Around Korea: Sunshine and Scat at Seoul Forest Jazz Festival

Sunshine and Scat at Seoul Forest Jazz Festival

By Adam Nash

It is fair to say my taste in festivals has matured slightly as I have grown older. I have come a long way from the spotty, mud-caked kid who hurled himself around mosh pits. Three days with no sleep or showers, surviving only on cheap vodka and Jaffa Cakes; it is just not my tempo anymore. I need something more chilled, laidback and, ideally, just a short bus ride from my home.

So, thank you, Seoul Forest Jazz Festival 2022, for providing all this and much more.

The festival was to be my first in over two years, but it had felt like an eternity. After the UK quickly opened up after Covid-19, I have had to put up with seeing photos of my friends’ smirking, glitteredpasted faces pop up on my Instagram feed. So, even though I only had a day ticket to a small festival, I could not have been more excited.

Now any seasoned festival-goer will tell you, getting to the site is always a gruelling slog, which leaves you exhausted before the first chord is even strummed. I have had motorway breakdowns, cancelled coaches, and overcrowded trains. But this festival was different – we actually arrived in style. At the entrance of the park, we were met by a New Orleansesque brass band, strutting their stuff on a small stage, while a smartly dressed man with slick-black hair and a megaphone hyped up the crowd. They then led a procession around the park and danced us right through the main festival gates, while smokefilled bubbles floated all around us. It was quite an entrance!

▲ SoWhat NOLA’s song “Second Line” getting the party started.

The festival definitely had a different vibe to the lairy, booze-fuelled events I am used to back home. Everyone set up their picnic blankets neatly by the main stage and sipped wine while watching the bands play in the sunshine. Then, once a set had finished, everyone would make their way over to the secluded Dear Deer Stage beneath the trees to watch an intimate performance by another sickeningly talented act.

The key to any good festival is variety. If I wanted to know every word to every song, I would just go to a noraebang. I come to festivals to be surprised, to see strange things and have my ears opened to new music and different styles. I was a little apprehensive about going to a ‘jazz festival’, as I thought it might be nothing but smooth, lounge acts. Do not get me wrong, I do like a bit of scatting every now and again, just not seven hours of it. Well, the Seoul Forest Jazz Festival did not disappoint.

The lineup had everything, from a virtuoso tap dancer covering The Beatles to the ‘Ambiguous Dance Company’ who started out as a flash mob in the audience before treating us to some stunning, and often hilarious, hip-hop dance routines. I am not exactly sure how this fell under the genre of jazz, but it was so damn entertaining that no one seemed to care. There was also big band music, jazz funk, contemporary pop sounds, and old-style, bluesy classics. And that was only day one! After the sun set behind the main stage, the acclaimed producer/songwriter, Sunwoo Jung-a, brought Saturday night to a close with an effortlessly cool set. The lights came up and everyone started packing down. It was then that I realised it was only 8:45 p.m.! I had time to grab a bite to eat at nearby Seongsu and still get back home in time to have a good night's sleep.

So, for the first time ever in my long, festival-going career, I woke up on Sunday morning refreshed and ready to go again. I was really starting to regret not buying a two-day ticket. That was until I looked out the window. Unfortunately, the weather gods did not look down as favorably on the Sunday lineup and the festival was a complete washout.

As festivals go, this was definitely a new experience for me. I am not going to lie, there is still that spotty sixteen-year-old kid inside of me that wants to be chugging warm beer and head-banging in a muddy field somewhere, but it is good to know that as I get older, I can appreciate the finer, more easygoing things in life. Maybe this means I am getting more sophisticated. On second thoughts…

The Author

Adam is a proud Yorkshireman, born and bred in Sheffield, England. He loves traveling, football, and playing music. He’s been a drummer for over 20 years, but recently picked up the guitar, as a drum kit won’t fit in his apartment. Instagram @adam_nash62