Foreign artists present 'Mismatched' musical showcase in Seoul

Cuban artist and singer-songwriter Camila Diaz poses on the rooftop of Eulji Space in downtown Seoul after a rehearsal, May 27. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

Seoul Culture Club will present “Mismatched,” an original English-language musical showcase written and composed by Cuban artist and singer-songwriter Camila Diaz, this weekend.

Seoul Culture Club is a performing arts collective based out of Eulji Space, a multi-level art complex located in downtown Seoul's Euljiro area.

"Mismatched," a stage-reading musical showcase, is all about the seemingly never-ending struggles and in spite-of-it-all relentlessness of two young artists, in their creative callings and personal relationships.

"This piece is the reflection of one of my fears, the fear of every creator. And it's that nobody will get to know what you wrote. Not even one person will get to listen to what you made.” Camila told The Korea Times on Monday, two days before she coincidentally was announced as the Grand Prize winner of the Korean Language Speaking Contest, hosted by the same paper.

Camila has been performing as a singer-songwriter since age 15.

"I always loved, ever since I was little, storytelling," she said. "I want to say so many things and tell stories. But songwriting was sort of a very fast way to tell a lot of stories. I decided to focus on songwriting, telling stories about farewells and heartbreak in my songs, which is funny because I haven't got my heart broken that many times. But I tend to listen a lot to people around me."

She explained that musical theater was not a big thing in Cuba, which doesn't have a very developed musical theater community.

“I saw a musical for the first time in Korea, which was a similar Broadway-like production. The ones they do here in Korea are amazing, and that inspired me," she said. "A musical does not have to be all classical or with orchestration. It can also be like hip-hop or salsa. It can have as many musical genres as you choose to be."

She came to Korea to study for a master's degree in musicology at the Korea National University of Arts (K-ARTS). Born in Guantanamo, she majored in international relations at Raúl Roa García Higher Institute of International Relations in Havana before coming here. She also worked for a children's theater company in Cuba, and she writes songs and sings in Spanish, Korean, English and French.

Her focus has consistently been on culture, K-pop as cultural diplomacy connecting Korea, Cuba as well as Latin America.

After completing her master's program two years ago, she participated in a busking tour of Latin America with a group of Korean students from K-ARTS, visiting Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras.

"That was one of the first big projects that I was in after I got my artist visa and changed and started working as an artist," she said. "I was the only Cuban in the group. All the other members of the crew were Korean."

They did Korean traditional performances, including dancing, theater and music.

"I thought we would have a hard time because it was in Korean, but we got such a nice reaction from people," she said. "People just stopped and gathered around. I did a musical play with a Korean actress. And it was like in Korean and Spanish. I did the songs like sort of narrating a little bit, a musical play. It was one of my first attempts at musical performance. And we were worried that people might not get the whole point of everything that we were telling. And it happened the exact opposite. I realize that arts have no barriers, no boundaries. And language is not a boundary, especially when you unite, not just acting and your movement, but when you unite with a song transmitting feelings and in something that you're not connecting and something that you're not able to put into words. That's one of the things that I hope to do not only with my music as a singer-songwriter but now in this other area that I'm stepping into the musical theater as a storyteller and songwriter."

Filipino American actor and choreographer Kyle James Abraham poses on the rooftop of Eulji Space in downtown Seoul after a rehearsal, May 27. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

The production also features Kyle James Abraham, an actor, choreographer and dance artist in residency at Eulji Space, as well as pianist Kwon Seung-yeon and creative producer and director Conan Kim.

Abraham is a transnational Filipino/Asian American performance artist, scholar and educator. As a freelance dance artist, his creative research currently investigates the (un/re)intelligibility of melancholia through movement, body, text, speech and silence.

“I tell people I am Korean by residency, Filipino by blood, but American by citizenship," he said. "I might not always necessarily follow the dominant status quo, a monolithic cultural value system. So, it's an interesting feeling at different times that I belong and I don't amongst Koreans and also non-Koreans — it vacillates back and forth. Communicating my own story through dance without words is a more sincere authentic and accurate way of representing my experience of not fully knowing and understanding being in Korea and connecting with people from different backgrounds from all around the world."

He moved to Korea to teach English, pursuing his interests in culture, education and the arts. While here, he decided to get more serious about dance.

"Outside of teaching English, I remember reading in an article that they said it was really important to have a sort of hobby outside of teaching English," he said. "And now I found a sense of community and belonging through my dance communities and relationships, though there are still challenges being here and getting used to the culture."

Cuban artist and singer-songwriter Camila Diaz, left, and Filipino American actor and choreographer Kyle James Abraham rehearse at Eulji Space in downtown Seoul, May 27. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

Conan Kim, creative producer and director, as well as one of the founders of Eulji Space, explained that the "Mismatched" showcase is the latest project by Seoul Culture Club.

“It is a project to develop incubate and share this new work of art created by Camila, who was in the Seoul Culture Club big show last November," he said. "It is an original work of musical play in the English language that we have been workshopping this year. The showcase is not the end purpose of this 'Mismatched' project. But it's really to workshop it and develop it and to sort of build this relationship among the artists who are involved.”

Seoul Culture Club x Jadis Camila is showcasing the musical in a Tiny Desk Concert style, up close and personal. The audience will get a range of flavors from its musical scores and storyline. The showcase will start this Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Eulji Space Salon. Entry is free, but seating is limited so reservations are recommended.

Visit euljispace.com or follow @seoul.culture.club on Instagram for more information.

Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photo artist, social activist and writer based in Seoul. He's also co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative, and freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency.