It has been only 10 days since Korean pop stars attracted 14,000 European fans in two K-pop concerts in Paris. On Sunday, more than 800 European fans gathered in front of Abbey Road Studios in London to catch a glimpse of Korean boyband SHINee.The five-member group performed at Abbey Road Studios in a closed reception where local media and European music industry experts were invited, SM Entertain

LONDON, June 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korean boy band SHINee put on a showcase at a famed recording studio here Sunday ahead of the release of their first Japanese single this week.In the latest sign of the growing popularity of Korean pop music, or "K-pop," the five-man dance and R&B unit was greeted by hundreds of fans from Britain and other nations around the world at the Abbey Road Studios. The Be

NEW YORK (AP) ― It is hard to think of how Paul McCartney could have given his first solo album a bigger publicity hurdle to overcome, unless he had been arrested for some vile crime on the week of its release in April 1970.The newly ex-Beatle distributed a questionnaire that was treated by fans and the media as definitive word that the world’s most beloved rock band, true today as it was then, ha

Nino Machaidze“Romantic Arias”Sony MusicHollywood-style opera singer Nino Machaidze released her first solo album “Romantic Arias” on June 14, collecting famous opera repertoires by Manon, Gounod, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. Born in Georgia in 1983, Machaidze graduated from the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In the summer of 2008 when she was 25, she made a sensational debut by subs

Pianist Lim, violinist Shin to play Saraste, Brahms and Ravel togetherPianist Lim Dong-hyek and violinist Shin Hyun-su, the only two Koreans to have topped the prestigious Long-Thibaud International Competition, will stage a flamboyant duo recital as part of the upcoming classical chamber music summer event, Ditto Festival.The triennial competition aims to discover talents in piano and violin and

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) ― Turns out Keith Urban’s 2011 Get Closer Tour is aptly named.The country superstar will unveil a new stage design when his tour starts Thursday in Biloxi, Mississippi. Urban often tucks away ideas he comes up with while standing on stage in front of thousands of fans. He noticed on his last tour that when he descended ramps at each end of the stage, nearby fans were prac

Indie pop duo to play Olympic Hall on July 16While idol group-centered K-pop has been heavily covered by the media, the Korean indie music scene has received relatively little attention. Seeking diversity of Korean music, The Korea Herald is starting a series of interview articles shedding light on the Korean indie music scene. ― Ed.The 1990s is often called “golden age of Korean pop” because ther

Classical Music“2011 Ditto Festival”: Male-chamber ensemble Ditto, led by violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill, is to hold its annual summer festival from June 22-July 3 at the Seoul Arts Center’s Concert Hall and Hoam Art Hall. Highlights of the festival will include Ditto and Parker Quartet’s duo recital on June 25 at the SAC at 2 p.m. The duo program will feature Debbusy’s String Quartet in g minor

Lila Downs“En Paris o Live Á Fip”Music CompassBorn to a Mexican-Indian mother and Scottish-American father in the U.S., singer-songwriter Lila Downs is quite mysterious in that she taps into both Mexican traditional music and pop. The 42-year-old mestizo’s latest album “En Paris o Live Á Fip” collects her songs performed for France’s FIP radio station in 2009. Songs like “La Cucarach” and “La Llor

The Visit Korea Year Committee said it has kicked off the 2011 K-pop cover dance festival at www.coverdance.org. The committee will conduct an online preliminary competition until July 24. Applicants around the world can submit their K-pop cover dance video to the webpage. In countries where the registered videos get the most hits and “recommended” buttons clicks, the committee will run a second r

The highlights of two upcoming K-pop concerts in Paris will be broadcast on YouTube and Facebook. SM Entertainment plans to hold the “SM Town World Tour in Paris” concerts on June 10 and June 11 at Le Zenith de Paris as part of the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Year(s), the country’s largest entertainment agency said. The company added the June 11 show after hundreds of French K-pop fans in May rallied in