Classic Korean Pop Music Archive: Yoo Jae-ha / Because I Love You (1987)

Yoo Jae-ha 유재하
Because I Love You 사랑하기 때문에
1987. 03

Side A

1. 지난 날 / Past Days

2. 텅빈 오늘밤 / Empty Tonight

3. 우리들의 사랑 / Our Love

4. 사랑하기 때문에 / Because I Love You

5. 내 마음에 비친 내 모습 / Reflected Myself In My Heart

Side B

1. 그대 내 품에 / Hug You In My Bossom

2. 가리워진 길 / Hidden Road

3. 우울한 편지 / Sad Letter

4. Minuet (경음악) / Minuet (Instrumental)

5. 정화의 노래 / The Song of Purification

Probably, the most dominant song genre in the pop music industry of Korea would be ballad songs. Considering this music genre hadn't been popular until 1980s, Yoo Jae-ha was a pioneer of ballad music in Korea. Born in 1962, Yoo Jae-ha majored in classic music composition from Hanyang University. After his graduation, he started his music career for a singer-songwriter by composing a few songs for other famous artists such as Cho Yong-pil, Munse Lee Kim Hyunsik.

Unlike other pop artists during that period, he tried to combine various music spectrum together. That was because he was excellent in not only music theory as he majored in classic music composition, but also playing various types of instruments. Also, various projects he worked with other artists would have made a lot of influence in his music. As a result, these factors made him a jack-of-all-trades.

This album, even though it is not only the first but also the last album made by him, shows his distinctive music styles which connected diverse music genres from jazz, rock, to classic. More surprisingly, all the songs featured in this album was composed by himself. Unlike other artists in 1980s, he made his own lyrics, melody lines, rhythms, and he even sang all the songs by himself. Especially, it was such a rare case that pop music tried to make connections with classical music. For instance, his gifted talents are well represented in the song "Minuet." This song features various instruments which were used only for classic music such as violin, cello, clarinet, flute, oboe. Another distinctive characteristic of the album is that all the lyrics in this album were written based on Yoo Jae-ha's own experience. For example, the song "우울한 편지" (Sad Letter) was based on the letter from a woman he loved when he was a freshman in university. After the first meeting, he had tried to express his love to her for two years. Soon, he got the letter from her, which became the motif of the song. These lyrics based on his own life have fruited in persuasive power on his songs thus convince and motivate listeners.

However, this gifted a man of genius ended his life because of a car accident. Moreover, it is really miserable that he departed away just three months after the publication of this historical album. Fortunately, by numerous singer-songwriters who were inspired by him have made a lot of tribute activities. Yoo Jae-ha Music Contest, which is regarded as the biggest singer-songwriters contest in Korea, would be one of them. From 1989, Yoo Jae-ha Music Contest has made a lot of contribution on pop music of Korea by discovering hidden gifted rookies annually.