Hahn Dae-Soo / Long Long Road (1974)

Hahn Dae-Soo 한대수
Long Long Road 멀고 먼 길
1974

Side A

1. 물 좀 주소! / Give Me Water!

2. 하룻밤 / One Night

3. 바람과 나 / Wind and I  

4. 옥의 슬픔 / Sorrow of Ock

5. 하루 아침 / One Morning

Side B

1. 행복의 나라 / Land of Happiness

2. 인상 / Impression

3. 사랑인지? / Is This Love?

4. 잘가세! / Fare Thee Well!

Hahn Dae-Soo is a Korean singer-songwriter who is regarded as a pioneer of Korean folk rock music. As he was born in a wealthy family, he had an early opportunity to leave for the U.S when he was young. After he came back to Korea, he started to play copy songs from the U.S. Even though he had his own music style Inspired by folk song greats like Bob Dylan, he actually showed his special gifts when he published his first debut album after he finished the military service for 3 years. 


This album was published in 1974 when the era of the dictatorship in the Republic of Korea was at its peak. Actually, one of the songs in this album, "One Morning" was not included in the first issue as the recording company was worried that the whole album would be banished due to this track. Later, this song became published when the album was reissued in 1988. Thus the main atmosphere this album surrounds is the craving for the freedom and happiness. In this album, Hahn Dae-soo tried to show his strong desire for the freedom and happiness using metaphors, such as desire for water.


The tracks featured in this album were far different from what were considered as folk music at that time. For instance, in one of his most famous songs, "Give Me Water!" (물 좀 주소!), his rough and muslin voice was somewhat distinctive from other folk song singers in 70s. Not only for his voice, he presented many experiments on folk music. In the song "Is This Love?", Hahn Dae-Soo presented sliding technique using chopsticks, and in "One Morning", which was not published in the first issue, he used a moktak (also known as a wooden fish) for percussion. With these unique elements, his songs are considered as the "striking" experimental psychedelic folk songs nowadays.  


(Hahn Dae-Soo - 물 좀 주소! / Give Me Water!)

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Album Cover
Maniadb (http://www.maniadb.com/)

References
Official Website of Hahn Dae-Soo (http://hahndaesoo.co.kr/who/who_am_i.htm)
Naver Music (http://music.naver.com/todayMusic/index.nhn?startDate=20081227)
Weiv (http://weiv.co.kr/review_view.html?code=album&num=1775)
Maniadb (http://www.maniadb.com/album.asp?a=129420)
Korean Rock (http://koreanrock.com/kr.pl?HanDaeSu)
Kyunghyang Shinmun (http://news.khan.co.kr/section/khan_art_view.html?mode=view&artid=200709131012081&code=900313)