With This “Ring,” I Thee Wed

Sometimes a brand’s efforts to underwrite culture can come off as forced and unnatural, not unlike a 40-something person trying to slip in street slang to their everyday vocabulary. However, last week PSFK witnessed a strong example of how, with the right approach, emerging culture and an established brand can have a symbiotic relationship.

We were invited to experimental musician Bora Yoon’s performance at the Allen Room performance space in New York’s Time Warner Center. The event was sponsored by Samsung and no expense or detail was spared. The performance auditorium was the perfect setting, with the treetops of Central Park and Columbus Circle serving as a surreal backdrop to the music. Yoon performed to a full audience ranging from music aficionados and random tourists, to enthusiastic Korean media and well-heeled corporate executives from the brand.

By way of background, Yoon was recently recognized on A1 of the Wall Street Journal for her approach to composition and incorporating mobile phones into her sonic alchemy:

The cellphone caught her ear for its “old school and wonderfully dated” timbre, she says, like “you’re stuck in a calculator or a digital clock from the 1990s.” She trained herself to play the cellphone, hooking it up to digital effects that give it an ethereal quality, echoing as though it were in a giant concert hall. She learned to lay one melody over another, creating harmonies and dissonant effects.

Ms. Yoon has incorporated the phone into her solo act, using it alongside her voice and other instruments. She has also collaborated with musicians including Suphala, a tabla player and protégé of Indian legend Zakir Hussain, and DJ Spooky, an avant-garde hip-hop artist and producer. She is picky about her instruments, so not just any phone will do. She insists on playing one particular Samsung model, a 2004 E-105, which she says has a special “pong” tone reminiscent of the “ambient” sound pioneered by British musician and record producer Brian Eno. She buys the Samsung model on eBay as it gets tougher to find in stores. “I need a backup supply,” she says.

Yoon performed several pieces from her repertoire, ranging from straightforward, folk-styled songs, to highly experimental constructions, employing echoing violin loops, beatboxing, laptop electronics and even the wobbly percussive tones of water in a metal bowl as an added element.

This particular relationship between brand and performer was sincere. Yoon was using mobile phones in her performances long before Samsung knew. However, the company’s ability to hone in on an up-and-coming performer that complemented their brand and leverage their marketing budget to facilitate culture stands as a successful example of a difficult task: marrying art and commerce.

Wall Street Journal
Bora Yoon Wikipedia Entry