Apparently publishing books of your photography, travels, fashion and whatnot has become something of a trend, at least among some of Korea’s more interesting celebrities. First came Bae Doona with her book LONDON PLAY. And now the singer Lee Sang-eun has written the book “ART & PLAY.”
Last night was the book launch for ART & PLAY, over in the Hongik University area. The official event was at some basement club, and was incredibly crowded and hot, so I made only a quick appearance, then ran to the unofficial after party at my friend’s bar.
Lee Sang-eun is one of Korea’s more interesting singers, in my humble opinion. Like so many before her, she won a talent contest when she was just 18 and quickly became a big pop star. However, some time in her 20s, Sang-eun decided that she was not interested in being a dumb pop plaything and got out of the game. Instead she started writing her own songs, traveling around the world, and being the generally eclectic person that she is.
What made last night so much fun for me was that her book is in large part about her friends, most of whom were at the party. Many of the pictures in her book were also taken at the after-party bar. So looking around and talking to people, it was almost like living the book, or being in a tableau vivant, or something like that.
Anyhow, Sang-eun is gone already… back to Japan, where she is recording her newest album with some famous Japanese producer whose name I have already forgotten. But I imagine her new album will be out before too long.
ART & PLAY is being published by a pretty small company, M&K Books. But with Sang-eun now signed to Ssamnet, hopefully we will be seeing more of her and her book.
UPDATE: I looked around Sang-eun’s website and found out that she is recording at Kaneda Studio in Okinawa. Okay then.
Hajimu Takeda is the Japanese musician she’s been working with since the Gonmudohaga album (that remains her best in my opinion) in the mid-1990s.