Kang Heon, Chairman of Korea Arts & Culture Education Service Who Led an Era of Popular Music Criticism, Dies

Led criticism of Korean popular music in the 1990s... He was 64
Worked in film and performance production, as well as myeongri research and writing
Served as CEO of the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation... Appointed chairman of the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service last year

Kang Heon, chairman of the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service, who led criticism of Korean popular music in the 1990s, died on October 20. He was 64.

According to people in the cultural community, Kang died that afternoon. The specific cause of death is not known.

Born in Busan in 1962, Kang graduated from Seoul National University's Department of Korean Language and Literature and studied music theory at the university's graduate school of music. He had majored in literature with dreams of becoming a novelist, but later expanded his work into film and music.

In the late 1980s, he was active in the independent film collective Jangsangotmae and took part in producing films including Oh! Dreamland, The Eve of the Strike and Opening the Closed School Gate. He also worked in film and television, writing the screenplays for the commercial films When Adam Opens His Eyes and Jungle Story, as well as the TV drama The Third Theater.

He became known as a popular music critic in 1991, when he published an essay on singer Kim Hyun-sik titled “On Kim Hyun-sik: From Acoustic Guitar to Blue Note.” He went on to critique Korean popular music in newspapers, magazines and broadcasts, becoming one of the leading writers on popular music in the 1990s.

At a time when popular music was mainly treated as entertainment, Kang offered criticism that examined music in its historical, social, political and cultural contexts. His writing covered a broad range of genres, including popular song, jazz, rock and roll, and classical music, interpreting key moments in music history in connection with contemporary changes.

Kang broadened the scope of cultural criticism with colleagues by creating the cultural quarterlies Yegam, Sangsang and Review. He taught the history of popular music for more than 20 years at Hongik University, Sungkonghoe University, Dankook University and Sungkyunkwan University, and also took part in producing performances.

He was active in the performing arts as well, planning and producing the concerts Freedom and Folk: 30th Anniversary Festival, and the musical productions The Never-Ending Song, Cheonbyeon Salon, Cheonbyeon Cabaret and The Princess Cannot Sleep.

His work interpreting the course of music history in relation to social change also extended to his writing. In his 2015 book Moments of Upheaval and Reversal, he shed light on moments when changes in music shook up the order of history and society.

Kang also became interested in myeongri, the traditional study of destiny based on a person's birth date and time, after collapsing in his early 40s due to an aortic condition and recovering from a 23-day coma. He went on to study myeongri for more than 10 years, continuing to teach and write about it. His books included Myeongri: Reading Fate, published in 2015, and Myeongri: Tuning Fate.

He was also active in cultural administration. He served as CEO of the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation and as the fifth chairman of the Korea Association of Regional Cultural Foundations, among other roles. In December last year, he was appointed chairman of the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service, an agency under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

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