‘Digital Wonderwoman’ gadgets are for making music

Bora Yoon, a Korean-American musician, performs music using cell phones. [JoongAng Ilbo]

NEW YORK ― The harmony of Bora Yoon’s Tibetan singing bowls, megaphone, cell phone ringtones and other instruments was met with brilliant applause from both Koreans and Americans in the audience at a recent performance.
“I wish to be a musician who can create a new world by using different types of sounds,” said Yoon, a 27-year old Korean-American musician.
Yoon’s creative and experimental musical performance was recently featured in a front page article of the Wall Street Journal.
Yoon went on stage wearing a violet dress, a perfect match to her name Bora, which means violet in Korean.
The 500-person audience at the Lincoln Center ― a dream stage for jazz musicians from around the world ― was fascinated by the wonderful sounds Yoon made, especially when she combined the sound of cell phone ringtones with Hawaiian guitar chords.
Born in Chicago, Yoon is a second-generation Korean American.
She majored in experimental and acoustic music at Ithaca College, New York and has won a prize in the John Lennon songwriting contest.
Her enthusiasm for producing diverse and creative music and her absolute sense of pitch have earned her the monicker “Digital Wonderwoman.”
She hears almost all sounds as music ― so it was just a matter of time until she began to incorporate the cell phone as an instrument and a part of her musical performance.
“Music is a type of signal and message to express yourself, so even my cell-phone can be my portable piano,” Yoon said.
And because different cell phones make different sounds, she has a wide range. Currently she owns 11 different cell phones, courtesy of Samsung Electronics.
In addition to her aptitude for playing tones from cell phones, she can play all kinds of instruments. She plans to hold her first concert in Korea in October.

By Nam Jung-ho JoongAng Ilbo [ebusiness@joongang.co.kr]