Ulsan World Music Festival!

This past month Ulsan hosted the annual World Music Festival (UWMF) from October 4th through the 9th.  I was aware of this festival last year, but I missed it and went to the Global Gathering festival in Seoul that weekend instead.  This year I was able to check it out a few times, and perform an acoustic set with my band for the Ulsan orphanage T-HOPE tent.  The festival was much larger than I expected, with 3 big stages, and tons of tents with of foods and goods from all over the world.

Here is an Ecuadorian pan flute band that was pretty cool.  They were mostly there for show, as most of the music they did was just from the CD player.  I did buy a little pan flute though!

Here I am inside of the T-Hope tent talking with Jazzie, one of the main coordinators of the orphanage.

Here we are playing the acoustic set!

Here is my friend Connie fixing my harmonica harness during our set.

Me enjoying the music :)

This was a cool Ska band called Babylove & the van Dangos from Copenhagen, Denmark.  

I was able to be right next to the stage for several of the bands, and these guys were awesome.  Afterwards Keenan and I ended up chatting with the lead singer for about 30 minutes while watching a Korean ukulele band.  It was pretty cool!

This is Iva Lamkum from New Zealand, and she was something else.  A true diva!

This is Iva's keyboardist, and he was probably the best one I've ever seen!

Here is the Korean Ukulele band Keenan, Babylove and I watched play.

Here was a random tent I came across.  Right before this there were a bunch of kids doing Psy's Gangnam Style dance.

Here is my friend Fawn cracking Keenan's back.  haha.

This is a guy making noodles.  At first it looks like he is just kneading the dough, but at the end you can see he is stretching it out and creating noodles.  Very cool to watch! 

Here is a concert poster for Kim Hi Ho, a famous rock star in Korea.  I saw him for free once with Mr. Park on the same stage as Babylove and Iva.  I couldn't make this particular concert, but I like this photo, and you can see me in the reflection!

Here is my good friend Jon Taylor from the band Karaoke Dokey.  This was on the last day of the festival in the party tent.  This was officially their last show ever, and they played a great set.  Jon is currently traveling through Russia and Europe, and we all miss him a lot.

This is Jason from Karaoke Dokey (and Shil on the drums).  Jason is one of the nicest guys I know, and one of the best guitarists I know too.  He makes it look soo easy.

Sunday night there was a Korean orchestra playing, and they were very good.

Here is a video of the orchestra, and some of the friends I was watching it with.  That is Barry at the end, hah.

These guys got up front for some soloing.  This whole orchestra played very well, but some how held back.  Every time one of them was given a chance to solo, they did it with such flair and enthusiasm!  Very fun to watch.

There were so many things to do and see at this free festival.  I wish I would have been able to see all of the musical acts, but obviously that was impossible (and I didn't make it there Thursday or Friday!)  If you are interested in some any of these bands, there is more information about the big names here: 2012 UWMF Artists.  If we (my band) is still around next year, we will probably be able to play on one of the stages, but I might be moving on to the next country by then.. we shall see!  In any case, good times were had!