추다혜차지스 (Chudahye Chagis) at the Pentaport Rock Festival 2024

For me, 추다혜차지스 was the highlight of the festival. I actually didn’t recognize her name, but 추다혜 was one of the members of SsingSsing—which is one of my favorite Korean bands if only for their being so uniquely what they are. 추다혜차지스 is a similar fusion of rock and traditional Korean music. It really is a treat, and they really stood out among the rest of the festival lineup.

First of all, I just love their sound. I love pansori-type vocals over groovy, funky, laid back guitar, bass, and drums. What was also special about their set to me was that they didn’t have any pre-recorded backing tracks or samples. That sounds like a minor thing, but so many bands have pre-recorded string sections, background vocals, or whatever else they play along to fill out the sound. There is nothing wrong with that per se, but sometimes it feels like you are just listening to their album being played through loudspeakers. I think what bothers me about that is it makes the performance feel sterile and too rehearsed—it feels like it is just something that you are watching happen rather than happening along with it. Another way to put it is that it feels like it eliminates the chance for the performance to be affected by that particular time, place, and the people present. Which is ironic, because that is sort what makes live music worth going to see in the first place (to me at least). 추다혜차지스 stood in sharp relief to that trend of pre-produced live shows. They were tight and they sounded great, but more importantly they sounded…alive. Their music has so much spirit anyway because of the way it revolves around 추다혜’s pansori virtuosity, but being completely live just makes it all the more engrossing.

They also have really good stage presence. One thing that I dislike about a lot of live shows is how bands tend to talk to the audience. I generally dislike a lot of talking on stage, but I also just don’t like it when bands try to look cool or talk to the audience in an overly friendly way. 추다혜차지스 had a lot of audience involvement, and they would talk a little here and there—not too much—but it did not feel falsely personal or pretentious. Perhaps it has something to do with 추다혜’s background in traditional Korean performing arts, but her comments on stage have a kind of humor or playfulness that is characteristic of things like 탈춤. She herself has a certain amount of gravitas being the virtuoso that she is. Even if pansori is not your cup of tea, it is hard to not respect and marvel at someone who does what she does. Not to mention that she wears a peculiar head dress when she performs. If not her appearance then her lilting melismas will totally arrest your attention.