Now, I don't intend this article to be a public relations piece for Mr.Kim, but I would like it to serve as a bit of intelligence for those in the foreign community here who,like I had been,may not be illumined to the level of sophistication and variety of vitality with in the Korean musical scene,particularly prevalent in its "underground" side. Because musicians like Mr.Kim are relatively scarce and their appeal is limited to a small but loyal following.They are christened here with the lable "underground" This simply means that they are not "pop" or popular, like Seo tae-ji or Kim gun-mo,who were respectively marketed to and forced upon a mass audience resulting in enormous CD sales and wide popular acclaim. Kim Mok-Kyoung is a different story altogether. Let me discribe what I witnessed and then you, the primarily Western reader, can be the judge.

My initial skepticism, upon entering the gallery, was based upon the spectacle of yet another strangely-garbed Korean playing blues licks on a Fender guitar, standing rather motionless and playing rather motionless.This betrayed what I thought was the stiffness inherent in guitarists intent upon imitating Eric Clapton note-for-note and motion-for-motion. However, upon closer examination and longer exposure, I realized this was no mere imagination-free, imitation-laden, Itaewon-type,live CD. This was a guy who knew his stuff.

First of all, the vast majority of his songs were original compositions sung in Korean. But the blues is universal, so the spoken language mattered not; it was the language of music. Of course, it is difficult to write a blues song without sounding suspiciously like something we have all heard before, but Mr.Kim's imagination led him into some very precious regions of guitar improvisation.

Additionally, his songs were not a rash of redundant repetitions; he dabbled in many aspects of this blues with songs ranging from country-tinged blues ballads to hard-driving, stinging electric blues. His liberal and capable use of the slide added a nice variation as well.

Then there was his tastful presentation, which clearly positioned him as a true professional. On the occasional English language song, Mr.Kim betrayed no vocal accent to detract from the origins of his chosen musical style. Also, I was quite impressed by a tactic I'd never seen pulled off quite so well in a live show. At the end of many songs, rather then choosing to close with a traditional coda, he quite impressively faded the song out, as one might hear on a recording.

This is an extremely difficult exercise to maneuver well. The band members must be in perfect time, without slowing the tempo, while simultaneously reducing their volumes at equally descending levels until silence prevails.This indeed no mean feat and was, in my opinion, one of the most tastful aspects of the concert. Also, Mr.Kim's ability to lower the intensity of a song in the middle and then bring it back up again. thereby adding to it's dynamism was as untasked and natural as I've seen.

His stage presence and command as a band leader was as impressive as his guitar work. He led the band through some rather long numbers, replete with flawless time changes, solo opertunities for each band menber and introductions thereof.

Speaking of the band, they deserve credit for being as incredibly tight as to allow Mr.Kim such freedom to demonstrate his dexterity. Each player was rock solid, with the second guitarist often trading equally fine licks with the lead performer. All-in-all, Mr.Kim has assembled a fine ensemble which I believe, English-permitting, would go over quite well with Western audiences. Still the audience he had was wildly appreciative, another remarkable aspect of the evening.

To conclude, I say music like this should not remain "underground". I've always wondered why the most popular Korean music seems to be mostly poor imitations of bad American music. Inevitably [and understandably I hope] having until now been exposed only to that aspect of Korean attempts at Western music. I began to believe that all Korean musicians [save traditional musicians, of course]were nothing more than cheap copies of dime-a-dozen American acts. Thankfully, Kim Mok Kyoung has proven me wrong.

The writer, an English editor and instructor and part-time musician, is a resident of Seoul.-Ed.