American musician grapples with Korean sources of inspiration

Henry Bloomfield in the music video of "Kiss a Kumiho." / Courtesy of Henry Bloomfield

By Kim Bo-eun

Henry Bloomfield admits he cannot have a complete understanding of Korean culture as a foreigner. Yet he has a fascination for certain subjects of local literature and has used them as inspiration for his songs.

The American became friends with the Korean owner of the dry-cleaning store where he was a regular customer back in his neighborhood in New York. The owner would tell him and his father to "Beware of kkotbaem," a Korean term referring to women that exploit men with their sex appeal.

Bloomfield developed an interest in the term, which got him searching until he came across the late Korean poet Seo Jeong-ju's poem on the subject.

The poem, "Flower Snake," is one of the earliest works of the poet, who is known to have written pro-Japanese works toward the end of Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.

To get as much understanding of the poem as he could, he sat down with a guru of English translations of Korean literary works, who translated the poem.

Bloomfield has written a tune that has "Seo Jeong-ju" and "kktobaem" in the lyrics. Koreans, however, have cautioned him about a possible controversy he could stir by releasing a song that incorporates the disputed poet and his work.

But Bloomfield says he will go for it.

"It is not easy to find inspiration for a tune," he said. "The poem had a strong stigma, a power that was sensual and evocative."

He said that by no means is he making a political declaration.

"I am identifying a subject. I don't want to shy away from misunderstandings that are not correct."

Hateful comments are not new to Bloomfield. This is something he has had to face as one of few Caucasians on the K-pop scene, not to mention one who sings in Korean.

When CJ E&M posted music videos of his first few singles on its YouTube channel, they were greeted with racist comments about a foreign musician making K-pop.

His latest single is "Kiss a Kumiho." Kumiho refers to a nine-tailed-fox, which appears in Korean legends. The R-rated video for the song generated some positive responses, but left a lot of viewers "confused."

While his earlier single, "Ms. Mary," a happy depiction of a student's admiration for his teacher, was better received here, Bloomfield said he feels far removed from it now.

"My ear and musical tastes have changed," he said. "I enjoy being here (in Korea), but I wouldn't try to cater to the Korean audience."

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