“This is my new baby,” DoYeon Kim said and beamed as she unzipped one of several tall, thin instrument cases leaning against the wall of the practice room in her South Brooklyn duplex. She drew out a gorgeous 12-string gayageum, the traditional Korean zither that has been a part of the country’s musical history since the sixth century.
Sitting on a pillow on the floor, she rested the instrument, longer than its player is tall, across a bright pink Minnie Mouse blanket on her lap and struck a single resonant note. “In Western music, it’s when you hit the note, that boom, that’s important,” she explained. Another strike of the silk string, this time bent through wavering, serpentine permutations as she pressed down on the strings with her left hand, a manipulation Kim refers to as “cooking” the note — a loose translation of the Korean word “sigimsae.”
“In Korean music,” she continued, “the notes start from my right hand and end with my left hand. The after is more important.”
Since moving to New York in 2022, Kim, 34, has quickly become an in-demand collaborator for some of the most inventive artists in jazz and improvised music, despite the unfamiliarity of her instrument to both audiences and to many of her fellow musicians. At the time of our interview in early April, she’d just returned from a tour of Europe with the pianist Kris Davis and had recently recorded with the composer, saxophonist and flutist Anna Webber and the saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock. She’s worked with the post-bop saxophonist Jim Snidero, the avant-garde bassist Nick Dunston and the free jazz legend William Parker, among others.
For the drummer Tomas Fujiwara, who has performed with Kim in a number of improvised duos, her singular voice quickly outshone the novelty of the gayageum. “There’s the initial curiosity to play with an instrument that you don’t usually engage with,” he said. “But as with any musician that I enjoy playing with, it’s more about what the artist brings to it. DoYeon has a personal approach along with a strong character and personality that’s really captivating.”
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