Concert Review: Youn Sun Nah Featuring Bojan Z, Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, May 1, 2026

Hong Kong’s French May Hits the Jackpot with Youn Sun Nah

The Korean singer reveals the full extent of her instrument and her improvisational power

Curtain Call, Hong Kong, May 1, 2026 (Photo by Eve Li)

Listening to her recordings does not prepare you for Youn Sun Nah live. A charmingly introspective songwriter, she has amassed an impressive body of work since her full-length debut in 2001, including her accomplished new release Lost Pieces. She has built a large following, especially in South Korea and France, on the strength of her electrifying shows, as I discovered on Friday night at Hong Kong’s venerable but still great-sounding City Hall Concert Hall.

The lobby of the venue was festive with costumed young children who were participating in another concert in the building’s smaller theatre, chattering and scampering around nervously. I could also hear a lot of the languages of Hong Kong’s sizable French and Korean communities, reflecting Nah’s cosmopolitan fan base.

Musical Partnership

She opened her show with Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” from her 2024 release Elles, accompanied on electric piano by Bojan Z. He was a powerful co-presence playing a specially modified Fender Rhodes as well as a concert grand, sometimes simultaneously, even trading solos with himself on the two keyboards. As an accompanist, Bojan could be understated and gentle, though he was often muscular, rhythmic, and percussive.

[embed]*“Shell of Me” from Lost Pieces *(2026)**

This was especially effective for an audience, as quiet cuts from the new record like “Shell of Me”, “Where’d You Hide”, and “Just the Same” exploded on the stage. This was the most surprising part of the show: the dynamic excitement the two artists generated. Disarmingly soft spoken and humble between songs, Nah brought an incredible range of voices and vocal sounds to her live arrangements. Early on, she joined Bojan’s bass register block chords with low, percussive, and quite virtuosic scat singing. At other times, she created reedy, clarinet, or oboe-like sounds during her idiosyncratic vocal improvisations. They were stunning and welcome additions to what I already knew about Nah’s music.

Music Boxes

Nah’s 95-minute set was selected largely from Lost Pieces, for which she wrote all the songs. Besides her considerable compositional skill, she is also an estimable interpreter. When Bojan took a brief absence from the stage, perhaps to soak his hard-pressed fingers, Nah introduced “La Javanaise”, a song by whom she called one of her favorite singer/songwriters, Madeleine Peyroux. Singing in French, she accompanied herself on what she called her favorite music box, which she selected from a small collection on a table. It was a wonderfully intimate interlude showing more of her range of colours.

[embed]**Live version of “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane**

Nah also showcased her fascinating versions of the 60s rock anthem “White Rabbit” and the jazz standards “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” and “My Funny Valentine”. Nah is often compared to Melody Gardot. Both are revered in France, sometimes sing in French, and both stretch the boundaries of what we expect from a “jazz singer”. But it’s the way in which they do that stretching that makes them far more different than similar.

Her final farewell to about 1400 enthusiastic fans was a rollicking version of Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Burbon”, with Nah shout/singing through cupped hands. Youn Sun Nah is an inspired, prodigiously talented, and original artist who really must be experienced live to see what all the fuss is about. She is presently touring Korea and will start a European leg in June. Catch her if you get a chance.