Jin Hi Kim

At a young age, she took up the komungo, the six-string silk zither traditionally played for the meditative exercises of male Confucian scholars, thereby defying convention that steered most girls toward the kayagum, its brighter and more widely favored counterpart. Formal training followed at Seoul National University, after which she examined electronic music and composition at Mills College. Performances and recordings linked her with Derek Bailey, Bill Frisell, Oliver Lake, Elliott Sharp, and Eugene Chadbourne. She co-founded the No World Improvisations quartet and, working with Danny Ferrington, developed an electric komungo as well as a MIDI-controlled changgo, the Korean percussion instrument. Additional projects involved computer music pieces, and she received numerous awards and commissions. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny