Eunmi Ko: SPAM!

I AM GOING MAD(LIBS) by Anthony R. Green
Ursus Maritimus by Han Hitchen
positiveIncrease by Howie Kenty
Cave Paintings of Discourse by Benjamin D. Whiting
SPAM by Benjamin D. Whiting
basil eyes by Tyler Kline
saturation temp by Emily Koh

SPAM! is an interdisciplinary project I embarked on summer of 2020. I couldn’t avoid steering myself away from the COVID pandemic. Who wasn’t affected by it either directly or indirectly? I was home all day all year with an out-of-tune upright piano. I played through some Schumann, Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, etc., over those summer months with my janky piano. And it was not easy. Of course, the out-of-tuneness bothered me first. But even a bigger problem I faced was the consistent distraction caused by a thread of thoughts about uncertainty and fear. Death seemed to be nearer than ever. What is the point of playing “beautiful” music? I was bothered by the “beautiful” music. vanity, I thought.

In 2020 June, I asked six composers to write a piece for the untuned piano, household objects, recorder-keyboard, and myself. I told these composers that the pieces would be performed at home. I was hoping to invite everybody over to my house and give a premiere concert in the fall of 2020. Now it is spring of 2021, and the in-person premiere concert still awaits its happening. The concert was live-streamed on September 25, 2020.

I would like to thank all participating composers Anthony R. Green, Han Hitchen, Howie Kenty, Tyler Kline, Emily Koh, Benjamin D. Whiting, and audio/video engineers William Brown, Han Hitchen, Joshua Mallard.
– Eunmi Ko