Is it music or just very strange noise? When Alfred Harth is scratching a record and mixing weird loud notes under it, you might want to cover your ears to spare yourself the unusual sounds.

But it takes only a short time till you discover the meaning of the first strange-sounding notes. It`s jazz - and not easy to listen to. Harth is known as one of Frankfurt`s - his German hometown - strangest musicians. For the last five years, after short stops in New York and Tokyo, he`s been living in Seoul, a town which fascinates him but has never been famous for avant garde jazz music.

Harth is a creative artist in sound and vision and even does multimedia art. His music is often "suggestive - like in prayers and mediation texts the sounds are forming a great singing - a Seoul-Soul," a journalist once wrote in the well-known newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

Harth, who has never been in favor of simple music, is fascinated by the city he lives in now. "Going to one part of Seoul to the other is as if you step into a different country," he said. "You have to spend hours on European highways to get this experience. In Seoul you just need the subway."

In his album "Seoul Milk," he included various sounds of his new hometown: the motorized street vendors who repeat the same advertisements for their goods; and the noise of schoolchildren, traffic and dogs. All these are clearly heard from his apartment and became an important source of inspiration.

The music Harth produces with his saxophone and the electronic items in his studio is very personal and reflects his relationship with Korea. While his first work was a love album which he produced as a result of the warm welcome from his new home, he has continued with darker music.

His second album is about North Korea and the Sept. 11 attack. "Happenings far from music - especially politics - provoke me," Harth explained. "It creates a sort of confrontation which is a good start for a creative outcome." The album has even harder - nearly scary - sounds on it. Harth recorded the noise of broken glass and machines, sampling them and putting them in a rhythm which lets listeners feel the North Korean regime.

Korea has put a lot into Harth`s music. But it is not only the different environment and the politics: Harth works closely with improvisation musicians "Bulgasari" and "Relay."

Even more important at the moment is Park Chang-won. The leader of the Sori Ensemble - the first ensemble for contemporary music in Korea - has become a partner and friend of Harth`s. Both musicians are just starting cooperation which could even result in a joint concert this year.

"It is a great challenge - we have to try and then we see what comes out of it," said Park, admitting that he is curious about his ensemble working together with "the crazy German artist."

Trying something new is what Harth has done all his life as a musician. Besides the saxophone he also plays clarinet, trumpet and synthesizer. He has performed in Europe, America and Japan. Since early 2004, he has been a member of the Otomo Yoshihide`s New Jazz Orchestra.

Both Harth and Park are optimistic that the music scene in Korea will develop and that the country might become more than a great source of inspiration for Harth and other musicians who try to develop music far from mainstream.

(juliasalden@hotmail.com)

By Julia Salden