Church Music

Korea has been kind to me since I arrived here, nearly five months ago, but this weekend has taken it to another level: Good people, lots of live music, alcohol, and even a faint whiff of that stuff they call ‘fame’. It feels like the Gods Of Korea are smiling on me at the moment, I don’t know why. I’m pretty sure I don’t deserve it. But anyway, wow.

Okay, re-wind... Children, our Korean word for today is ‘Hagwon’. There is no real equivalent of Hagwons in Western countries, as far as I’m aware. People variously call them ‘academies’, ‘night-schools’, ‘cram schools’, or ‘institutes’. They are essentially private schools which teach people a range of different subjects from English to Korean to Music to Computing to Cooking. If you can think of it, there will probably be some enterprising Korean (of which there are many) who will have created a Hagwon for it. They will charge you a monthly fee and you will attend for a few hours a day or a few days a week (class times completely vary,,of course), to fit in around your work or study schedule.

As for me, I work in a Language Hagwon which is mainly directed at adults, who want to study English or Japanese, at a variety of skill levels. Many, if not most English teachers who come to work in Korea, will work in Hagwons. It’s creates a lot of jobs and can be highly lucrative, as something like two-thirds of Korean education is conducted outside the government-run state schools, i.e. in Hagwons. So Hagwons are a pretty interesting, and rather unique aspect of Korea’s society and economy, and for me, they are the reason I have a job here!

Enough background, back to the fun stuff... Recently I had the incredible fortune to meet a great guy called Jae Woo. As well as being one of the most friendly and helpful people I have ever met, he also has the advantages of firstly owning a Music Hagwon (called ‘The Jazz and Pop Academy’) in a city called Shiheung, and secondly, of being a very skilled Saxophone player and Sax teacher himself.

Me and Jae Woo. Debut gig @ Ta, Hongdae, Seoul

As well as being lucky enough to meet Jae Woo, in the last month I also accumulated an English drummer, Mike, and an American Bass player called Hoho, who have both become good friends and drinking partners too.  Jae Woo offered to let us practise, gratis, at his Hagwon, and also brought a very talented (and, I may as well add, beautiful) piano teacher, called Yu Mi, into the band. So, to recap: one month ago, I was a washed-up wannabe-singer in a foreign land, with no-one to play with. Now, I have a five-piece band, representing 3 different countries, and with a whole heap of talent among them. Jammy.

IAMTHESUN - Farewell Korea gig @ Ta.

We had our first concert, after only three rehearsals, in Hongdae in Seoul, last Friday, which, despite a few inevitable bum notes, went pretty damn well. We supported the excellent IAMTHESUN (for whom It was their last Korean gig, before singer Matt returns to the UK - sad face!). I was satisfied with the gig, but the next day we would play again and it would be a completely different, crazy, random experience.

The day after the Hongdae gig, I wake up at a friend’s in Itaewon, confused and terribly hungover. Quelle Surprise. After a taxi ride, subway ride, bus ride and a slightly-lost-wander-around Shiheung city, I find the church, the venue for our concert. This concert (full name: the "Jazz and Pop Academy's 2nd Music Festival" )was organised by Jae Woo, for the students at his Hagwon to each come and play a song or two to their parents and friends. Many Hagwons hold these kind of events once or twice a year: to showcase what their students have learnt, and, moreover, to impress the parents (who invariably are the ones who pay for the classes!).

Dan. AKA "Jazz History Teacher" @ Jazz and Pop Hagwon. 

Ahem.

So the parents (a couple of hundred, I reckon) file in, and after a few words from Jae Wu and some of the staff at the Hagwon, the music begins. There are about 20 performances in total, ranging from vocal duos to full rock and blues bands to sax soloists. Some of the songs are in English (“Play That Funky Music White Boy” – amazing!) but even the Korean songs are interesting to hear, and it’s cute to see some young aspiring musicians do their stuff on a big stage in front of a big audience. Bless!

My band is due to play last, by which time my hangover has merged with nerves and mutated into Parkinson’s-esque shakes. I’ve never played to an all-Korean crowd before, I can’t speak Korean and I have no idea how they will react to our songs. There is an added comedy factor (for me, at least): knowing that the words to our second song “History Deletes Itself” (which I co-wrote last year with Dave Robertshaw, my old buddy back in the UK) are actually about Internet Pornography, and here I am, belting it out to hundreds of teenagers, mums and dads, in a church in Korea. Random Factor - 100.

Considering I only met most of the people in this band a matter of weeks ago, and today most of us are pretty knackered and bleary, we played pretty much faultlessly, and I must consider it a success. The main thing is that the crowd reaction is great, and after our show I am accosted by groups of teenagers, male and female, wanting photos with me. I’m both flattered and completely bemused as I am told repeatedly that I am “Handsome Guy” and “Singer Good”. Fifteen minutes of Koreann fame are mine. Hahaha!

 

As the evening progresses into dinner-afterparty-jam session-noraebang blur (NB. English readers, Noraebang = Karaoke!!), I dwell on the  possibilities I can see for us as musicians in Korea. Maybe it was just a one-off random event, and the novelty of a western singer with girly hair won’t earn me much more than the curiosity of teenagers. Who knows. For now anyway, I’ll just settle on one word, Wow. Yep, that'll do.