Bela
(South Korea)

bela is a musician and performance artist who presents extreme singing techniques and Korean traditional folk rhythms in a queer and class-conscious perspective. Coming from an underground club and experimental background, they rebuild pungmul into a dramatic performance akin to a modern gothic ritual that tells stories of the marginalized. Their latest release on Subtext and Unsound, Noise and Cries(2024), mixes and re-contextualizes autobiography and cultural critiques to embody many Korean youths who live through the pressurized realities in the South Korean capitalist dystopia.