What do BTS Sing Sing whales have in common?



There are probably no people who don’t know BTS, and you might say, “Thingsing, whale, and Jambinai is a bit unfamiliar.”

They are all Korean band names.

What they have in common is that they appeared on a famous American music program called 'Tiny Desk Concert'.




NPR is a public radio broadcaster in the United States, and Tiny Desk Concert is one of NPR's main music programs, and has been broadcasting performances held in NPR offices. 'Tiny Desk Concert' is so named because the show takes place at the desk of the show's host and music producer Bob Boylen. It is a stage where countless world-class musicians such as Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and Yo-Yo Ma have appeared.



Although NPR is a radio broadcast, the Tiny Desk concert was a huge hit by releasing two or three songs and a short performance video of around 15 minutes. A small live performance held in the everyday space of the office, rather than a typical concert hall, offers a different kind of fun. It is also considered as 'innovative content' created by radio, a traditional media.



As a Korean musician, 'Thingsing', which advocated a 'folk song rock band', appeared first in 2017 (▶ stage video), last year's Gora (▶ stage video), and BTS appeared. (▶ Stage video) Goraeya and BTS held a Tiny Desk (home) concert after the spread of Corona 19. Since you can't go to the NPR office to perform, it's a way to perform at your own location and release this video.




And on the 9th local time, 'Jambinai' appeared at the Tiny Desk (home) concert, the fourth time for a Korean musician. (▶ Stage video) Jambinai is a 'post-rock band' formed in 2009. Haegeum is a band that has been making new music that mixes Korean tradition with jazz-rock-punk-metal, centering on the traditional instruments of the Paris Geomungo. It consists of Il-woo Lee (guitar, flute, Taepyeongso), Bo-mi Kim (Haegeum), Eun-yong Shim (geomungo), Jae-hyeok Choi (drums), and Byung-gu Yoo (bass). He has won four awards at the Korean Popular Music Awards, participated in the closing ceremonies of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and has performed on world-class stages such as Coachella in the US and the Glastonbury Festival in the UK.




Jambinai showed a stage that realized the NPR office in 3D in the exhibition room of Arte Museum Jeju, and performed two songs 'Time of Extinction' and 'Coming'. In particular, the video of the Jeju sea waving was also used as the stage background to add a dramatic atmosphere. It is also a video that became famous in Korea by word of mouth with the work of 'District'.



Bob Boylen said, 'I did not know that I would use the word 'Fierce' when I introduced the Tiny Desk concert while linking the video of the performance on SNS. I did. Bob Boylen said he saw Jambinai at SXSW in 2014 and at the Virtual Festival in 2021. Impressed by Jambinai's intense and fresh music, he wrote that he looked forward to the day when Jambinai could come directly to the NPR office and hold a 'More modest and tinier' Tiny Desk concert.



Come to think of it, all the Korean bands introduced at the Tiny Desk concert, except for the 'world star' BTS, all played music with a strong influence of Korean traditional music. ThingSing has now been disbanded, but the members at the time are still actively working with Lee Il-chi, Lee Hee-moon Company, Choo Da-hye and Charges. Goraeya and Jambinai also have Korean traditional instrument players among the members. (Mr. Il-Woo Lee from Jambinai is also active as the principal musician of the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra. Recently, under the title of 'Sinawi Electronica', he introduced a new music where electronic music meets Korean traditional music.) Traditional music and other genres have successfully fused to create a new sound, which is appealing to overseas music fans.



With Jambinai's appearance as an opportunity, I watched the videos of Tiny Desk concerts where Korean musicians appeared in the past.

The Singsing Band is no longer disbanded, but fans who miss their music are still looking for it.

Whaleyado and BTS also show a stage of fame.




I had a video interview with Bob Boylen when Goeaya appeared at the Tiny Desk concert last year ( ▶ [Report File] Tiny Desk Concert Producer, a US public broadcaster who fell in love with Korean bands) At that time, he was also involved in Korean traditional music and Korean musicians has expressed a deep interest in

We talked about wanting BTS to come out too, but in fact, BTS' Tiny Desk (home) concert came true a few months later.

In the future, I wonder which Korean musicians will appear in the Tiny Desk concert.