'My music is not for tango only': bandoneonist Koh Sang-ji

Bandoneon player Koh Sang-ji / Courtesy of Private Curve, Robin Kim

By Baek Byung-yeul

Koh Sang-ji is one of a few bandoneon players in Korea.

Ever since the 32-year-old lost her heart to the songs of tango great Astor Piazzolla while at university, she has taken an interest in the accordion-like instrument bandoneon and the experience has changed her life forever.

Though she started learning the instrument out of simple curiosity, she soon became skillful at playing it and enjoyed busking in the street along with her university professor who played jazz saxophone.

After leaving university, Koh buckled down to learn the instrument more professionally for three years from prominent Japanese bandoneon player Ryota Komatsu and stayed in Argentina for two years, attending Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce, a music school specializing in tango.

In 2011, Koh had a shot at unexpected stardom when she appeared on the popular MBC variety show "Infinite Challenge." Koh was in the show's song contest episode accompanying comedian Jung Hyung-don and delivered a reedy bandoneon sound, which was rare in Korea.

Her background story of dropping out of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), one of the most prestigious universities in the country, to become a professional musician was enough to attract public attention as well.

The bandoneon player received acclaim through her first studio album, "Maycgre 1.0," in 2014 and two singles, "Koh Sangji X Voice Experiment 1" and "Road Bike," last year.

Koh Sang-ji plays the bandoneon, an accordion-like instrument. / Courtesy of Private Curve, Robin Kim

Love of animation

However, what has been forgotten about Koh is that she is an avid Japanese animation fan. Although she decided to pursue the way of a professional musician, she said her "undiluted musical roots" come from Japanese animation rather than tango, though many think of her as a tango musician.

"To me, tango is like an ex-lover," Koh said in an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seodaemun, western Seoul, on April 13. "It is a prestigious music genre that induced me to become a professional musician, but I don't think my music is rooted in it."

Explaining how she could learn the bandoneon, Koh said she realized that she cannot love the historical Argentine music more than Argentines as the music is in their blood, not hers.

"At the time when I began playing bandoneon in the early 2000s, there were only a few tango albums in Korea," she recalled. "When I looked for more tango music, I found that Japan has a larger and deeper fan base in the music and finally I could grab an opportunity to learn from Ryota Komatsu. For three years, I regularly visited Japan to have a personal lesson from the Japanese tango master and that really helped me a lot."

But the rise of the Japanese yen-Korean won exchange rate at that time put a lot of pressure on her and that led her to visit Argentina, the home of tango. While staying in the South American country for two years, she played songs from famous tango musicians in the first year and went outside to perform with them in the second year.

"There, I learned that my kind of music was somewhere else. I cannot love tango as much as Argentines do," she said.

"Since my childhood, I really loved not only watching Japanese animation but also listening to their soundtracks. And this is probably the reason why I think my musical soul is deeply rooted in Japanese animation," Koh said, adding her ultimate goal is to produce a soundtrack of an animated feature.

She said all her albums are inspired by Japanese animation -- the title of her first studio album "Maycgre 1.0" is created by combining the first letters of her favorite animation characters such as Asuka, Rei and Mari Makinami Illustrious from "Neon Genesis Evangelion," Griffith from "Berserk" and Envy from "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood." Her two single albums are inspired by Japanese animations "Hunter x Hunter" and "Yowamushi Pedal."

Koh said she was inspired the most by Japanese composer Shiro Sagisu, best known for his soundtrack to "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Nadia: the Secret of Blue Water."

"Shiro Sagisu is my ultimate goal," she said. "I am not saying that I really want to meet with him in person. I am just deeply inspired by his songs and really love his music. I can be only motivated by the soundtracks of Japanese animation ever since I fell in love with Saisu's songs."

Back to the basics

Unlike her previous albums inspired by Japanese animation, her latest album, which is slated to be released next month, will be dedicated to Argentine tango masters Piazzolla and Carlos Gardel.

"My latest release will be a cover album of tango greats Piazzolla and Gardel," Koh said. "To me, tango is a sort of starting point that led me into the world of music and I wanted to express those thoughts in the new album."

She said recording had been wrapped up and all that is left is the mixing.

"When I recorded the songs with my band, I tried to make them funkier than the originals," she said, adding the songs she chose are based on the favorites that got her lost in tango while at university.