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Han-earl Park

Shifting and switching from No Wave skronk to interstellar guitarist-as-drummer virtuosity, from stampedes of miniature Pomeranian Buffalos to All-You-Zombies heterophonies, Han-earl Park (박한얼) has been performing beautifully messy, joyously difficult, ambiguous and discordant improvised musics for over twenty years.

Park is drawn to the noisy poetry of interactive play; its pleasurable complexities, and joyous discords. He has become increasingly fascinated by the possibilities of refracting the improvisative through narrative tropes and forms, sometimes transposing techniques from fiction and cinema. He seeks musics that are ‘inconvenient,’ that resist easy resolution, and seeks practices that take seriously consent, affinity, agency, trust and compassion.

Park is the mastermind behind ensembles including Eris 136199 with Catherine Sikora and Nick Didkovsky; Juno 3 with Lara Jones and Pat Thomas; and Gonggong 225088 with Yorgos Dimitriadis and Camila Nebbia; and performs as part of a duo with Richard Barrett. His ensembles have appeared at festivals including Jazz em Agosto (Lisbon), EFG London Jazz Festival, Brilliant Corners (Belfast), Freedom of the City (London), ISIM (New York), dialogues festival (Edinburgh) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam). Park’s recordings have been released by labels including NEWJAiM, Waveform Alphabet, Ramble Records, SLAM Productions, and DUNS Limited Edition.

Han-earl Park: Anomic Aphasia

Read "Anomic Aphasia" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
March 9, 2015

The music on Han-earl Park's third CD for Slam, Anomic Aphasia, derives from two similar but significantly different Park projects. The first is Eris 136199, an improvising trio consisting of guitarists Park and Nick Didkovsky (leader of Doctor Nerve) plus saxophonist Catherine Sikora. Described by Park as “the noisy, unruly complexity of the ensemble Eris 136199" they are responsible for the opening and closing tracks, “Monopod" (seen, on the actual day of this recording, in the YouTube clip below) and ...

Recording

Creative Sources Recordings Releases "Numbers" by Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park

Source: Han-earl Park
March 2, 2012

Released by Creative Sources Recordings: Numbers (CS 201 CD), a duo album by composer, performer and electronic musician Richard Barrett and guitarist, improviser and constructor Han-earl Park. Numbers is a high-energy, quick-footed, scatter-brained two hander—a looping, convoluted, interactive dance made audible—a musical fender bender involving electroacoustic complexities and (physio)logical splutter-cuts, jump-cuts and match-cuts—an intense white- knuckle extemporization unit—the duo of composer, performer and electronic musician Richard Barrett and guitarist, improviser and constructor Han-earl Park. Celebrated for his dense, complex, intricate ...
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Recording

io 0.0.1 beta++: human and machine improvisation on Slam

Source: Han-earl Park
August 7, 2011

Slam Productions releases a recording of improvisations by human and machine musicians. 'io 0.0.1 beta++' SLAMCD 531 Performers: io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself) with Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone) “We watch and listen carefully because we know we're seeing a kind of manifesto in action. What is an automaton? A sketch, a material characterization of the ideas the inventor and the inventor's culture have about some aspect of life, and how it ...
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Event

UCC Concert Series presents Matana Roberts, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders

Source: Han-earl Park
October 15, 2010

Get ready for a truly international musical exploration of technique, craft and tradition by three extraordinary improvisers. Chicago-born, New York-based saxophonist Matana Roberts, leading Birmingham-based drummer Mark Sanders, and Cork-based Korean-American guitarist Han-earl Park perform as part of the University College Cork Concert Series on Thursday, 25 November 2010 at 8:00 pm in the Ó Riada Hall, UCC Music Building, Sundays Well, Cork. Tickets are $10 ($5 concessions) and available from Music, School of Music and Theatre, UCC. The event ...
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Event

Human-Machine Improvisations (Cork, 2010)

Source: Michael Ricci
April 2, 2010

real-time, musical interactions between human and technological performers

io 0.0.1 beta++ with Han-earl Park, Bruce Coates and Franziska Schroeder plus iWife with John Godfrey and Francis Heery

A unique and exciting on-stage meeting between human and machine improvisers takes place on 26 May 2010 at Blackrock Castle Observatory (Cork, Ireland). This event will mark the debut of two extraordinary machine musicians, io 0.0.1 beta++ and iWife constructed by Han-earl Park and John Godfrey respectively. Featuring Park and Godfrey ...
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“Guitarist Han-earl Park is a musical philosopher…. Expect unexpected things from Park, who is a delightful shape-shifter….” — Brian Morton (Point of Departure)

“A colorful, sometimes violent and revelatory listening experience that infuses modern aesthetics with the spirit of the ancient…. Ancient and primordial with ideas as open as the night sky….” — John Morrison (Jazz Right Now)

“Wonderful energy, constant motion, and roiling in noise. And immense amount of grit and power.” —Corey Mwamba (Freeness, BBC Radio 3)