The East Asian Studies Center and Department of History at Ohio State Mansfield present:
"K-Pop: A Century in the Making"
Pil Ho Kim
The Ohio State University
Abstract: K-pop’s sustained global popularity from Psy’s “Gangnam Style” to BTS has piqued curiosity of many, including devoted fans and serious scholars, about its origins and transformations. This online lecture will take an expansive view of K-pop, an abbreviation of Korea’s century-long musical tradition. It encompasses early twentieth-century folk songs, Japanese colonial-era jazz, 1960s’ rock and soul from the U.S. military bases in South Korea, and the emergence of home-grown musicians who would become the masterminds of K-pop entertainment company juggernauts. It is a tradition full of shapeshifting crossovers, ingenious hybridities, and intercultural collaborations, all of which have served as key ingredients to K-pop’s meteoric rise.
Download the PDF flyer here.
Pil Ho Kim is an associate professor of Korean studies at the Ohio State University and the Korea Branch chair of International Association for the Study of Popular Music. His forthcoming book, Polarizing Dreams: Gangnam and Popular Culture in Globalizing Korea, will be published by University of Hawai’i Press in Fall 2024.
