Yeore Kim interview

Yeore Kim joins me on episode 119.
Yeore is from South Korea, where she first picked up the tremolo harmonica at the age of six. Her mother is a piano teacher, so she also learnt piano and other instruments, including trumpet, before focusing on the chromatic harmonica from age 18.
Yeore has released two albums of duets with different pianists.
She moved to France in 2018 after meeting her guitarist husband, Antoine Boyer, with whom she has released an album, Tangram. This contains a great mix of jazz, world music and interpretations of pop songs.
Yeore is currently working on a duo album with her husband, due to released later in 2024, and to be followed by a tour in 2025 to promote the album.

Videos:

YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfFkS5hmOn6BCgU1FCO_IEQ

Japanese player Nobuo Tokunaga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33t6gCajgyw

7AM duet with pianist Mia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA2INoVumc0

Oasis song: Don’t Look Back In Anger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGiQuyXSN7Y

HUK interview with Sam Spranger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSKLp_di5uw&t=98s

European Tour blog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaQmcObOMiU


Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
--------------------------------
Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Yore Kim joins me on episode 119. Yore is from South Korea, where she first picked up the tremolo harmonica at the age of six. Her mother is a piano teacher, so she also learned piano and other instruments, including trumpet, before focusing on the chromatic harmonica from age 18. Yore has released two albums of duets with different pianists. She moved to France in 2018 after meeting her guitarist husband, Anton Boyet, with whom she has released an album, Tangram. This contains a great mix of jazz, world music and interpretations of pop songs. Yore is currently working on a duo album with her husband, due to be released later in 2024, and to be followed by a tour in 2025 to promote the albums. This podcast is sponsored by Seidel Harmonicas. Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Seidel Harmonicas. Hello, Yorei Kim, and welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Hello, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Great to speak to

Yeore is from South Korea, now living in France

SPEAKER_04 1:45

you, Yorei. So you are a South Korean harmonica player, and you are currently based in France, but you're originally from South Korea.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yes, I was born in South Korea, and now I live in Paris.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

Excellent. Very exciting place to live.

Harmonica is not that popular in South Korea

SPEAKER_04 2:02

So great. So tell us about South Korea and what's the harmonica scene like there?

SPEAKER_02 2:07

In Korea, there is really few of the harmonica player. It's really rare. Yeah, it's pretty good to play harmonica because there is not many harmonica players in Korea.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

Yeah, not much competition then, eh? That's always good.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:27

So what got you into playing the harmonica?

Started learning music due to influence of mother, who is a piano teacher

SPEAKER_02 2:29

So I started playing music because of my mother, who is a piano teacher. First I learned piano, then cello and drum, trumpet, etc. And she gave me a lot of music experiences.

Tremolo was first harmonica started playing, at age six

SPEAKER_02 2:46

When I was six years old, I started playing tremolo harmonica from a music academy near my home. In that class, I realized that I'm good at playing the instrument with my breath in, and I really like to play it.

Tremolo is the most commonly played harmonica in Korea, playing classical music pieces usually on it

SPEAKER_04 3:02

So you started on the tremolo. So is that the most common harmonica in Korea?

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Yes, tremolo is common.

SPEAKER_04 3:10

And so what sort of music are they playing on the tremolo there in Korea?

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Kind of classic pieces.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Classical music on a tremolo, is that?

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

How does that sound?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Yeah, normally. In Europe or in America, there is no... You don't play classical pieces with tremolo harmonica?

SPEAKER_04 3:33

No, it's mainly used for folk music, traditional sort of pieces. Because a tremolo, of course, isn't chromatic, is it? So it'd be interesting to hear how you could play classical music on a tremolo.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Really? Okay. I don't know. I learned tremolo harmonica with classical pieces. Yeah, you know this piece?

SPEAKER_04 4:04

The William Tell Overture?

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Yeah, kind of these tunes I played with G tremolo and 3D front key tremolo harmonica I used.

SPEAKER_04 4:16

Oh, you would switch between the three to play the song?

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Yeah, exactly. Ah,

SPEAKER_04 4:20

excellent. Did you say age six when you started playing the tremolo?

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Yeah, when I was six.

Mother is a piano teacher

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Great. And then were you also playing the piano at this stage?

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yeah, because my mom is a piano teacher. Naturally, I learned piano from my mother. And after, yeah, she asked me also, why don't you play harmonica? So I played.

SPEAKER_04 4:45

So when you were playing at a young age on the tremolo harmonica, was your mother playing the piano with you? No,

Learnt harmonica in a music academy

SPEAKER_02 4:52

because I learned in music academy. So, you know, there is teacher. With her, I played harmonica only. Ah, the teacher, she played the guitar. together with me

SPEAKER_04 5:06

great so you went to this academy what from the age of six that you're learning this wow that's a young age to be uh starting on the on the harmonica

Yeore is now a chromatic harmonica player, switching to the instrument age 18, having lessons for six months before self-learning

SPEAKER_04 5:14

yeah so you're mainly a chromatic harmonica player now let's establish that so that that's correct yeah

SPEAKER_02 5:19

yes right

SPEAKER_04 5:21

so when did you switch over to the chromatic harmonica

SPEAKER_02 5:24

after tremolo harmonica i've been playing the harmonica as a hobby and i started playing chromatic harmonica when i was 18. i had lessons for about six months. After that, I found myself.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

But you played the other instruments that you mentioned.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Trumpet, yeah, drum, yeah.

Applied knowledge of music from other instruments to the chromatic

SPEAKER_04 5:46

How did you feel you could apply your knowledge of music from the other instruments to the chromatic? Was that very helpful?

SPEAKER_02 5:53

Yeah, of course. It was really helpful about the harmony and chords, changes. Yeah, it's really helpful for me.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

So

Mainly plays jazz on the chromatic, initially inspired by Japanese player Tokunaga Nobuo and Toots Thielemans

SPEAKER_04 6:22

when you started playing chromatic harmonica at age 18, what sort of music were you then learning on the chromatic?

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Probably jazz.

SPEAKER_04 6:29

You were inspired by Toot Sealmans, were you?

SPEAKER_02 6:32

yeah of course and i'm not sure you know this name the japanese chromatic harmonica player tokunaga nobu He influenced me a lot, actually.

Musical links between South Korea and Japan, but now the world has opened up with online resources

SPEAKER_04 7:07

So clearly, South Korea and Japan are quite closely aligned. So you were listening to music from Japan, and is that how you discovered him?

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Yes, right. Now we can listen every kind of music. We can listen on YouTube or Spotify. So it's so very helpful a lot for me, YouTube and albums.

The influence of Toots and transcribing his music

SPEAKER_04 7:32

Did you find the Japanese player before you found Toots?

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Oh, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Toots is first. Toots first, yeah. Yeah, of course. And so is Toots what got you into playing jazz?

SPEAKER_02 7:45

I learned jazz language by Tuch's music, and I transcribed a lot of his albums.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

How did you go about transcribing his albums? Did you do that on the computer? Did you write them out onto music scores?

SPEAKER_02 8:01

I found the video of Tuch on YouTube, and I listened to that, and I transcribed it on the music note.

SPEAKER_04 8:11

So you wrote it onto paper?

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Yeah, so that transcribing is a very valuable way to learn here. So that's one of the main ways you learned how to play the jazz chromatic.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Yeah, I agree. It's a really good way. Sometimes I use an application. The name is Transcript Plus. So in this application, I can... I can make the speed slow down and speed up and all of the key, I can change it. So it's really practical for transcribing.

SPEAKER_04 8:51

Yeah, and they're amazing tools, aren't they? So what's one of your favorite Toots Tillman songs?

The Brazil Project albums are Yeore’s favourites, and so she likes to play Brazilian styles of jazz

SPEAKER_02 8:58

My favorite album, actually, it is Brazil Project. This album is really fantastic. Especially, I really like the album Brazil Project 2.

SPEAKER_04 9:27

So does that mean you were interested in playing Brazilian music initially and Bossa Novas and these styles of Brazilian music?

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Yeah, Bossa Novas and Samba and even Cuban. I really like Latin music also.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

So is that the style of jazz you like to play now or is it initially just, have you moved away from the Brazilian styles?

Yeore studied jazz at Seoul University and plays a diverse range of jazz styles now

SPEAKER_02 9:53

then i started learning about jazz in university so i have a opportunity to play all of the genre the music yeah yeah so that's why

SPEAKER_04 10:07

so you studied a music degree in university there did you

SPEAKER_02 10:12

yeah

Studied trumpet as main instrument on the university music course, but could also use the chromatic on the course

SPEAKER_02 10:13

i i entered when i was I entered Seoul Art University as a trumpet player because I studied trumpet when I was 19. So as a trumpet player, I entered and I learned jazz and all the different types of music there.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

And were you able to use the chromatic harmonica on that jazz course?

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Yeah, of course. Sometimes I played jazz. harmonica with my friends, college friends. But mainly I choose a trumpet in this moment. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:52

Because often these courses don't accept the harmonica as an instrument. They want another better established instrument.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Ah, yeah, it's true, yeah. Because, I mean, that's why I learned trumpet. because it is so hard to enter the university in Seoul as a harmonica player. So that's why I started to play trumpet.

Similarities between trumpet and chromatic harmonica

SPEAKER_04 11:20

And so what about the similarities between playing trumpet and chromatic harmonica? Are you able to use some of the same techniques on both? What's similar and different between the two instruments?

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Similar thing is just one thing. We use the mouth, our mouth. But the other thing is completely different. And plus, with mouth, harmonica, we use, how I can say, we use the other part of mouth. I mean, when we play trumpet, we have to vibrate. like this like this we have to make sound with mouth but with harmonica no we just blow and harmonica he just play with my breath so it is different

Can you play same musical lines on trumpet and chromatic

SPEAKER_04 12:21

So what about the musical lines that you're playing, say, on a trumpet? That's what you learnt in your course. Are you able to play the same lines on the chromatic harmonica? How would you approach that?

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Yeah, I started learning about just trumpeter music then, so like Lee Morgan and Chad Baker, Kenny Doran, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, of course. So I learned a lot from those of artists. So when I copy, I mean transcribe, trumpeter music, I try with harmonica, with same thing.

SPEAKER_04 13:01

And do you think that those, you know, the Lee Morgan and Miles Davis, etc., you know, does that fit well on the harmonica?

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Sometimes yes, but sometimes no. So I can choose the pieces that…

SPEAKER_04 13:18

That fit on the harmonica.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Yeah, yeah, right. So that's why I like the Latin music or Bossa Nova and Brazilian because you're really good with harmonica normally.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

So what makes the pieces good for the chromatic harmonica, do you think? Is it maybe when the breath direction, you know, you don't have to change the breath direction between blowing out and breathing in. Is that what makes it fit well on the harmonica?

SPEAKER_02 13:47

Yeah, it's right, it's right. Also, the trumpet tone is really... It is not thin. Harmonica tone is really little... Thin.

Doesn’t perform on other instruments now, only harmonica

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Yeah, thin.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

So do you still perform on the trumpet as well as the harmonica?

SPEAKER_02 14:05

I don't play the trumpet now. I love the sound of trumpets, but harmonica was more attractive to me. It was physically hard to play the trumpet. And there are not many players who play harmonica, so it is one of the reasons that I choose harmonica.

SPEAKER_04 14:39

And do you play any other instruments, like still the piano, or any of the other instruments to perform with?

Plays some piano still, but not to perform on

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Yeah, I play piano sometimes, but my level is not so professional, so I just enjoy,

SPEAKER_04 14:53

yeah. So the chromatic harmonica is what you perform

SPEAKER_02 14:57

on? Yeah, mainly I'm focusing on the chromatic harmonica, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

No, fantastic. That's great to hear on this podcast. Okay, so...

Played with Filip Jers in a guitar workshop in Sweden

SPEAKER_04 15:08

I understand Philip Gers was another influence on you. How did you meet Philip, and how did he influence your harmonica playing?

SPEAKER_02 15:16

With Philip, we met in Sweden. It was in a guitar festival. Usually I'm touring a lot with my husband, who is a guitarist, and he is pretty famous in the guitar world, so there is no lot of... harmonica festival in the world so we touring a lot for the festival guitar so yeah in sweden there are the festival guitar festival I think it was Uppsala yes it was in Uppsala we met in Uppsala guitar festival and he came the concert and we met and we jammed some tunes. Yeah, it was really cool. He was really kind and I learned so much things from him.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

Yeah, he's a great player,

SPEAKER_02 16:19

yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:36

Yeah, he's coming to the UK, Harmonica UK festival at the end of October this year. So yeah, he's going to be around these parts. So I hope to see him there. And

Yeore’s husband (Antoine Boyer) is a great guitar player, and she performs and tours with him

SPEAKER_04 16:47

so you mentioned your husband there, who's called?

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Yeah, in French, we called Antoine Boyer.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

So he's French and you're married, as you say. So that was the reason for moving to France, was it?

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Yes, exactly. We met in 2018. I just participated in Gypsy Jazz Festival in Taiwan. So we met in there, and Antoine, he came there to give a master class and concert. And we just recognized each other and then I moved my life to France.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

Great. So were you playing gypsy jazz on the harmonica before you went to that festival?

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Actually, I

Didn’t play gypsy jazz before meeting her gypsy jazz guitarist husband, and still doesn’t

SPEAKER_02 17:34

really, I don't know about gypsy jazz. I just wanted to go and feel and I wanted to, yeah, learn.

SPEAKER_04 17:45

Yeah, sure, and meet your husband there, so that turned out well.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

Anton, he plays mainly gypsy jazz, does he, on the guitar?

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Mm-hmm, he plays gypsy jazz, but now he's trying to play kind of jazz and world music.

SPEAKER_04 18:06

Yeah, so you've got him to branch out from gypsy jazz. That's good to hear.

UNKNOWN 18:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:21

So

Moved to France in 2018, not being able to speak French of English, and similarity of learning music and languages

SPEAKER_04 18:31

you moved to France, I think, six years ago, was it?

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Yes, exactly, six years ago.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

And at that point, I understood you couldn't speak English or French. So you're doing very well with your English. How's your French?

SPEAKER_02 18:48

It's better than my English now.

SPEAKER_04 18:52

That's good in France. So, yeah, as well as learning the music, you're having to learn lots of languages.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 19:03

Well, people often say there's a similarity between learning languages and learning music. Do you see a similarity?

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Yeah, I completely agree. Because it's like, for example, the phrase of jazz. It's like the sentence of when I say something. so yeah it's really similar to stay something and run the rengis and run some music yeah

SPEAKER_04 19:34

yeah so maybe it's helping your your music uh learning languages so yeah that's uh interesting

Based in Paris but also spends time in Dijon, France

SPEAKER_04 19:41

so you're living in in paris now uh and you're based there yeah

SPEAKER_02 19:46

yes i live in paris but just six months ago i moved in dijon so actually we are home is in dijon but Anyway in Paris we have small room for stay because we are touring a lot so take the plane or take the train we need the place like a bus stop So in Paris, we have one small room. So I stay here now.

SPEAKER_04 20:21

Very

Recorded an album with Antoine: Tangram, which means a Chinese puzzle

SPEAKER_04 20:22

nice. So with Anton, you have recorded an album in 2020, I think during the COVID pandemic, yes?

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yes, during the pandemic, yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

Yeah, and this album is called Tangram. What does that name mean, Tangram?

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Yeah, it's a Chinese puzzle with seven pieces. So we can create whatever we want with it.

SPEAKER_04 20:49

Right. And is that the album cover? Because it's kind of like a puzzle on the album cover. Is that what the Tangram is on there?

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Yes, exactly. So in our album Tangram, we are seven musicians and we created our own from like puzzle.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

right great so yeah a really interesting album and listening to it ahead of talking to you and some really quite intense music on there and and a great setting for the harmonica where you're playing in some it's quite diverse the music you're playing you know different sorts of songs and again quite intense music in places so yeah some great use of the harmonica on there so So the song Melodia is a song which starts off quite slow and then melodic, but then it ramps up the intensity and the harmonica really comes in again at this intense level. That's an approach you were trying to get on the album,

SPEAKER_02 22:30

yeah? Yes. The

One of strengths of harmonica is the dynamic range

SPEAKER_02 22:34

advantage of harmonica is kind of dynamic. I mean, we can be so easily be intense than the other instrument because it is the closest instrument to human voice. So I can express various emotions with it. So it's really easy to be intense.

SPEAKER_04 23:03

Yeah, no, absolutely. But as you said earlier on, the chromatic maybe can sound a little thin. It's maybe not as powerful sounding in some ways as, say, the diatonic. So are you playing the chromatic quite hard to get that intensity out of it, or are you

Uses some effects pedals to raise the intensity of the chromatic

SPEAKER_04 23:19

using maybe some effects to help with that, some effects pedals or anything like that?

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Yeah, I tried some pedals in this album. First, I tried to use a disto pedal in Radiohead's Exic Music. With this pedal, I can make my tone a little more powerful and a little more violin.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

And again, that is also very intense, yeah? Like you say, using effects on there, and you're really getting a lot of really interesting sounds out of the chromatic harmonica.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Yeah, with Antoine, I tried so a lot of the effects. Because, you know, harmonica is an instrument that has quite limitations.

Composed a song with a brass section from experience of playing the trumpet

SPEAKER_04 24:53

and then there's a song called the waltz on you can dance um where there's lots lots going on on there lots of horns and guitar and lots of movements on that song so So can you tell us about that song?

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Yeah, this song, the idea about the brass, I play the trumpet, so I was sure it worked really good with harmonica and with brass. So I asked Antoine, maybe we can play... with brass players. But you

SPEAKER_04 26:00

didn't play trumpet yourself?

SPEAKER_02 26:03

No, it's not possible because I had to play harmonica on my own. I played in a big band for 2-3 years. So I know the kind of section and the feeling of the big band.

Composed other songs on the album

SPEAKER_04 26:23

So did you compose some of the album yourself with Anton and these songs that you've written?

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Yeah, I composed this album at the first. And after Anton, he put some rich harmony and... Yeah, let's work like this.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

Great, yeah.

Blackbird song chosen as harmonica is similar to a bird sound

SPEAKER_04 26:43

And so some of the songs are original songs and obviously there are some cover songs. So you do Blackbird by The Beatles.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Ah, yes.

UNKNOWN 27:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 27:10

That's a very well-known song and very beautifully played, a nice interpretation. So, yeah, tell us about the Blackbird song.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Blackbird, because I think... But the song of the harmonica is like, it's really similar with bird sound. So I think it's really good with this song. And he really liked this song already. So we tried, yeah, we tried to record.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

And of course, Toots Tillmans plays Bye Bye Blackbird. Do you also play that song?

Yeore played Bye Bye Blackbird with Jens Bunge at the Seoul Harmonica Festival in 2018

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Oh yeah, I really like that. In 20... 18, maybe? In Seoul, there is International Harmonica Festival. Jens Brunier, you know Jens Brunier?

SPEAKER_03 28:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

He was there, and we played together this song.

Does some duets with Antoine on the album

SPEAKER_04 28:30

As well as having, like you say, seven members of the band on the album, you also do just some duets with Antonin Guitart, such as Imaginer, so a much more gentle duet with Guitart, which is a nice contrast.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Ah, yes, as you know, when we play a lot of people together, we don't have to be really aware, how I can say, I mean, if we are just a duo right if we play just a duo for example me and antoine guitar and harmonica we have to be really conscious and of course the sound can be more sensitive and yeah more Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04 29:35

Yeah, it's nice. But again, a nice contrast to some of the other more forceful songs on the album. So that's

Classical piece on the album: Valse L, from Yeore’s experience of playing classical music when younger

SPEAKER_04 29:41

great. And you also do a classical piece, the Vols L. So yeah, you get some classical music on there too.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Mm-hmm. Because I started classical music by my mother, so I know classical pieces a little. And Antoine, he studied a lot of classical music. So yeah, we play this song.

SPEAKER_04 30:20

So when you're playing classical music on the harmonica, are you reading them from music scores? Do you still read a lot when you're playing?

SPEAKER_02 30:29

Now, no. Now I'm just focusing on the world music, kinds of jazz like this.

Sings on one of the songs on the Tangram album

SPEAKER_04 30:39

and um there's a song on there called mother to the world uh yeah is that you singing on there

SPEAKER_02 30:46

yes because i studied improvisation free in paris actually during two years yeah yeah

UNKNOWN 31:05

Thank you

SPEAKER_04 31:20

Right, so that is a Tangram album, which again is really interesting and they're very varied and you're getting all sorts of different varied sounds out of the chromatic, as we've said. So it's really interesting and some really interesting playing on there.

SPEAKER_02 31:34

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

Well done on that album with Anton. And

Planning to make a new duo album with Antoine soon

SPEAKER_04 31:38

I think you're planning on putting together another album with Anton. Are you in the near future?

SPEAKER_02 31:47

Yes, we are... going to recording new duo album now it's not the band we just trying to record our own duo album yes This year we will record, and next year it will be released.

SPEAKER_04 32:09

Great, and what sort of music genres will be on that one? Will it be different music genres again, or because it's a duo, it will be more jazz?

SPEAKER_02 32:19

It's a mix of our own composition and some popular songs, so it's similar. We are going to record beautiful songs that are easy to listen to, but can be immersed in.

SPEAKER_04 32:33

Any more singing from you on that Euray?

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Singing? Not really. No, not really. I do love to, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:44

And also, there's some songs which don't have harmonica on. Obviously, there's some guitar, but do you play any other instruments on the album?

SPEAKER_02 32:53

No, I just, yeah, I just play harmonica, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Hey, what's happening, y'all? Jason Ritchie from Blue Moon Harmonicas, and I'm here to tell you that Blue Moon Harmonicas are the way. You can customize them yourself, or you can get Tom to do them. The website is a rabbit hole. We're talking about custom combs, custom cover plates, throwbacks, refurbished pre-wars, double reed plates, anything you can imagine, aluminum, ABS, plastic, phenolic resin, wood, any kind of comb you want, any kind of Then you

Recorded album with pianist Mia in 2023, a university friend from South Korea

SPEAKER_04 33:47

do have another release out, which is called Utopia, which is an EP, which has got six songs on, with a pianist called Mia, who I think is one of your friends from Korea, university friends.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Yeah, my university friends. Thirteen years ago, we met in university in Korea. We put this album, pop and jazz with some Korean atmosphere.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

What year is this album from?

SPEAKER_02 34:16

Just last year. Yeah, last December, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Yeah, so this is a more recent album. And so it's just you and piano, yeah? Yeah, it's just a duo album. She still lives in Korea, Mia, does she?

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Yeah, she lives in Korea, but she really loves Paris. So she wants to come to Paris really often.

Antoine and other musicians appear on Eutopia song

SPEAKER_04 34:42

Yeah. There is one song with a... Yes, actually it's

SPEAKER_02 35:13

called Utopia. As we know, utopia means we can't reach it, but e-utopia is an ideal society that we can actually realize. So we put our thought on e-utopia in this album, in this song.

SPEAKER_04 35:32

Great. And who's playing the classical guitar? It's not Anton.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Ah, yeah, of course it's Anton. And yeah, it is Anton. And there is contrabassist and violinist. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:46

Right. Yeah. Great. So yeah, I've got some other musicians on that song. Yeah. But the other songs are duo with the piano.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

Yes, mainly just piano and chromatic harmonica.

7AM song from album

SPEAKER_02 35:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 35:58

And there's a nice video of 7am of you playing the song with Mia on YouTube that people can find. I'll put a link onto that onto the podcast page. So... What is that 7 a.m. song about?

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Yeah, 7 a.m. is about the morning when I wake up in the morning at 7 a.m. But you didn't sleep well because in your head there is some thoughts and worries everywhere in your head, so... you couldn't sleep well so you just lay down on the on the bed and after you you wake up at 7am, so that's why the title is 7am.

SPEAKER_04 37:11

Another

Alone song from Eutopia album

SPEAKER_04 37:14

song you did on the album is the song Alone, which is a sort of slow and mournful song, and that's with Mia on piano, yeah?

UNKNOWN 37:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Yes, it is Mia who composed this song. She is a really good composer. With harmonica, it's really good. It's kind of a classical song and I really love it.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

And the chromatic harmonica and the piano, I always think, go so well together, don't they?

SPEAKER_02 38:05

Yeah, yeah, usually it really goes well.

SPEAKER_04 38:09

Yeah, they're sort of similar voicing, aren't they,

Breeze is a samba song on the album

SPEAKER_04 38:12

I think. And then we have Breeze, which is a much faster song on the album.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Yeah, it's the fastest song in this album. It's like samba. But we didn't improve. We don't improve in this song. We just fix it. every note and yeah we played like this so

SPEAKER_04 38:59

Excellent stuff, yeah. So, some good recording there with Mia. So, you

Recorded an album with a Korean pianist, Sunhang Lee, in 2014, Year’s first jazz album recording

SPEAKER_04 39:04

also, earlier on, I think, did a recording with another pianist in Korea called Seung Hang Lee. You've got a recording on YouTube called Romantic Song.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Yeah, I think it was 2014. Yeah, it's a long time ago when I lived in Korea. Yeah, with her I recorded, we recorded her album, her own album.

SPEAKER_04 39:32

So was that your first album you recorded with Sun Hang?

SPEAKER_02 39:35

Yeah, first jazz album, I think.

UNKNOWN 39:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

And after Romantic Song with Anton, we really love this song, so we will re-record this song in our new duo album.

Recording of Oasis song, Don’t Look Back In Anger, on YouTube, and approach to playing pop songs

SPEAKER_04 40:17

Other videos you've got on YouTube, you've got a good active YouTube channel. You've also got the Oasis song, Don't Look Back in Anger. So that's a pop song. Yes, you like to record some pop songs too.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Yeah, I really like to play popular songs with harmonica. Already harmonica tone is quite special, so with popular song, harmonica, it really goes well.

SPEAKER_04 41:07

Yeah, so do you approach playing a pop song differently than you do, say, a jazz song?

SPEAKER_02 41:13

yes I like jazz song but sometimes I feel a little difficult to listen and play also so I try to play popular song and K-pop and every kind of song yeah

SPEAKER_04 41:28

yeah great and you may have heard that Oasis have just announced that they're doing a tour together after being split up for a number of years so maybe they'll call on you to play some harmonica with them

SPEAKER_02 41:39

yeah I hope I really I'd love you'll

SPEAKER_04 41:43

have to send them a recording of Don't Look Back in Anger I have had Mark Felton previously on the podcast and he did record some songs and played some live gigs over Oasis so he might get the call first but yeah Okay

Blog of European tour

SPEAKER_04 42:01

You also have a blog of you doing a European tour with Anton called Fast Jazz Euro Tour so that's a travel diary with you playing and travelling around with Anton around Europe yeah

SPEAKER_02 42:17

yeah I usually I like to try something new and I'm touring a lot with Antoine so I just thought that yeah maybe I can film what I interest my life this kind of vlog so I can show my life and yeah but it was just two episodes and just I tried and then it finished

SPEAKER_04 42:46

It's good, it's very interesting and it's quite short as well so it's quite a nice way to get a flavour of what it's like touring around and doing some concerts. Yeah, it's an interesting watch. I'll put the link to the podcast page onto that video.

Used jazz trumpet and saxophone tutorial material to learn jazz on chromatic

SPEAKER_04 43:01

Looking into how you learnt when you were younger, I saw that when you were learning jazz you used lots of trumpet and saxophone tuition books to learn to play on the chromatic harmonica, jazz on the chromatic harmonica.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:14

Yeah, that's something you needed because the wasn't too much material for the harmonica

SPEAKER_02 43:18

it's true yeah there are no lot of things for harmonica player for jazz so i learned about jazz a lot from charlie parker omni book for example yeah there is so many education books for saxophonist and trumpetist I learned a lot from this.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

Yeah, yeah, definitely learned that jazz language from the Charlie Parker Omnibook. So did you learn to play Donnelly on the chromatic harmonica?

SPEAKER_02 43:50

Yeah, I transcribed, you know, the solos of Charlie Parker's and yeah, B-bar and hard bar, but it's not my things, I think.

SPEAKER_04 44:02

Yeah, certainly a challenge transcribing Charlie Parker. So yeah, you know, he plays a lot of notes very fast. So, yeah.

Teacher at university was a saxophone player

SPEAKER_04 44:12

Yeah, amazing. And your teacher at university, he was a saxophone player, I think, wasn't he?

SPEAKER_02 44:17

Yeah, I was saxophone teacher. So, he just gave me the advice, but he don't know. really don't know about harmonica. And at that time, I was a trumpet player. In major, I played trumpet. Anyway, it doesn't matter about the instrument. If you want to learn jazz language, we can just accept every method.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

So,

Placed third in the harmonica competition at the harmonica festival in Seoul with Antonio Serrano and Gregoire Maret as the judges

SPEAKER_04 44:48

talking about your appearances at different festivals, you played in the festival there in Korea. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 44:57

and festivals our harmonica festival i guess

SPEAKER_03 45:02

yeah

SPEAKER_02 45:02

it was 2018 i think i met there i participated in solo part in jazz and maybe i got third prize there and the jury was Antonio Serrano and Mare

SPEAKER_04 45:24

Gregoire Moray.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Yes, Gregoire Moray. Yes, so I met them and I am really fan of them, so I asked to take the photo with them. Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_04 45:41

Yeah, two great judges. Yeah, fantastic.

Performed a gig in India to a crowd of over 500,000 people, getting the gig through yoga

SPEAKER_04 45:44

And you played some gigs in some interesting foreign countries, so you played a big gig in India to a huge audience.

SPEAKER_02 45:53

Yeah, it was really huge festival in India. It's one of the huge festival in India. There were more than 500,000 people. So the energy. Wow, in the crowds. Yeah, it was huge. So the energy I felt there was incredible, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

So how did you get that gig in India?

SPEAKER_02 46:15

Because I've been doing the yoga two, three years. ago so we know some guru the name is sadguru and he created foundation of yoga is called isha center so we we went with antoine and we went to isha center several times and after we meet the group of isha so the code is sound of isha So we met this musician from India and we know each other after they invite us for the festival.

SPEAKER_04 46:55

Nice. So doing yoga got you a gig. That's good to hear.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:00

I do some yoga myself. I haven't got any gigs out of it yet. I'll have to try that. Yeah, it's a good way.

Has taught some tremolo previously, but focusing on performing at the moment

SPEAKER_04 47:09

And do you do any teaching of the harmonica at all yourself?

SPEAKER_02 47:14

Yeah, when I was 20 years or 20, 25, I gave a lot of lessons, but now I'm just focusing on to be a performer now.

Ten minute question

SPEAKER_04 47:29

So a question I ask each time, Yoriz, if you had 10 minutes to practice, what would you spend those 10 minutes doing?

SPEAKER_02 47:35

If I have 10 minutes to practice, I practice the song I'm going to play. The things I need to remember in detail, the melody of the song to be played at the upcoming concert, or the chord changes that I was confused about, or the section.

SPEAKER_04 47:56

Yeah, sure, yeah, so you're focusing on the difficult parts of the songs, yeah. And what about if you haven't got a, you know, songs to learn for a gig or an album?

SPEAKER_02 48:07

Usually I practice the song while I feel it is beautiful. So I choose the tune that I thought it is beautiful. For example, recently I transcribed the song, our Spanish love song from Charlie Hayden. And I transcribed the solo of Pat Metheny in this tune. And I repeat over and over, over and over in my head, and yeah. And it's really good to learn completely different language from the other solo.

SPEAKER_04 48:53

Yeah, and from different instruments like guitar and from Pat Metheny, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Yeah, guitar and piano and every whatever.

SPEAKER_04 49:02

Great stuff. Yeah, so we'll get into the last section now and talk about the gear that you use. So

Hohner Super 64 black model is chromatic of choice, also using Super 64X Performance

SPEAKER_04 49:08

I understand you like to use a Hohner Super 64 as a 16-hole four-octave chromatics.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

Mm-hmm. I prefer Hohner Super X64 black model, and I enjoy playing also Super 64X performance because it has really natural sound for me. Maybe some people could say it's too tough, compared to the other models, but I'm so used to this model.

Uses low octave on 16 hole models to provide accompaniment to Antoine on guitar

SPEAKER_04 49:36

So, have you always played 16-hole chromatics?

SPEAKER_02 49:41

Because, as you know, in harmonica, there is a little bit of a limit. So, for accompaniment, for example, for me, I usually work with guitarist Antoine. So, when he wants to Doing solo, I should do the accompaniment. Yeah, I really like to play 16th chorus harmonic.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Yeah, to get the low notes for the accompaniment. Yeah, makes sense. And you're playing what, bass lines in the bottom octave and all the sort of chord arpeggios and things like that?

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Yeah, I try, yeah. I try bass line or some line, not only bass, but also some includes, yeah, some plays that I feel interested, yeah.

Doesn’t play any diatonic or any tremolo any more

SPEAKER_04 50:44

And so you don't play any diatonic harmonica at all?

SPEAKER_02 50:48

No, not at all. I'd like to try, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

And do you still play any tremolo harmonica?

SPEAKER_02 50:55

No. I don't know why, but there's no opportunity to play tremolo.

Has played some bass and chord harmonica

SPEAKER_04 51:04

And what about the orchestral harmonicas, such as a bass and chord harmonicas?

SPEAKER_02 51:09

Yeah, I played a bass and chord harmonica, but I think my personality is still more about the list. So...

SPEAKER_04 51:25

And do you

Plays chromatic only in key of C

SPEAKER_04 51:42

play the chromatic just in the key of C?

SPEAKER_02 51:45

Yeah, just C. Because if you have every tonality, I mean every scale, to have keys in your head, just to see chromatic harmonica is really practical to play.

SPEAKER_04 52:02

Yeah, you know where you are if the notes are all in the same place.

Does some basic maintenance, but sends off to a technician for more major work

SPEAKER_04 52:07

Yes, do you do any repair or maintenance on your chromatico monicas?

SPEAKER_02 52:13

Yeah, I learned a little bit about repair, but I'm not a professional, so I can raise or lower the note a little bit, and I can change the reed, but yeah, I do myself when I'm in a hurry, when I'm touring, but... usually send, if I have time, I usually send it to the expert to repair.

SPEAKER_04 52:38

And which expert do you use to repair your harmonicas?

SPEAKER_02 52:42

Oh, I usually send Michel, who is an expert in France.

Embouchre is tongue blocking

SPEAKER_04 52:48

Yeah. And what embouchure do you like to use? Are you puckering, tongue-blocking?

SPEAKER_02 52:53

Yeah, tongue-blocking. I use always tongue-blocking. Because, yeah, I feel... It makes me feel a stable feeling and give a rich tone, I feel. And when I use tongue blocking, I feel it's my own tone.

How applies vibrato

SPEAKER_04 53:11

What about applying vibrato to the chromatic harmonica? How do you do that? I

SPEAKER_02 53:15

use my hands usually. As I use tongue blocking, I play

Usually plays with mic in hand

SPEAKER_02 53:27

usually with microphone. In my hands, so if I do the vibration with hands, there is limit. So when I can't use my hand, I use my tongue and my neck muscles.

Mic of choice is the Beyer Dynamic 88

SPEAKER_04 53:47

And so you mentioned your microphone there. What microphone do you like to use?

SPEAKER_02 53:52

I use the Beyer Dynamic M 80A microphone.

Uses PA for amplification

SPEAKER_04 53:58

Do you use any amplifiers at all?

SPEAKER_02 54:01

No, I don't use amp.

SPEAKER_04 54:03

Go through the PA.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

Yeah, so each concert hall has a different amplifier, so I usually adapt to the sound of the concert place.

Effects uses Line 6 multi-effects pedal

SPEAKER_04 54:13

And do you use any effects on the PA at all, like some reverb or anything like that?

SPEAKER_02 54:20

Yeah, I use Line 6 HX Stomp. In this pedal, I put the reverb, harmony, and disto programs. Actually, you can put what you want.

SPEAKER_04 54:32

Yeah, okay, so you use a Line 6 pedal, yeah, to go

SPEAKER_02 54:35

through. Yeah, it's really efficient.

SPEAKER_04 54:37

Yeah, nice and small and does lots of things, doesn't it? I had a Line 6 a long time ago, but it's been a long time since I used one, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

Ah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 54:46

Oh, great. Okay, great. So yeah, so you use a little, like you say, a little reverb there and a couple of other things.

SPEAKER_02 54:53

Yeah, when I play a ballad song, kind of ballad, I need really long reverb. Okay,

SPEAKER_04 55:03

so you vary the effects a little for different songs.

SPEAKER_01 55:07

yes

Future plans include recording the new album with Antoine

SPEAKER_04 55:09

okay then so just about your future plans about what you've got coming up you've already mentioned you've got uh you're going to record an album with uh with anton what this year so um yeah where is that going to be recorded it

SPEAKER_02 55:21

will be at home actually because we we have already what we need so there's mike

SPEAKER_04 55:32

and

SPEAKER_02 55:33

Every amp and light, everything. So we just try to record at home in Dijon.

SPEAKER_04 55:42

Nice. Well, it's nice to be at home and have all that time at home to do it. So yes. Is this a mixture of your own compositions and other songs, cover songs?

SPEAKER_02 55:54

Yeah, it's going to record a duo album. It's a mix of our own compositions and some popular songs. that go well with harmonica and guitar.

SPEAKER_04 56:06

Marvelous, yeah. And when do you think that'll be released?

SPEAKER_02 56:09

It will be next year, summer, I think. Before summer,

SPEAKER_04 56:15

yeah. Great stuff, yeah. I look forward to hearing that.

Going to Australia tomorrow and giving a harmonica workshop in South Korea in December

SPEAKER_04 56:17

And what else have you got planned? Are you doing some touring?

SPEAKER_02 56:20

yeah we are going to australia tomorrow we

SPEAKER_04 56:23

tomorrow

SPEAKER_02 56:24

yeah tomorrow so we have two duo concerts there in adelaide and then we are going to have a couple of tours this year

SPEAKER_04 56:34

yeah fantastic so um you're going uh well i think you're going back to korea at some point is that this year

SPEAKER_02 56:39

in december we will go to korea and meet my family and we will be doing concert and workshop there

SPEAKER_04 56:49

you'll be giving a harmonica workshop, will you?

SPEAKER_02 56:51

Yes, harmonica and with improvisation free, what I

SPEAKER_04 56:56

learned in Paris. Nice, yeah. So hopefully you'll be encouraging some more Korean harmonica players.

SPEAKER_02 57:03

I hope, yeah. I'd love to.

SPEAKER_04 57:06

And maybe some more female Korean harmonica players.

SPEAKER_02 57:09

Yes, it's true. There are really, yeah.

Why there aren’t more female harmonica players

SPEAKER_04 57:13

There's not enough female harmonica players. Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_02 57:17

But you know, in every instrument, professional player, I think female player is less than...

SPEAKER_04 57:30

The men, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:31

Yeah, it's not just only harmonica player, I think.

SPEAKER_04 57:37

No, although you do get some wonderful musicians, female musicians on the other instruments, and obviously you get some wonderful harmonica players too, but there seem to be more women in the other ones. Okay, yeah, so, well, have a great time traveling to Australia tomorrow. I hope that's not too tiring a trip for you. So, yeah, it's been great to speak to you, Yura Kim.

SPEAKER_02 57:56

Thank you, Nir. Thank you so much for inviting me.

SPEAKER_04 58:00

Once again, thanks to Zydle for sponsoring the podcast. Be sure to check out their great range of harmonicas and products at www.zydle1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zydle Harmonicas. Thanks to Yore for joining me today. She's doing some really interesting work on the chromatic. Be sure to check out her tour in 2025 with Ace Guitare's husband, Anton Boye. And check out the links on the podcast page for more info on Yore. Also thanks to Richard Yems for the donation to the podcast. The next episode will be a retrospective, where I will have some expert guests discuss one of the great players who is no longer with us. This will be out in a couple of weeks' time. I'll sign out now with Yore playing us another track from her Tangram album. This one is called After the Storm. After the Storm

SPEAKER_01 58:58

me me