A group of women harmonica players from the Koreatown Senior and Community Center have been performing the national anthem before Los Angeles Kings playoff games and winning over hockey fans.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
At the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs in Los Angeles, there were some breakout stars – not hockey players, but about a dozen Korean women in their 70s and 80s. Steve Futterman reports.
STEVE FUTTERMAN: The members of the Koreatown Senior and Community Center here in LA weren’t famous names in hockey until last week.
(SOUNDBITE OF HARMONICAS PLAYING “THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER”)
FUTTERMAN: Eleven days ago, they made their playoff debut performing the anthem at Game 1 between the Kings and the Edmonton Oilers. It was so well received, they were asked to return for Game 2 and then Game 3.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Now back by popular demand, please sing along with the harmonica class from the Koreatown Senior and Community Center.
FUTTERMAN: Eighty-year-old Donna Lee is a member of the weekly harmonica group.
Tell me how much you know about hockey.
DONNA LEE: Hockeys – never seen this before.
FUTTERMAN: Never saw it before.
LEE: (Laughter) First time.
FUTTERMAN: She’s new to hockey, but she is able to deliver the Kings’ popular chant.
LEE: Go, Kings, go.
FUTTERMAN: Wow, you know it.
LEE: (Laughter).
FUTTERMAN: Lee says the harmonica was a popular instrument among kids when she was growing up in Seoul, so a good number of people her age know how to play it. The group started taking lessons together at the senior center about seven years ago. The Kings reached out to them earlier in the season to play before a game during a Korean heritage night and then followed up with an invite to come back for the playoffs. They have become so popular, even the Kings are being asked questions about them. This is winger Adrian Kempe being interviewed on the TBS telecast.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: How much of this team’s success has to do with the harmonica version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” to kick things off?
ADRIAN KEMPE: It’s been huge, you know?
FUTTERMAN: The harmonica ladies now even have a bit of competition. A retirement home near Edmonton posted a video on TikTok of residents playing the Canadian national anthem with kazoos.
(SOUNDBITE OF KAZOOS PLAYING “O CANADA”)
FUTTERMAN: Last night, the Kings’ season ended as they were eliminated by the Oilers, but the women from the Korean harmonica group hope to be back next season.
For NPR News, I’m Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEIL YOUNG SONG, “HEART OF GOLD”)
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