Two contemporary singer-songwriters, each with a distinct tone and emotional temperature, meet on the XMF stage. O3ohn and Car, the garden—who previously collaborated on Beyond (2017) and Long Winter (2021)—have finally joined forces on a full-length project, Two, creating a shared heartbeat and a singular voice.
With playful insight and heartfelt musicianship, their chemistry evokes the layered warmth of a summer sweater—something far more alive and textured than any formulaic, lab-grown combination.

A key player in Korea’s unexpected band boom, TOUCHED made waves by winning the Yoo Jae-ha Music Contest in 2020—the first year bands were allowed to enter. They went on to claim the top prize on Mnet’s Great Seoul Invasion in 2022, further cementing their place in the spotlight.
The four-piece band—YunMin (vocals & guitar), Kim Seungbin (drums), John B. Kim (bass), and Chae Dohyeon (keyboard)—brings their signature energy and chemistry to the XMF stage.

Winner of the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album (The Kalling),Kabaka Pyramid is a genre-defying artist from Kingston, Jamaica. Since his debut in 2011, he has crafted a golden blend of reggae, hip-hop, and dancehall.
His music, rooted in Rastafarian philosophy, social awareness, and reflections on modern systems, fuses organic beats with rap and melody—earning him recognition as a revitalizing force in contemporary Jamaican reggae.
His acclaimed album The Kalling was produced by Damian Marley (son of Bob Marley), who is also known for his collaborations with rapper Nas.
In 2025, the spirit and rhythm of Jamaica arrive in Gwangju—through the voice and vision of Kabaka Pyramid.

Jazz and samulnori collide—an encounter that's both a joyful accident and a thoughtful exploration. Jeon Song-yi, one of Korea’s most acclaimed jazz vocalists, began her musical journey in classical composition before turning to jazz. She was the first recipient of the Quincy Jones CJ&E Fellowship at Berklee College of Music. Her album HOME received high praise from DownBeat magazine, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars. In 2024, she joined the Zurich University of the Arts as a professor.
Founded in 2018, Newdot is a contemporary percussion ensemble rooted in samulnori—a traditional Korean form of drumming using four instruments. The group collects and reimagines scattered rhythmic patterns from across Korea, transforming them into bold, contemporary expressions. At XMF, rhythms from Korea, Europe, and the U.S. scatter, intersect, and reconnect in a moment of vibrant resonance.

Drums that echo the heartbeat of two nations—Korea and Japan—resound together on a single stage. Korea’s janggu (Korean traditional double-headed drum) and Japan’s wadaiko (Japanese traditional drum), though different in form, both carry explosive energy and refined emotion. Leading the Korean ensemble is percussion master Min Young-chi, known for his collaborations with experimental pop artists like Panic and Shin Hae-chul. The Japanese team is led by Shuichi Hidano, renowned for his performances with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, and at the 2002 FIFA World Cup closing ceremony. As their rhythms converge, your heart, too, may find itself moving to the beat.

The Nubim KIM Group is a Netherlands-based ensemble led by Korean composer Nubim, a “superband” known for its distinctive presence in the Dutch music scene.
Nubim blends her multifaceted background — spanning architecture and music, jazz and classical, East and West — into a unique musical voice that transcends genre and culture.
Their 2024 live album, Crossroads (Live in Amsterdam), was nominated for the 2025 Korean Music Awards in the category of Best Global Contemporary Album, drawing significant attention both in Korea and internationally.
This performance at XMF marks the Korean premiere of the project, which was originally commissioned and presented in the Netherlands by the City of Rotterdam, local arts foundations, and leading festivals to great acclaim.
With an original instrumentation of saxophone, flute, piano, marimba, and cello, the Nubim Kim Group delivers an immersive and multidimensional experience — seamlessly weaving together jazz, classical, hip-hop, and even metal.

Francesca and Flora move freely across borders. From Jewish music to the folk traditions of Maramureș—a region spanning Romania and Ukraine—they blend ancient wisdom with contemporary sensibility to create a sound world entirely their own. The British music magazine MOJO described them as artists who “refuse boundaries,” while The Guardian named their 2024 album Precious Collection Folk Album of the Month, calling it “a spiritual avant-garde journey—experimental yet accessible—that leads listeners through Romanian and Transylvanian epics.” After all, the line between ritual and celebration is a thin one.

Have you ever encountered traditional Korean music with a smoky edge? Hilgeum, a string trio comprising gayageum, geomungo, and haegeum, crafts what they call a "smoky sound"—passionate, delicate, and at times, cinematic. Their music evokes the emotional tension of films like A Tale of Two Sisters or the gothic atmosphere of 1922.
Joining them is London-based vocalist and violinist Alice Zawadzki, whose 2024 ECM release Za Górami received critical acclaim. Her genre-defying work flows seamlessly through classical, jazz, art-pop, and folk, engaging with themes from refugee crises to immersive multimedia art.
Together, they weave a taut, resonant fantasy of strings—a bow drawn tight, ready to release.

Do you like diving? The electronic world music duo Animal Divers invites you to plunge—like a mythical creature—into uncharted sonic oceans.
Their music fuses handpan, didgeridoo, electric guitar, and electronics with the clank and click of a shape-shifting machine. The result? A soundscape where primal nature meets the cold clarity of digital textures, constructing entirely new spaces in the process.
As XMF searches for the unknown “X,” Animal Divers send out analog signals across the airwaves—calling you to tune in.

Danpyunsun & The Moments Ensemble, led by musician and producer Danpyunsun, received top honors at the 2025 Korean Music Awards, winning Album of the Year for their critically acclaimed 2024 release Hail to the Music.
Drawing from jazz, folk, art rock, and contemporary classical influences, the ensemble reaches toward distant sonic territories. Their aim is to push each performer to their limits, amplifying the full emotional range embedded in their repertoire—from the sublime to the absurd, from pleasure to stillness, from the grotesque to a sense of poise.
In Gwangju, Danpyunsun is joined by pianist Boram Lee, bassist Hyunwoo Song, drummer Jaejun Park, and guitarist Rose Park, as they embark on a musical journey with no set destination—only the thrill of where it might lead.

Kim Do-yeon is an experimental musician, composer, and performer who expands the sonic possibilities of the gayageum, a traditional Korean zither. After winning major national competitions as a traditional performer, she became the first Korean traditional instrumentalist to be admitted to both the New England Conservatory and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute for graduate studies in the U.S. In 2021, Grammy.com named her one of “7 musicians shaping the future of ancient Asian instruments.” She has collaborated with the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra in both 2021 and 2023, exploring the intersections of Korean traditional music and contemporary improvisation.
At XMF, she is joined by an international ensemble including Peter Evans, Philip Golub, Sam Minaie, and Satoshi Takeishi—artists whose diverse cultural and musical backgrounds come together in bold, boundary-crossing collaboration.

The Indonesian experimental duo Senyawa creates music that defies imagination—using self-built instruments crafted from farming tools and bamboo found in their rural homeland.
Having collaborated with artists ranging from American drone metal band Sunn O))) to saxophonist Colin Stetson, Senyawa dismantles cultural boundaries with a sonic universe and performance style that is entirely their own.
But their work extends beyond the stage. Their interactive sound installation Senyawa-X reflects their deep interest in the dialogue between the organic and the digital, blurring the lines between instrument, body, and system.

64ksana is an alternative electronic music ensemble rooted in Korean gut (shamanic ritual music) and built on a foundation of techno, percussion, vocals, and traditional instruments. Through the fusion of shamanic tradition and electronic sound, their music seeks to liberate listeners from the weight of reality—summoning a visceral sense of presence through rhythm, ritual, and release.
Their performances combine audio and visual media to create immersive, transcendent environments—multi-sensory experiences where the boundaries between past and present, body and sound, dissolve.
Following their appearance at Sejong Center’s Think Next 24 last year, they return to the stage this year for the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture’s QUAD Festa. With their presence at XMF, audiences are invited to step directly into the ecstatic, dreamlike realm of an electronic gut ritual.