Luna Lee breathes new life into the classic rock of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others by blending the modern with the traditional, and the western with the eastern. The results are dazzling. As she explains on her website:
The gayageum that I play is an ancient, traditional Korean instrument made for the purpose of playing traditional Korean music. My ancestors played the gayageum in a small room, so the sound did not need to be loud. But my music is performed with modern instruments such as the drums, bass and the guitar. So I had to redevelop my gayageum so that the sound would match that of the modern instrument. I had to increase the volume and pressure, develop tone and increase the sustain sound. And hoping to express the sound of gayageum more diversely like that of the guitar, I had to study guitar effectors and amplifiers and test them to see if they would fit to the sound of the gayageum. Playing modern music on a traditional instrument was not an easy process. I have come a long way from the beginning but still have a long way to go!
Most amazing of all is how she does it all without any trace of that ubiquitous rock guitarist painface that I assumed was necessary to hit those high notes…
Every Moment Has A Song 