Jin Hi Kim - Joy of Flying (2024)

Composed and improvised by Jin Hi Kim
Performed at University of Chicago Presents (October 13, 2024)
When the ancient komungo was built, a black crane (bird of sky) flew to the instrument. So the instrument was named the 'black crane zither.' Later it was called komungo meaning black zither. Kim’s solo improvisation is inspired by the birds’ appearances that she had encountered during her komungo tour in Java and Sulawesi Islands in Indonesia, Yucatan in Mexico and Native-American ancestral lands during last decades.
Kim’s evolutionary, the world’s only electric komungo works with the live interactive computer programming environment Max/MSP.