2011년 3월 14일 월요일

Jeong Tae-Chun and Park Eun-Ok / 92 The Rainy Spell, in Jongno (1993)

Jeong Tae-Chun and Park Eun-Ok 정태춘과 박은옥
92 The Rainy Spell, in Jongno 92년 장마, 종로에서
1993. 09. 30
Side A

1. 양단 몇 마름 /  A Few Bundles of Brocade
2. 저 들에 불을 놓아 / Lay Fire on That Plain 
3. 비둘기의 꿈 / The Dream of Doves
4. 이 어두운 터널을 박차고 / After Kicking Away This Dark Tunnel
5. 비둘기의 꿈 / The Dream of Doves

Side B
6. 사람들 / People
7. LA 스케치 / LA Sketch
8. 나 살던 고향 / The Hometown I Used to Live  
9. 92년 장마, 종로에서 / 92 The Rainy Spell, in Jongno 

Jeong Tae-Chun is a folk music singer-songwriter who tremendously contributed the freedom of art in the Republic of Korea. Born in 1954, Jeong Tae-Chung started to play music as his brother, who worked in the U.S Forces Korea, brought his guitar when he was in elementary school. Since then, he has written his songs on his life after he was drafted to the army. Jeong is especially famous for his contribution to the abolition of the precensorship on music in 1996.  

To understand the concept of this album, we should have a quick glance at the modern history of Korea first as this album is based on the despair and hopelessness of the society of Korea after 1987. In June 1987, to accomplish the rights of direct election, Korean people held a democracy movement as the president Chun Doo-hwan announced its choice of Roh Tae Woo as the next president candidate. This public designation of Chun's successor was seen as a final affront to a delayed and deferred process to revise the South Korean constitution to permit direct election of the President(This democracy movement is often called as 6월 항쟁 / June Democracy Movement). As a result, the new constitution which allowed the direct presidential election was adopted; however, from the following presidential election, Roh Tae Woo became the president who actually was the successor of Chun. Even though democracy movements, civil rights movements, and labor rights movements had still continued, the majority of people assumed 1987 as the end of the dictatorship as seen in the failure of democracy movement in May 1991. 


Through this album, Jeong Tae-Chun penetrates the 'hopeless' reality of Korea. Instead of providing sarcasm or direct criticizing, he illustrates the scenery of the reality with realist approach. This special characteristic of the album is especially well-shown on 92년 장마, 종로에서 (92 The Rainy Spell, in Jongno) which is the last track of the album. In the song, Jeong Tae-Chun describes the Jongno street of Seoul where people are 'floating along' under the rainy spell, which makes a huge contrast to Wendy's signboard and high buildings. Furthermore, he says that [our epoch] is getting disappeared into umbrellas. This shows how democracy movements got devastated during that period.

This album also has a huge significance on the cultural history of the Republic of Korea because this album was the offset of the cultural liberation movement in early-90s. Before 1996, when the precensorship was abolished, all the music were forced to examined before their publication. This album was published as a bootleg, which was illegal, and had a huge success on the mass public (He has previously published his another album as a bootleg in 1991). As a result, Jeong Tae Chun's efforts bore fruits as the Constitutional Court announced that the precensorship on music publication violated the constitution.

(Jeong Tae-Chun - 92년 장마, 종로에서 / 92 The Rainy Spell, in Jongno)


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2011년 3월 6일 일요일

The Add 4 / The Woman in Rain (1964)

The Add 4 에드 훠
The Woman in Rain 비속의 女人
1964

Disc 1

1. 비속의 女人 / The Woman in Rain
2. 우체통 / The Letter Box
3. 傷處입은 사랑 / Suffered Love
4. 소야 어서가자 / Let's Go, Cow
5. 늦으면 큰일나요 / Do Not Be Late
6. 天使도 사랑을 할까요 / Would Angels Feel Love
7. 그리운 그님아 / My Yearning Dear




Disc 2
1. 커피한잔 (내속을 태우는 구려) /  A Cup of Coffee (It Makes me Feel Frustrated)
2. 나도 같이 걷고싶네 / I Want to Have a Walk Together Too
3. 故鄕길 / The Road to Hometown
4. 그대와 둘이 앉으면 / When I Sit Down Together with You
5. 쓸쓸한 土曜日밤 / Lonely Saturday Night
6. 바닷가 / The Seashore
7. 굿나잇 등불을 끕니다 / Good Night I'm Turning the Light Off




The Add 4 is considered as the first rock group formed in the Republic of Korea. This band was formed in 1962 by "the founder of Korean rock", Shin Jung-hyeon. He started his music career with a nickname called "Jacky" in the US forces Korea from 1955, when he was 17 years old. Actually, he had already published his solo album called "Hiki Shin Guitar Melody" in 1959. The reason why he is considered as the founder of Korean rock is because of not only that he introduced rock music into Korea first, but also the unique style of his music. That is why he was the first Asian artist who was given a Custom Shop Tribute Guitar by Fender(We will have more closer look at him later).


This album has really huge importance in Korean pop music history, as it was the first rock band music album in the Republic of Korea. All the songs featured in this album were originally composed by band members; in other words, there was no copy nor cover song in this album. What is more, the featured songs were brand-new considering the time period as most tracks are based on rhythm & blues style which only few has introduced in Korea at that time. The greatness of the album can be proven by numerous cover songs; especially, one of the most famous songs in this album, 비속의 女人 (The Woman in Rain) has been remade by 장현 (Jang Hyeon), 김목경 (Kim Mok Kyung) , Galaxy Express, and etc. Also, this album features 커피한잔 (A Cup of Coffee), which was later sung by Pearl Sisters who made the revival of Soul music during 1960s and 1970s. After this album, the Add 4 called themselves as 'The Ventures of Korea.'





(The Add 4 - 비속의 女人 / The Woman in Rain)


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


References
Shin Jung-hyeon Official Website (http://www.sjhmvd.com/common_files/sub1_page2.asp/)
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2011년 2월 27일 일요일

Sanullim / Oh, Already (1977)

Sanullim 산울림
Oh, Already 아니 벌써
1977. 12. 15



Side A
1. 아니 벌써 / Oh Already
2. 아마 늦은 여름이었을 거야 / Perhaps It Was a Late Summer
3. 골목길 / The Alley
4. 안타까운 마음 / Frustrated
5. 그 얼굴 그 모습 / That Face, That Look

Side B
1. 불꽃놀이 / Fireworks 
2. 문 좀 열어줘 / Please Open the Door
3. 소녀 / The Girl
4. 청자(아리랑) / Blue Porcelain (Arirang)



Sanullim is a Korean word which means "a rumbling of a mountain". Actually, the band began their musical career as a hobby. Their music started to bloom as Chang-wan Kim, who became the leader of the band later, brought a guitar to his home and sang songs with his two brothers together in 1972. Soon, after he graduated from his university in 1977, he decided to publish an album from the 150 songs that he and his brothers had composed together. From that time, they have published thirteen regular studio albums, three children's song albums, and other numerous albums such as compilation albums. The three brothers had continued pursuing their music until 2008 when the youngest brother, Chang-ik Kim died due to the car accident in Vancouver. They also participated in the MBC Campus Song Festival in 1977 when they published their debut album, and got the 1st place from the preliminaries, but they couldn't get into the final as Chang-wan Kim was already a graduate.


This album, which they made a debut with, is one of the most important albums in Korean pop music history. Although the album was very progressive and psychedelic considering other pop music in the same period, the album gained popularity from both critics and the mass public. The most noticeable feature of the album is its phantasmal atmosphere. One of the most well-known songs from the album, 아마 늦은 여름이었을 거야(Perhaps It Was a Late Summer) especially shows this characteristic with the melody and the lyrics that represent the aerial mood. With their 'amateurism', even though their music sometimes sound uneasy; the album shows their own unique music style with the 'uneasyness'. Their music has been still evaluated as this album was recently nominated to be the 5th greatest Korean popular music album by Kyunghyang Shinmun. 


That's also why Sanullim is often referred to the pioneer of Korean psychedelic rock.





(Sanullim - 아마 늦은 여름이었을 거야 / Perhaps It Was a Late Summer)


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


References
Naver Music (http://music.naver.com/todayMusic/index.nhn?startDate=20090328)
Weiv (http://weiv.co.kr/review_view.html?code=album&num=2226)
Kyunghyang Shinmun (http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=200709060942551)
Maniadb (http://www.maniadb.com/artist.asp?p=105334)
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanulrim)
Koreanrock (http://koreanrock.com/kr.pl?SanUlRim)
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