tales of resilience, courage, and strength in the face of suffering and injustice. In poignant irony, gamin's composition results in a beautiful yet heart-breaking paean not only for victims in the past but also for all women who are deeply suffering from injustice in the world.

This multi-media work envisioned a suite of compositions all connected by improvised melodies, like a stream that flows from one thought to the next. The improvisation and soundtrack would be created by Korean woodwinds by gamin and it will be combined with visual art.

Gamin Kang, known simply as "gamin," composer, multi-instrumentalist, improviser, distinguished soloist, tours the world performing traditional Korean music and cross-disciplinary collaborations. gamin is a designated Yisuja, official holder of Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 46 for Piri (double-reed oboe) music.

Re-inventing new sonorities from ancient, somewhat restrictive, musical systems, gamin has collaborated with world-acclaimed musicians Jane Ira Bloom, Laurie Anderson, Jen Shyu, Elliot Sharp, presented at Roulette Theater, New School, and Metropolitan Museum, NYC. As an ongoing collaborative Artist with the Silkroad Project, gamin was featured artist in Seoul, 2018, performing on-stage with founder Yo-Yo Ma.

As a mostly self-taught composer, gamin's style is grounded on her eclectic background, western classical music, Korean shamanic ritual music, and NY avant-garde experimental music scene. She has created inter-cultural music performances free of western notation, that highlight her unique contemporary-traditional identity, resulting in a structured improvisation.

Currently, gamin is resident artist at HERE Arts Center, and Jerome Hill Fellowship composer 2021-22. Her newest creations are works in progress. gamin's Carnegie Hall début as featured soloist, accompanied by Orchestra of Korea, scheduled for March 2020, was postponed for Covid. www.gaminmusic.com

Chang-Jin Lee is a Korean-born New York artist. Her "Comfort Women" artworks are based on interviews with survivors in 7 different countries, including Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Filipino, and Dutch "comfort women" survivors, and a former Japanese soldier.

She is a recipient of numerous awards including The New York State Council on the Arts Grant, The Korean Ministry of Gender Equality Award, The Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, The Asian Women Giving Circle Grant, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's MCAF, and The Socrates Sculpture Park Fellowship.

She has presented nationally and internationally, including at The Queens Museum of Art (NY), The World Financial Center Winter Garden (NY), The Buk Seoul Museum of Art (Korea), The Comfort Women Museum (Taiwan), The Kunstmuseum Bonn (Germany),The State Museum of Gulag (Russia), 1a Space Gallery (Hong Kong), and Socrates Sculpture Park (NY).

Her artworks have been featured including in The BBC, The Huffington Post, Art Asia Pacific, Public Art, NPR, and The NY Times.

www.changjinlee.net

Adam Robinson is a shakuhachi player based in New York City. He studies in the classical tradition of the Kinko school of shakuhachi with Ralph Samuelson in New York and with Tokumaru Jumei in Tokyo.

To supplement his shakuhachi training he studies Japanese ensemble music with acclaimed koto and shamisen players Sumie Kanekon (Yamada School) and Yoko Hiraoka (Ikuta School). Adam attended The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music where he studied jazz improvisation and tenor saxophone. He currently performs with the Columbia University Gagaku Ensemble, The Hudson Valley Shakuhachi Choir, performs solo concerts in the New York area, and leads the Brooklyn Shakuhachi Club. Adam sends a monthly email report with updates about shakuhachi performances and writings about the study of traditional Japanese culture. You can sign up at www.adamrobinsonmusic.com.

Tanya (Hyonhye) Ko Hong (고현혜) is an internationally published poet, translator, and cultural-curator who champions bilingual poetry and poets. She is the author of five books, including The War Still Within (KYSO Flash Press, 2019). Her poetry appears in Rattle, Beloit Poetry Journal, WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly (The Feminist Press), the Choson Ilbo, and The Korea Times, among others. She holds an MFA degree from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Tanya's work has won the Dritëro Agolli award, at the International Korçare Poetry Festival, Yun Doon-ju Korean-American Literature Award, Ko Won's 10th Literary Award was a finalist in Frontier's Chapbook Contest, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In 2015, her segmented poem, "Comfort Woman," received an honorable mention from the Women's National Book Association. Weaving together two cultures, Tanya's poetry gives voice to multiple generations of Korean and Korean-American women. Her most recent collection, The War Still Within includes a well-researched and vividly imagined sequence of poems based on the experiences of the Korean "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

Tickets are free and open to the public. Register on eventbrite at the link below. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unforgotten-song-tickets-370224871557

Special Thanks to Chinatown Partnership LDC

As part of gamin's projects, it has been continuously supported by New York State Council on the Arts, Jerome Hill Foundation, and New Music USA.