By Bae Keun-min
Staff Reporter
When a middle-aged man with Mohawk haircut walked into a small hall in a Seoul hotel Monday night, no one paid him any attention until he suggested fist-on-fist greetings to journalists waiting for a press conference there.
The man had a scruffy beard, wore an Aston Villa jersey, safari jacket, ragged cropped pants, mismatched socks and dirty sneakers, and walked with a waddle like a teenager.
He was Nigel Kennedy, the bad boy of classical music who cuts his hair himself. His look was as edgy as his renowned musical talent. Then the 50-year-old British punk violinist wearing shades, sat down and ordered beer for himself, toasting ``Good luck.''
``If you have a reputation of being a good boy in classical music, you are just a very boring musician,'' Kennedy said in the press conference. ``If you play classical music with no individuality and originality, you are already dead in classical music.''
Kennedy, the world's best-selling classical violinist, will hold two concerts to show his originality in Seongnam and Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
But there will not be his famous version of Vivaldi's ``Four Seasons'' at the concerts as he will perform jazz with his quintet. As a jazz aficionado since childhood, Kennedy recently realized his personal dream by releasing the Blue Note Sessions album.
``Jazz is like a more social awareness between musicians and the audience in a special way,'' Kennedy said. ``In classical music, it is written down so people can play automatically. In jazz, it is not written down so you have to use your ear and intelligence.''
However, the rebellious classical violinist expressed his deepest affection for both genres, saying he is inseparable from classical music and he tries to connect classical music with jazz music.
``Jazz music is famous for communities of musicians playing for each other, for the audience to feel like they are in the same community,'' Kennedy told The Korea Times. ``For classical music, it can be like that. But sometimes it's that the audience is in a separate mentality to the (classical music) performers. For me I try to make it the same.''
The concerts will be his first concert here in 29 years since his first visit to perform with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He cancelled his Seoul concert in 2002. Reportedly, he cancelled it in order to watch England's World Cup football match in Osaka, Japan.
But Kennedy denied the reports, saying ``I really do not like England and I never watch England play because they get paid too much money and never do anything. If I played violin as bad as England play football I would not get work.''
Kennedy said he has prepared some surprises for Korean audiences. ``Life with no surprises is too surprising,'' he said in the conference. ``I play music with my heart. I try to draw from personal experiences and create a sense of occasions. If my music makes one member of the audience smile, that's good enough.''
There will be other possible surprising engagements outside concert halls _ encountering the unruly virtuoso at a jazz club in Seoul. ``I would like to visit jazz clubs and meet some of the jazz musicians in Korea. I love to have jam sessions. Maybe after our concerts I would go and play,'' he told The Korea Times.
He will return to Seoul in November next year touring with a Polish orchestra. He will perform classical music, which will delight his many fans.