Gene Flies High in World Tour
By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter
Jazz pianist Gene Bo-ra may be known as the musician with the pretty face and a colorful career, but the 22-year-old is ready to show her vibrancy with a world tour later this year.
``I'm going to play famous works like `Mo' Better Blues' and `Fly Me to the Moon,' and also some of my own songs. It's my first tour around the world, so I've prepared some of my personal favorites,'' Gene said during an interview with The Korea Times last week at a Seoul cafe.
The fashionable pianist was full of life, talking and giggling the whole time, even giving a sneak preview of her new songs, which she recorded on her cell phone.
``I can't wait to play in different countries. Americans look so different, from their voices to appearances, and I would like to see how they react to my music and how I should play the music in such a different culture,'' she said, fixing her hat from time to time, hiding part of her signature long black hair.
Why the long hair all these years?
``I keep my hair and clothes the same whenever I am on stage, the long hair and simple black top and bottom. I want people to know that it's my music that changes, not me,'' she said.
Being a firm believer in experiences and not afraid of new challenges, Gene has been busy not only with her music, but also with other activities. She has posed in top designers' clothes for a photo shoot, shot commercials with fellow artists like BoA and Xiah Junsoo from TVXQ and appeared in television quiz programs. She even worked with the late video artist Paik Nam-june, whom she admired as one of her favorite art figures in Korea. She also made a special piece for a fashion designer she worked with based on a recipe he enjoyed making.
``I agreed to take part in the glamorous photo shoots and commercials to get rid of my loneliness. But these are only tools in understanding life. I can experience life as a model, learn from it and also enjoy the process, all at the same time. For me, the bottom line is music, and that is never going to change,'' she said.
Along with the world tour, Gene is also ready to start a new journey, and, after rejecting a scholarship from Berkelee College of Music, is waiting to go to Stanislavsky College of Acting in Los Angeles to study the craft.
``Am I going to change my career to acting? No! I simply want to take away music from the acting. Acting and movies are about people and life, and so I want to learn music by actually acting myself,'' Gene said.
``I thought I would feel something that I had always felt in the past (if I chose a music school), nothing new or different. But acting is totally different and I really didn't want to find music within music. I'm nervous and not really confident about acting, but that's why I decided to give it a try,'' Gene said, shrugging.
It took some time for her to realize what she really wanted and how she wanted to build her career as a musician. At first it was all about playing the piano, which was why she quit school and started home schooling.
``It was the only thing I could think about. But now, when someone says that they want to quit school for something, I would tell them to reconsider. It's hard to say that I became a pianist because I quit school. It's not time that you need to become an artist. It may be those small social activities and interactions you experience through school life and it's sad not to have any,'' Gene advised.
Like many other musicians who consider music as their life or companion, Gene agreed that she couldn't imagine her life without music.
``Music helps me concentrate. It's like blood flowing in our veins. When you hurt your finger or leg, you can still move, but when blood stops flowing, you die. I love music so much ― it sometimes even scares me.
``I want my music to be nice and lovable, like the love a grandfather has for his young granddaughter. It would be great if people would want to listen to my music for a long time, perhaps until they die, like Louis Armstrong. That's what is in my mind when I think about my future in music,'' she said happily.
Gene's tour starts in Germany in July before heading to the United States, China and elsewhere, and local fans can get a glimpse of her and her works from May 18 to 19 at the ``Jazz on a Spring Day'' concert at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. For more information, visit www.sejongpac.or.kr.