When a tenor meets a 소리꾼 (sori-kkun)
A music festival organized by Jeonju KBS was aired on KBS a few days ago. As the title of the event "ChosunPop: Drop the Beat" suggests, Korean traditional music was played with pop music (using western music chords), which therefore was a unique music festival.
 |
| Image from Bong-Geun's instagram |
Chaehoon was invited to sing during this festival. La Views were already informed that he sang with sori-kkun (i.e., singer in pure Korean) Bong-Geun Lee at this festival. Bong-Geun Lee was somewhat familiar to La View because he performed with Chaehoon on KBS Open Concert before (see the page of Major TV Performances). Even back then, Chaehoon seemed to have known him already. Before their performance was broadcast on KBS, we knew that Chaehoon and Bong-Geun did something interesting together, and were waiting for the show to be aired.
On July 31st, we watched the two singers singing two songs: Amazing Grace + 몽금포 타령 (Monggumpo Taryung), and As Flowers Bloom and Fall.
When I was watching the first song performed, I felt like I was struck by lightening. It was shocking, brilliant, and neat. I've never thought in million years that a Korean traditional folk song (referred to as Minyo) can mesh so well with a Christian hymn. Here are Amazing Grace and Monggumpo Taryung in isolation.
These seemingly very different songs were conjoined in a performance by tenor You, Chaehoon and sori-kkun Lee, Bong-Geun.
The conjunction of the two singers starts with Chaehoon's Amazing Grace, followed by a smooth transition to Bong-Geun's Monggumpo Taryung. It then becomes very interesting; the two singers sing their song simultaneously to the accompaniment of western and Korean musical instruments. Chaehoon and Bong-Geun sing their song as if no one but himself were singing. This separate-but-together time is interwoven so mysteriously well that it creates something totally new. This new song reaches its climax as Chaehoon joins Bong-Geun's chorus "에헤이요 에헤이요 에헤이야, 님 만나 보겠네" and changes into higher keys. With Chaehoon still singing together, the song ends with Monggumpo Taryung. Interestingly, the two singers use very different singing styles--western classical and Korean traditional. Nonetheless, it is strangely harmonious.
A genius performance! I'd like to shout out "Bravi!" to the two singers.
Following this pleasantly shocking performance, the two singers wowed us one more time with a doleful and sad ballad song "As Flowers Bloom and Fall." This song was used in the movie The Throne, and is already known to La View. Back in February, Chaehoon sang this song with Sunghoon in the Opera House of Seongnam Arts Center (click here to listen to the duet song), making many La Views tear up at the concert.
This time Chaehoon's partner was Bong-Geun. I feel that Bong-Geun's traditional vocal style highlights the woeful spirit that lies in the song so well. When it meets with Chaehoon's stern but sentimental voice, the heart-aching feelings creep up on listeners.
Thanks to this special event, we discovered this awesome combination of crossover music, Chaehoon representing western classical music and Bong-Guen representing Korean traditional music. I hope to see this combination venture into a new kind of crossover music on many occasions.
* I had a hard time finding a right YouTube video showing Monggumpo Taryung. The video posted here isn't the best, but still meets the purpose.
Comments
Post a Comment