Great Integration: A Chamber Hip-Hop Opera March 30, 2012

Great Integration "defies such categories as jazz, classical, and hip-hop" (Oakland Tribune), is "ambitious" (The New Yorker), and "breaks established boundaries between genres and styles" (SF Examiner). NPR praised it by saying "nobody has ever attempted anything like this on such a large scale, or with such sophistication".

Great Integration tells a story of the end of the old world and the beginning of the new; a story that is particularly apt for the approaching end times prophesied by the Mayan calender.

The music of Great Integration incorporates elements from hip-hop and classical, creating a unique hybrid that "sounds like something Wu-Tang Clan producer The RZA might conjure up if he got his hands on the Kronos Quartet" (SF Weekly).

Backed by his own Ensemble Mik Nawooj, featuring MCs Rico Pabon & Do D.A.T., JooWan Kim succeeds in creating a new kind of music that combines genres that are seemingly incompatible with each other.

About JooWan Kim and Ensemble Mik Nawooj

Jazz legend Ahmad Jamal said, "In this day and age, for an artist to succeed, the talent has to be either exceptional or very different. JooWan Kim is both; exceptional and very different."

Ensemble Mik Nawooj (EMN) performs the innovative music of composer/pianist JooWan Kim, who blends classical, hip-hop, film music, and pop into a unique musical hybrid. Since its first public performance in spring of 2005, EMN has generated both shock and praise from audiences and critics alike for its uncompromising blend of rap and classical. Ensemble Mik Nawooj is the first and the only band that successfully merged pop with traditional Western European music without losing the integrity of either genre.

Music director of EMN, JooWan Kim, is a Taoist/Zen practitioner as well as a lifetime endorsee from the Steinway and Sons Piano Company.

Official Website: http://goldenfetus.com/