Creative rock and roll covers using a traditional Korean instrument

[Luna Lee seen here putting a traditional spin on some classic rock music / Luna Lee]

Korean musician Luna Lee has combined her love of contemporary and classical music to create these fascinating rock covers with a traditional instrumental twist.

Lee has dedicated countless hours to playing the gayageum, an ancient Korean instrument dating all the way back to the 6th century AD.

Using her years of training, she is able to skillfully manipulate this unique string instrument to perform numerous cover songs across different genres, which she has been uploading to her Youtube page since 2009.

These two particular videos feature Lee playing gayageum cover versions of the songs “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and “Californication” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Performing these skillful cover songs wasn’t just a simple manner of Lee learning the right cords. As she explains, the acoustic gayageum was only ever intended to play traditional Korean music, and is not designed for the louder sounds given off by modern instruments.

So not only has Lee extensively studied and experimented with new playing techniques, but her particular gayageum has also been redeveloped to help reflect the amplified tones and higher volumes specific to more modern musical genres.