OKKYUNG LEE INTERVIEW
Using her solid classical training as a springboard, Cellist Okkyung Lee incorporates jazz, sounds, korean traditional music, noise with extended techniques to create her own unique blend of music. On Thursday October 22 at Roulette Okkyung collaborates with video artist Kjell Bjørgeengen using pre-recorded sounds from the cobble stone street outside Location 1 as a source material to blur the physical boundaries between the venue and the outside.
ROULETTE: Tell us as about the work you’ll be doing at Roulette.
OKKYUNG LEE: Kjell and I met probably 3-4 years ago in New York at one of Phil Niblock’s parties. We didn’t talk all that much other than basic exchanges then. A week later I had this solo gig in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon which I dreaded going since I thought there would be nobody. It was at the back of this Jamaican deli on 4th avenue somewhere. Well, when I walked in there were 2 people: the owner of the place who couldn’t care less about the music and Kjell. I guess I didn’t play too bad because he stayed until the end or maybe he didn’t want to embarrass me. Afterward he invited me to come to his studio to watch some of his flickers works and I was totally blown away. Also his passion and total understanding of free improvised music were very apparent through his way of responding/processing the signals to generate his visuals. Then on top of all that he’s such an awesome person. What else can you ask for? Naturally we wanted to collaborate with each other and almost 2 years ago, we finally played together in New York and it was an exciting experience for both of us. Then last week we played together with Keith Rowe at Kontraste Festival in Krems, Austria which was another great opportunity.
At roulette, I’ll be taking the sounds from the street outside Location 1 and some of sampled cello sounds which will be (hopefully) manipulated throughout the concert gradually along with live solo cello. Then Kjell will be taking these signals and feed them through his system to affect his visuals. The idea of blurring the physical boundaries between inside and outside of the space was the starting point for me to develop this project.
OL: Rocky Road just because I’m a Pisces.
R: What is music?
OL: Whatever you want it to be.
OL: Oh, hard to say. Although I wouldn’t dare to call myself a “composer.” I write my own music, little tunes, or whatever they are but wouldn’t call them “compositions”. I guess I get different satisfactions(?) from each side and that’s why I keep doing both. Sure it’s hard to do both at the same time. I mean it’s really hard to give cues when you play cello!
OL: Suppose having an extremely hard-to-please-and-mean-spirited cello teacher growing up might do that to you.
OL: Too many to name. It’s always great to be blown away standing in front of/listening to/watching a great piece of art in any forms. The last great 2 things I saw were one of Cy Twombly’s paintings from “A Gathering of Time” and “Last Meadow”, a dance piece choreographed by Miguel Gutierrez. They both thrilled me and made me want to “create” something of my own.
OL: I try to understand things, especially human behaviors. I think I’m getting better at it slowly, very slowly. And I LOVE watching movies.
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