Category: Korean music (Page 10 of 11)

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.

So, Rain (aka, “Bi”) has walked away from JYP Entertainment (you can read the Chosun Ilbo’s take on the matter here). It was an amicable parting, with Park Jin-young and Rain remaining on good terms (from what I am hearing from a very good source… not just PR spin). Rain is in Europe at the moment, and in the middle of a really busy tour, so I doubt we will be hearing much in the way of news any time soon.

Of course, Rain is good friends with Jang Dong-gun, so joining Jang’s management company, M Star Entertainment, is a possibility. But has his own personal support team to take care of business, so signing up with new management is not too terribly pressing. Oh who knows? And, more importantly, who cares?

The more significant part of the Rain story, imho, is what was not mentioned in the Chosun Ilbo story — that Rain is more interested in acting these days than singing. That is in part because Korea’s music industry is such a mess, you cannot make much money here anymore (except from product endorsements, and Rain already has plenty of those). And, as the Chosun story did mention, he has not exactly been lighting up the Korean charts for a while. But I think the major issue is that Rain just enjoys acting more, and would like to be a movie star.

(Sorry if the pictures disappoints, but I was not in the mood to look at anyone’s abs this morning).

UPDATE: Sorry I nearly missed this, but Rain was called out by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report on Thursday. We even get to see Stephen Colbert singing in his own Korean music video. Summary of the show is here. Too funny.

Ken Leighty, who runs the Korea a Tour of Duty website (for veterans who served in the US 8th Army Korea), has posted some pictures of club and stage shows in Korea in the 1950s.

Needless to say, I love that sort of stuff. Most interesting among them are pictures of a Korean band called “Keys”. Judging from the sign behind them, “Lock and Key,” this was the earliest days of the Key Boys (Lock & Key was their original name). The Key Boys were one of the first and most popular rock bands (or “Group Sound”) in Korea (at least in the pre-Pearl Sisters era). You can read more about them and Kim Jong-hak here.

(And, of course, Gusts of Popular Feelings has talked already about this music and era).

Anyhow, Korean rock from that era is some of my favorite music, and I love hearing stories and stuff from that time period. Thanks much to Ken for posting those pictures. I also link to this pic. Not because it is significant or anything; it just kind of creeps me out… like something from LADY VENGEANCE.

Looks like Korea’s best rapper is back, after a far too long absence — Tasha (also known as “T” and Yoon Mi-rae) had her new album released on Friday (Feb. 23).

Tasha (or I guess I should call her Mi-rae now) has long been a favorite of mine, with a strong voice and a great hiphop voice. Unfortunately, she had a big problem with her last record label, and has basically been in limbo for the past four years. Great to see her back, though. Congratulations.

So, Park Jin-young, the very talented singer/producer and founder/CEO of JYP Entertainment (and management company for the singer Rain), spoke at Harvard U., talking about the Korean Wave and how he would be much happier seeing less mindless nationalism in the media’s coverage of the success of Korea music outside of Korea. Good for him. The Chosun published a brief precis of his speech here.

First of all, as a pretty strong anti-nationalist, I liked Park’s basic position:

…[T]here was no Korea. Korea exists neither in my music nor in the hearts of the Americans who recognized me. They just liked my music and bought it. Is this the Korean Wave? Am I a patriot? I became confused. Is the duet by Korean singer Rain and American singer Omarion really Korean music? If Min succeeds in America, could we say the Korean Wave has now swept the U.S.? Or will I be derided as a singer who imitates American singers and a composer who imitates American music?

So far, so good. What does it mean to be Korean? What is imitating, and what is co-opting? Good questions. But then Park also said things like this:

I am, in fact, not a man who is making products that can be called Korean culture. Actually, I am making African-American music. I started liking it when I was seven and I have been engrossed in it all my life.

So, downplaying nationalism in his success abroad, good. But saying he has been making “African-American music”… That is not so impressive. First of all, “African American” is hardly a monolith. American blacks have been instrumental in forming a whole spectrum of music, not just R&B/hiphop. Frankie Knuckles and others were the founders of techno and house. Sure, it bounced off of Europe and Kraftwerk and whatever… but there is no denying the core role African Americans played in developing techno. And rock music. And other music forms (including classical).

As for soul and R&B and hiphop, all those genres have a great and wide array for sub-genres, and great underground scenes, just like “white” rock/alternative music.* Calling mainstream, poppy R&B/hiphop “African-American music” is pretty lame, imho. Usher? Kayne West? Ugh. There is so much better stuff than that.

Park is somewhat reminding me of the French-Canadians and French-French and others who have exoticized the sound and culture of the “ghetto” and the suffering the black man… While it is nice to know good music is being appreciated, it also seems to me to be somewhat condescending and stereotyped.

Anyhow, I guess my bigger point is that Park, like so many musicians in Korea in 2007, does not seem to be digging very deep in his exploration of world music. Still very much in the well. He is obviously very talented and smart and has a lot going for him. But there is a world of difference between being a first-rate follower and a leader. And leaders are what is needed to make a difference. JYP’s singer Rain (or “Bi” or whatever we are calling him) is nice enough, but he is a follower of a follower. Which is the main reason he will never be a significant force in pop music/pop culture.

I wish Korea had more people trying to lead. To experiment. To try different things. There are a few, but they are not popular and they are very few and far between. And what is truly perverse, if you explore the history of Korean music, you will discover that Korean traditional music was in fact extremely diverse and free-form for hundreds of years, different from anything happening in the rest of East-Asia. Even in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, there was so much amazing stuff going on. But the bureaucrats and mindless military leaders of the modern era deliberately and systematically tried to stamp out those styles, turning Korean music into enka and marching songs and pablum. Korean music for the last 20 years has nothing to do with Korea. Square pegs and round holes. Very frustrating.

* (Major apologies for all the quotations and slashes… And ellipses… Totally overdone, I know. But that’s the way I roll… and punctuate).

** (Oh, a little gossip to end this mini-essay… Maybe everyone knows this already, but Rain’s contract with JYP Entertainment is nearing its end. Just 2-3 months left. And right now most people think he will not resign with JYP. Which is why JYP is pushing so many new acts, like Wonder Girls.)

Sorry to be so late, but the Music Industry Association of Korea just issued its report on the 2006 music sales for Korea.

Back in January, MIAK already published its charts for the top 100 Korean and foreign albums of 2006. If you think I’m going to input the whole thing manually, you’re nuts. And if you think I’m smart enough to figure out how to convert the chars automatically, you are … well, very generous.

(source: MIAK)

Foreign Sales:

(source: MIAK)

Absolutely shocking how poor sales were for December. I thought that Korea usually gets a Christmas bump, but it certainly did not this year. The top-selling album, the latest SM Entertainment holiday release, sold just 33,453 copies. The tenth-place album, Park Sang-min’s latest, sold just 11,000 (last month, tenth place sold 20,000).

Foreign music sales were also pretty bad, although they were actually up a little from November.

Still no work on 2006 overall sales yet, but you can bet they are going to be pretty depressing. On the other hand, the advance word I am getting about digital sales (online downloads, mobile phone music, etc.) is pretty incredible. Last year, mobile and downloads were (officially) about $267 million, versus $118 million for CD and cassette sales. I say officially, because the math behind the numbers if pretty murky, with no one group responsible for all the rights or collecting all the money. Unofficially, that number could have been well over $400 million. And there are rumors that 2006 might have experienced another huge leap. I will write about those numbers as soon as I hear more.

(source: MIAK)

Foreign Sales:

(source: MIAK)

Talk about your changes of heart. One of the earlier posts I wrote at this blog was about an international rock concert to be held in Pyongyang of all places. The concert, to be called “Rock for Peace,” was going to be held in early May, and “hundreds” of Western bands were applying for the show, the organizer told me, including Mike Doughty and Death Cab for Cutie. Seriously.

Rock for Peace was being organized by one Mr. Jean-Baptiste Kim, a former South Korean who fled to Europe some 30 years ago who was now firmly a supporter of North Korea. Mr. Kim and his concert plans had gotten some significant press all over the world, including in the Guardian, Yonhap and numerous news wires and blogs.

Now, however, it looks like the show is history. Or at least Mr. Kim’s role in organizing it is. After 10 years of “serving” the DPRK, Mr. Kim has had a Paul/Saul-like seeing of the light:

I have been providing theories of excusing myself and DPRK regime which ignoring the facts of ordinary lives in DPRK. My behaviours of last 10 years are against my own belief but I continued walk on this road because I needed an exit for my anger and hate toward South Korea. I required ordinary North Korea people to be sacrifices of national security in my theory but I did not participate their miserable lives myself. I must confess myself that I am such coward and one of the most hypocritical figures in modern Korean history. My fictitious behaviours are also against my religious conscience as I am a Roman Catholic and I ask lord a forgiveness.

As part of Mr. Kim’s change in outlook, he is canceling the Rock for Peace concert:

I also need to announce that ROCK FOR PEACE will be suspended along with myself. It was my passion to bring rock festival into North Korea but I decided not to continue on this project because I know full details of the event, the reasons, the purposes, the backgrounds, everything. The reason why I abandon the event is because the event was politically designed which gives more pains to ordinary people but more benefits to the regime.

I must admit that I am not surprised. I had made some calls when this story broke (my wise editor was quite dubious about the whole project from the get-go, and insisted I get more verification about it), and was told this idea of this concert was “bad intelligence.” A call to the North Korean embassy in Sweden (where this whole project was being coordinated) only found some confused, skeptical officials (not a cheery sounding bunch at all, but surprisingly accessible).

And talk about your New Year’s Resolutions:

In 2007 this new year, I became 40 and I need to admit that it is now the time to forget all things behind of the curtain. I shall erase all my bad memories about South Korea and must face the new future of my children and children of Korea. I should not be the victim of anger, should not be the sacrifice of hate as long as it makes North Korean ordinary people becoming another sacrifices of my own. I today officially declare that I stop all supports for DPRK regime and will do the same supports for North Korean ordinary people instead.

Here’s to hoping more people in 2007 can put the past behind them and move on, like Mr. Kim has.

Anyhow, be sure to check out the Voice of Korea website for the latest. And if you are in London and need a mobile phone, stop by Mr. Kim’s store.

Sorry this chart is so late this month, but MIAK just put the numbers up on their website.

So, what do we have this month? The first thing I noticed was the plummeting of Rain’s new album, from No. 1 last month all the way down to 11 this month (which is why I made this month’s list a top-11, just to include Rain). After two months, Rain still has not made it to the 90,000 sales figure, which is pretty shocking. Considering the big push Rain is getting around Asia and in the United States (his US concerts begin tomorrow in Las Vegas, then New York), I wonder if he will become the male version of BoA — bigger abroad than at home.

Lee Seung-hwan’s album, “Hwantastic”, should have had the most dubious title of the month… but amazingly Se7en managed to beat him out with Se7olution. I am not big on cussing on this blog, but really, “Se7olution”? WTF?

I have no idea who Gavy NJ is, in No. 7. KBS and Soompi called them “the female SG Wannbe”. Which means about as much to me as saying they are “the female mauve.”

(Hrm… my attempt at being a smart-ass inspired me to Google “mauve.” Turns out it is a color invented in 1854 by chemist William Henry Perkin, when he was 18 years old. You learn something new every day. Read all about it here.)

Kind of surprising and disappointing to see that new Loveholic make its debut at No. 14. Granted, the album was just released on Nov. 21, but it only sold 6,170 albums so far. Loveholic is one of the few mainstream, modern Korean bands that I actually like. Much like Roller Coaster and Classiquai, with that light, mellow funk thing. Hopefully their sales will pick up.

(source: MIAK)
(Note: Chart fixed 18 Jan. 2007)

Other than the No. 1 album and the no. 10 (and Mariah Carey, kind of), the rest of this month’s top-10 is all new. Really bad month for sales, though. Numbers were all down from last month. Considering that movie attendance dropped 11% last month, too, I guess November is a dead period for entertainment in Korea. Hopefully sales will be up for the Christmas season.

Foreign Sales:

(source: MIAK)