The Cedar and Walker Art Center Present LEENALCHI — The Cedar Cultural Center

Back to All Events The Cedar and Walker Art Center Present LEENALCHI Saturday, November 7, 2026 8:00 PM 9:00 PM The Cedar Cultural Center 416 Cedar Avenue Minneapolis, MN, 55454 United States (map) Google Calendar ICS The Cedar and Walker Art Center Present Leenalchi Saturday, November 7, 2026 Doors 7PM | Show 8PM Standing | All Ages buy tickets Accessibility at The Cedar This show is part of The Cedar's Global Roots Series , made possible in part by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Marbrook Foundation, the Rosemary and David Good Foundation, and the hundreds of donors whose generosity helps sustain our programs each year. LISTEN ABOUT THIS SHOW Leenalchi is a seven-piece band from Seoul that draws on the folk storytelling tradition of pansori, and will remind you of the Talking Heads.

Their line-up is as singular as their sound – featuring two bassists, drums, keys, no guitar, and three singers. The band’s creator and visionary, bassist Young Gyu Jang, is also behind several beloved horror soundtracks and the now-disbanded iconic art band SsingSsing, which Tiny Desk's Bob Boilen described as "one of my most memorable Tiny Desk Concerts of all time." leenalchi Leenalchi is a seven-piece band from Seoul that draws on the folk storytelling tradition of pansori, and will remind you of the Talking Heads.

Their line-up is as singular as their sound – featuring two bassists, drums, keys, no guitar, and three singers. The band’s creator and visionary, bassist Young Gyu Jang, is also behind several beloved horror soundtracks and the now-disbanded iconic art band SsingSsing, which Tiny Desk's Bob Boilen described as "one of my most memorable Tiny Desk Concerts of all time." Most of the people reading this bio won’t be able to understand Leenalchi’s lyrics.

Funnily enough, a lot of Korean speakers won’t be able to either. Hee-hee!

Ha-ha! Hut-hut!

Aiiyeh! Kkululululu!

Like many old languages, Korean is full of onomatopoeias, words that echo the sounds heard in the surrounding world. Kwal-kwal (콸콸) is the sound of a running stream.

Gaegul-gaegul (개굴개굴) goes the frog. Saegeun-saegeun (새근새근) mimics the soft, somnolent breath of a baby or a cat.

These, of course, have easy English analogs: the drip-drop of rain, the frog ribbits, the baby cries wah. More elusive in English are mimetic words, or words whose sounds are meant to capture a sensation—the sound of a motion or even an emotion.

In Korean, these types of words are called uitaeeo (의태어). A slippery floor is mikkeul-maekkeul (미끌매끌).

Sol-sol (솔솔) is a kind of gentle and subtle slowness, like in a breeze or a scent. Umul-chumul (우물쭈물) describes hesitation.

The repetition in these words create their own rhythmic unit; each word functions like the tiniest of songs. And though one might not know how to speak Korean, somehow, as in music, these subtle inflections of sound transmit meaning beyond specific language.

In the case of Leenalchi’s music, Koreans couldn’t tell you what the songs are really about — something about a rabbit’s liver, something about a soft-shelled turtle. They’re taken from pansori, a traditional style of musical storytelling often compared to opera.

Rooted in shamanism and developed during the Joseon Dynasty (17th century), these songs tell epic tales of love, virtue, sorrow, and dragon kings. But what songs don’t?

Like Beowulf, pansori is told in an ancient version of the Korean language. Still, the sounds emitting from Leenalchi’s singers are transcendent, as if reverberating in our ears from a spiritual plane.

Imagine a musical version of Hamlet set to a juicy, tripped-out bass hook. The psychedelic riffs are courtesy of Jang Young Gyu (that’s Mr.

Jang to you), Leenalchi’s enigmatic leader. Born in 1968, Mr.

Jang has witnessed the unprecedented popularity of Korean culture reach every corner of the planet from within. Even on this EP, you’ll find evidence of that reach in their cover of “Let’s Live for Today” by Los Angeles rock band, The Grass