[Co-production by 2025 Jeonju Int'l Sori Festival and World Music Center]

2025 World Music Journey Lecture-Concert

The World Music Center foundation and the 2025 Int'l Sori Festival jointly organized the “World Music Journey Lecture-concert” series, which took place every Wednesday in July at Hayanyangokjip. Featuring morin khuur player Kim Yeonjun, theorbo player Yoon Hyunjong (with cellist Jang Yujin), banjo player Jang Hyunho, and kora player Jeong Hwanjin (with dundun player Jo Jaeeun), young talented performers shared their music and related stories about instruments from Mongolia, North America, West Africa, and Europe, offering a special opportunity to experience less-focused musics and cultures.

The "2025 Sori Camp" will be held from August 14 (Thu) to 16 (Sat) at various locations in Jeonju including the Sori Arts Center. Under the theme “In Search of the Memory of Scattered Sounds: A Diasporic Approach,” the camp will move beyond theory-based education to offer field-oriented arts education programs. The project is targeted at students specializing in music from universities across the country. Following last year's successful program, the new application process has been completed. The selected 25 participants will have the opportunity to watch performances, listen to lectures by experts, and interact with domestic and international artists, fostering their growth as professional artists and exploring potential career paths.

Horses, People, and Sounds Rolling Across the Plains

Morin Khuur Player Kim Yeonjun

Morin Khuur, a stringed instrument that captures the vastness of the Mongolian steppe

Morin Khuur, a two-stringed bowed instrument (a stringed instrument that produces sound through friction), is a traditional instrument that has been played for centuries in the Asian inland regions centered around Mongolia. It is often called as the “cello of the steppe” by world music lovers who had been familiar with Western instruments. One distinctive feature is the “horsehead” decoration on the instrument's head part. Kim Yeonjun, who uses his stage name “Tamir,” is a rare Morin Khuur player in Korea. Since around 2017, he has been showcasing the charm of the instrument on various stages in Korea and has been consistently working on album projects, including “Nomadic Stranger” (2022) and “Letters from Golden Mountain” (2025).