Ciao, my name is Paola Laforgia

📍 between South Korea and Europe

Writing

In 2024 my first non-fiction book retracing the history of the Korean Wave was published. Since 2017 I have been writing academic papers, essays, articles, and conducting interviews, touching on topics such as music, art, and culture. Here is a selection.

(BOOK) (ITA)
Fattore K. L’ascesa della cultura pop coreana (2024)

(PAPER) (ENG)
Removing the K from K-pop? Limitations and potential of one of Hallyu’s key signifiers in ‘K-Soft Power and Beyond: Korean Culture, Media, and Global Exchange’ (2026)

(INTERVIEW) (ENG)
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, in EPOCH Review (2026)

(INTERVIEW) (ENG)
Lean On Me: Four New Talents Hanging Sculpture on Walls, in Twin Magazine, Issue 33 (2025)

(ESSAY) (ENG) The Sound of a Place: What is Korean in K-pop? in ‘Home is Where the Heart Strives’ (2025)

(INTERVIEW) (ENG)
New Talent: Neoterics. Four Artists Playing with the Edges of Technology, in Twin Magazine, Issue 32 (2025)

(ESSAY) (ENG) Centre or outskirt: for who though? in Wave Zine. The Out of Office. Issue 01 (2024)

(ESSAY) (ENG) Pizza, Pasta, and K-pop in ‘Sonic Traces From Italy’ (2021)

(ARTICLE) (ITA) Capire il K-pop, in NOT (2018)

(PAPER) (ENG) Amber Liu, K-Pop Tomboy. Reshaping Femininity in Mainstream K-Pop, in ‘Kritika Kultura’ (2017)

Radio

ASHIDASHIPI is the regular monthly show I hosted on VISLA.FM from 2023 to 2025. I also hosted a regular show on Radio Alhara called Practice from 2023 to 2024. I have done some guest appareances and made some thematic mixes for NTS Radio, since 2017. On Radio Raheem I hosted the breakfast show Yours Truly for a total of 78 episodes from 2022 to 2023 and also made a 4-part radio doc called Neo Seoul.
All the other guest shows and mixes made for other platforms and people can be found on my Soundcloud and Mixcloud. Click on the icons to be redirected.

Playlists

DJ Sets

A selection. More on Instagram.

Wona ‘Ashes and Arms’ Release Party @Cakeshop, Seoul, South Korea (2025)

SCA2 LIVE @MOTHER Offline, Seoul, South Korea (2024)

WEEKDAY TANGLE @Tangle Bar, Tokyo, Japan (2024)

VIVA Festival, Locorotondo, Italy (2020)

Event Planning

A selection. More on Instagram.

SoundSupply_Service 4th Anniversary @Seendosi (2025)

Pedro D. Saiz @Pistil, Seoul, South Korea (2025)

Wona ‘Ashes and Arms’ Release Party @Cakeshop, Seoul, South Korea (2025)

SCA2 LIVE @MOTHER Offline, Seoul, South Korea (2024)

Anchorsong @Cakeshop, Seoul, South Korea (2024)

Shibuya Slow Stream @Tokyo, Japan (2024)

Sound Engineering

From 2016 to 2022 I worked as a radio producer and sound engineer at internationally renowned music platform NTS Radio. I recorded, edited, and mixed a variety of radio shows, interviews, and live performances. I have also engineered live events, including NTS x ADIDAS Crew 2 Crew in cities across Europe, Brain Slam in Milan, and NTS x Club 2 Club x Lavazza in Turin. Here is a very small selection.
Outside of NTS, I also did sound engineering and sound design for a few of commercials and short films.

Features

A selection of interviews I have given, cultural commentary I have shared,
podcasts I have been featured in,
& other things along those lines.

📃

🔹 Fattore K에 대한 인터뷰, Arts & Culture (KOR) (2025)
🔹 Cosy Whiskey Bars to K-Pop Havens: Paola Laf’s Guide to Seoul, Trippin (ENG) (2025)
🔹 Cittadine K, Vanity Fair Italia (ITA) (2025)
🔹 Echi e consonanze, Moksori Magazine (ITA) (2025)
🔹 L’universo del K-pop, Luce Magazine (ITA) (2025)
🔹 How to be a DJ?, VISLA PAPER ISSUE 21 (KOR) (2024)
🔹 Perché il K-pop è così odiato?, Rolling Stone Italia (ITA) (2024)
🔹 Linked-in Seoul : 이방인이 바라보는 서울, 그들이 사랑하는 음악, Visla Magazine (KOR) (2024)

🎧

🔸 Il Mondo Cultura - 11 gennaio, Internazionale (ITA) (2025)
🔸 Il Mondo Cultura - 30 novembre, Internazionale (ITA) (2024)
🔸 Electronic music in the light of digitalization: local sounds facing the challenge of global trends, FLEE + Mundi Festival: Extra Muros, Dublab (ENG) (2020)
🔸 Militanza K-Pop, Asia: Una rubrica di messaggi vocali (ITA) (2020)
🔸 Come parliamo di musica, Decamerette (ITA) (2020)

ABOUT

Born in Bari, Italy and based in Seoul, South Korea since 2021. I previously lived and worked in London, UK, with stints in Tokyo, Japan; Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany; and Milan, Italy. From 2016 to 2022 I worked behind the scenes at NTS Radio. Between 2015 and 2018 I also dipped my feet into the fashion world, freelancing for publications including Vogue Japan.

I currently do promotion and A&R for South Korean independent record label SoundSupply_Service; host a regular radio show; occasionally DJ; organise events and parties; and write books, essays, and articles, both independently and on commission. One of my main research topics is ethnomusicology, with a particular focus on K-pop.

I hold a BA in Philosophy and a MA in Global Creative and Cultural Industries with a focus on the contemporary music scenes of South Korea and Japan.

I speak Italian, English, Korean, Spanish, German, and some Japanese. I am learning French.

I do not have a Linkedin profile.

~~~

I’m available for:

• writing articles, essays, cultural and music commentary
• writing music press releases
• writing copy
• translation work
• interviewing and hosting talks and panels

• music consultancy, incl. direction for labels
• programming for events, spaces (such as bars, restaurants, hotels, etc.), fashion shows, festivals, etc.
• radio hosting, producing, editing
• live DJ sets and listening sessions (mostly music to listen to rather than to dance to)
• thematic music mixes and playlists
• sound engineering and sound design work

Open to ideas and collaborations.
Get in touch at paolalfrg@gmail.com 💌