Remember arriving in Korea? Landing at Incheon Airport to be met by a recruiter and then being taken to a seedy motel with a mirrored ceiling for the night before being put on a train the next morning, only to be shown to an empty apartment and told to be ready at 9 a.m. the next day for work? You have no phone or internet connection, the fridge is empty and the bed has no sheets, so you sleep with your coat over you wondering what the hell you have gotten yourself into. Okay, so this was my experience, but it can’t be too dissimilar to hundreds, if not thousands, of other new arrivals to Korea.
Rob McGovern
With strong Irish communities in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, an idea to try and bring together the Irish from all over Asia for an Asian Gaelic Games tournament emerged in the mid-90s. The founding members of the Asian Gaelic Games saw this as an opportunity to get the Irish in Asia together for a weekend of football, and maybe have a few sociable drinks, too.
Way back in 1972 a group of expats, mainly from the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, formed the Seoul Wanderers Rugby Club to play against university and army teams in Korea. The teams were formidable and not afraid of a punch up. According to former player Mike Seros, “The Wanderers were eventually disbanded for getting into too many punch-ups with Korean sides.”
“Sometime in a 1976 game against Yonsei University, there was a ruckus that really blew up and they walked off the field,” Barry Martin, the Survivors legendary captain, said.
From June 25, Italian-Venezuelan photographer José Antonio Nigro will hold his second solo exhibition in Seoul, at Itaewon’s Gallery Golmok.
By spring 2008, singer-songwriter Jang Ki-ha had finished writing the songs for his debut album. To perform these songs, he gathered some session musicians who eventually became The Faces. The Faces got more involved and contributed to the writing and composition of the second album and Jang Ki-ha and The Faces were born.
Kingston Rudieska played the main stage of Jisan Valley Rock Festival, and the nine-piece band will be back again this year. An exciting, energetic band that fills any stage, literally and metaphorically, Kingston Rudieska are stepping up to represent ska in Korea.
Scorched Earth, Black Snow: Britain and Australia in he Korean War, 1950
Andrew Salmon
Aurum Press Ltd.
The thunder comes, the birds scarper and all the little woodland creatures run for cover. Clanking, clunking, hammering and grunting replace the sounds of nature. These man made, industrial sounds in such a pleasant and tranquil setting mean only one thing: It’s festival time.
The dawn chorus can no longer be heard and eventually the whole valley has been transformed from a dormant ski resort into a summer rock venue.
