South Korean psychedelic folk group Coreyah, which fuses traditional Korean music with contemporary global sounds, performed at the Hanover Inn at 7:30 p.m. on April 17. The event was held in the Inn’s ballroom and organized by the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
Featuring guitarist Choi Jongmin, percussionist Kyungyi and vocalist Ham Boyoung alongside three traditional musicians — who play traditional Korean instruments — in flutist Kim Dongkun, geomungo player Kim Yerin and percussionist Jeong Junkyu, Coreyah has pioneered an eclectic sound that honors traditional instruments while drawing from a range of modern musical styles.
According to the Hopkins Center’s website, the concert was supported by Mid Atlantic Arts’s Performing Arts Global Exchange. The exchange funds the programming of an “annually curated roster of international performing artists” by U.S. presenters as part of its mission to foster “cultural exchange and understanding” through the arts, according to its website.
According to Hopkins Center program manager Karen Henderson, the band also participated in community engagement activities during their visit, including an interactive networking event, lunch with the Hop fellows — a cohort of students selected each year for a three-term fellowship in the arts — and a local high school visit, where they discussed their instruments and performed.
Coreyah was founded by An Sangwoo in 2010 with its current setup: three traditional and three non-traditional musicians, according to the Hop website. Coreyah’s agent Shawn Choi said the band formed out of its members’ interest in making music with traditional instruments. Two of the original members are still in the band today, according to Choi.
Choi said Coreyah’s vision of integrating traditional music with other global sounds was ingrained from its founding. He noted, however, that the group is “always looking for [a] new kind of sound” and “exploring many different” ones. According to Choi, one example of their musical exploration is a recent concert program that incorporated sounds from the Indian tabla — a traditional drum — and sitar, a stringed instrument in the lute family.
He added that the group’s current self-description as a “psychedelic Korean folk band” is influenced by 1960s and 1970s British and American psychedelic rock, coupled with more folksy sounds.
Having toured in 34 countries and released four full-length albums, Coreyah has reached an audience as global as their sound. During the pandemic, the group also released a video for NPR’s popular “Tiny Desk (Home) Concert” series with songs from their 2020 album, “Clap & Applause.”
Daniel Burmester, fellowships and student initiatives manager at the Hop, said he initially perceived the band as “a beautiful marriage [of sounds]” that he did “not even understand.”
“I noticed … from my Western ear, the rhythm of that music is different, but then it seemingly seamlessly interacted with rhythm and sound that I understood in my Western ear,” Burmester said. “I was just so impressed.”
With its upbeat rhythms, Choi said “Clap & Applause” — which made up the bulk of Wednesday’s lineup — marks a new direction for the band. He added that the album was inspired by Coreyah’s experience performing at international festivals for audiences who reacted strongly to more “upbeat” sounds.
As a result, the group wanted their new music to literally “inspire people to clap and applaud” as well as “dance together,” according to Choi.
Hop fellow Lauren Kang ’25 called this interactive aspect “the most exciting” part for her, citing moments in the concert when the band asked the audience to clap along to certain songs with increasingly complex rhythms.
Henderson said space limitations from the Hop’s ongoing renovation have necessitated the production of somewhat scaled-back — or more “unplugged” — versions of artists’ performances with fewer technical elements, such as lighting, production and sound.
However, Henderson said that the new situation “works for a lot of artists … and actually makes it a more intimate experience.” In this case, the concert featured a backdrop of dynamic fluorescent projection lighting, which Kang said facilitated a “mesmerizing” and “enveloping” experience.
Bookended by bluesy, hypnotic rhythms (the vocalist prefaced the last song, “Good Dreams,” by describing it as “sentimental”), the 11 songs in the middle of the set featured layered sounds and vocals spanning a large emotional spectrum — from soulful to playful to ecstatic.
Several of the traditional musicians performed solos showcasing their instruments’ sounds, which Kang characterized as irreproducible by other instruments.
Audience member Kevin Engel ’27 said they were struck by how the band members’ approaches to playing the instruments seemed to vary from song to song.
“They were all so talented in the ways that they … kind of changed the way that they use [their instruments] to fit a more modern sound,” Kang said.
Engel also highlighted the “unifying” nature of Coreyah’s performance — which brought people together through both the shared experience of live music and by portraying music as an art form.
“We [may] have different languages, but I know you can feel [the songs],” Engel said, “And while I was listening, [I thought] … you’re able to understand those meanings through the music.”
Kang said she has found her experiences with live music at Dartmouth to be “magical,” recalling the time an Icelandic artist performed at the Collis Center.
Additionally, as a half-Korean student, Kang said she appreciated the band’s visit as a “chance to find Korean culture on campus.” She recalled a memorable moment during Coreyah’s lunch with the Hop fellows when some band members showed her how to write her Korean name.
Hanover was the first stop of Coreyah’s current U.S. tour, which will last for about two weeks and includes performances at venues in six other cities and at a festival in Louisiana.
Although securing funding for international travel has been challenging, Choi said the enthusiasm of crowd reactions during overseas performances — especially during summer festivals — makes it worth it. He added that he plans to “bring [Coreyah] back” to the United States next year.
Kang and Engel said they would approve. As of Wednesday, they said they have both eagerly joined the ranks of Coreyah’s Spotify followers.
