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Thespians seek the musical resurrection of the late folk singer Kim Kwang-seok
It was 17 years ago when folk singer Kim Kwang-seok was found dead in his Seoul home.
That was precisely the moment his body of work was injected with new life, with the wider acceptance of his songs elevating him from a strictly blue-collar hero to one of the country's most influential artists across genres and age groups.
But has Kim's lucrative posthumous career reached a point where overexposure is beginning to be a problem? This seems to be the question as the country's ever-opportunistic musical theater industry tries to sell the public on two big-money projects on Kim at once.
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| Actor Lee Jung-yeol sings one of Kim Kwang-seok's songs during a press event on the new musical, The Days. / Yonhap |
At a crossroads with Kim Kwang-seok
Musical garners rapt attention, but are we nearing cultural critical mass on late singer?
Old rock stars never die, they just get rebranded. It was in January of 1996 when Kim Kwang-seok, folk-rock singer and blue-collar hero, was found dead at his Seoul home in an apparent suicide. And that was the start of a lucrative posthumous career that cemented his place in the pantheon of the most influential Korean musicians of all time.
A slew of artists have rerecorded his songs, which are frequently heard in television dramas, commercials and movies. He has a larger variety of ''greatest hits albums'' than just about any artist as record labels continue to mix and match his songs like an eager bartender. His hometown of Daegu dedicated a whole neighborhood to him where the walls are painted with images of him singing and the stories of his songs.
Kim, 31 at the time of his death, once sang that "days depart like smoke from a cigarette'' to express the sinking feeling of getting old and resigned to being stuck. And it seems that the nation is willing to forever remain stuck with him and share a Marlboro.
Kim is found just everywhere and it's a mystery why Korea's highly opportunistic musical industry never attempted to exploit his immense popularity, until now.
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The entire story of "The Days,'' a big-budget project that will hit the stage on April 4 at the Daehangno Musical Center in Seoul, is set around 26 of Kim's songs, similar to the way "Mamma Mia'' was based on Abba songs. And just like Mamma Mia did, The Days could bludgeon the audience into submission from its cheesiness.
Through his songs, Kim was able to genuinely express the conflicted, sad and angry man that he was, which is also why his songs resonated so well with working-class people. But this apparently held no value to Chang You-jeong, the veteran musical and film director behind The Days, which is about bodyguards protecting Cheong Wa Dae.
"When I was asked to write and direct a musical based on Kim Kwang-seok's music, I thought of bodyguards,'' said Chang, obviously a woman with an interesting thought process.
"I was touring regional theaters to promote the movie 'Finding Kim Jong-wook' in 2010 and that was the first time I was in the service of bodyguards,'' she explained.
"They looked sullen and I was scared of them at first. But then I saw a bear-shaped sticker on one of the mobile phones of the men. I then realized they were just ordinary people with tough appearances. I thought the story of bodyguards, who protect others but have no one to protect them would go well with Kim's music since he is someone we failed to protect.''
It could be argued that Kim's soaring popularity is partially a product of people's growing fatigue about the current music landscape dominated by marketing and defined by superficial blandness and lack of personality.
For Kim's fans, there is nothing more ironic than youngsters belting out his hits like "Around 30'' and "Letter from a Soldier'' on reality television singing contests, which are part of the system that has been phasing out original artists like Kim. Kim's music didn't die with him, but the rest of the folk-rock scene effectively did.
Works like The Days might accelerate the lame repacking of the authentic.
The story revolves around Jeong-hak, the chief bodyguard at the presidential office, who finds that the president's daughter and her personal bodyguard are missing during an event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and China.
Their disappearance reminds Jeong-hak of his friend and colleague, Mu-young, who went missing 20 years ago along with a mysterious female companion. Predictably, Jeong-hak discovers the traces of Mu-young as he searches for the president's daughter.
The musical has a star-studded cast. A-list performers Yu Jun-sang, Oh Man-seok and Kang Tae-eul will rotate in the role of Jeong-hak while musical veteran Choi Jae-woong and rising star Ji Chang-wook share the role of Mu-young.
During a news conference, they went out of their way to express how much they loved Kim's music.
''I like Kim's songs. I already sang 'Though I Loved You' in the 2006 television drama 'Vineyard Man.' Rehearsing The Days made me rediscover Kim's songs I didn't pay much attention to. Kim was my object of envy for a long time," said Oh, a popular actor in television and film.
Yu said he never even sang along to Kim's songs because he admired and respected him so much.
"While rehearsing, I watered up several times singing Around 30,'' Yu said.
Lee Jung-yeol, playing the president's chef, said he has personal ties with Kim.
"He was like a big brother to me. When I was 20 and studying music, Kim advised me not to be bound by the rules made by others and now I understand what he meant," Lee said.
Expectations are high with The Days but fans will find it awkward that it won't be using any songs written personally by Kim and only the songs others wrote for him.
The copyright of songs written and composed by Kim are currently owned by his widowed wife Seo Hye-sun, who recently signed a contract with movie distributing company NEW and the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Company to create yet another musical based on Kim's songs, which is to go on stage in December.
This one, temporarily titled "Kim Kwang-seok," will be written and directed by famed movie director Jang Jin and will portray the music scene in the '80s. A character based on Kim will appear in the show as well.
"Kim Kwang-seok's songs have a power surpassing generations or ideology and many people have contacted the family who has copyrights. We will make this show putting emphasis on Kim's unique color and power," an official of the metropolitan musical company said.
Kim's songs are attractive material for making a musical that transcends generations. However, making two shows with his songs around the same time could harm each other.
"It is important to make the show more interesting by breaking up and reconstituting the songs into the story. The better ones are likely to survive and the others will be forgotten, unlike Kim's songs," a theater critic said.
