'Sharing music is greatest accomplishment for musicians'

Kang Yun-mi

By Kwon Ji-youn

Jazz vocalist Kang Yun-mi began playing the piano after entering elementary school, but she spent more time sitting in front of the instrument playing the lower notes with her left hand while humming complementary harmonies rather than engaging in holistic practicing.

“That’s how much I loved to sing,” she said in a recent interview.

“I would jump at chances to perform on stage, and was even asked to audition for an entertainment agency. But becoming a celebrity wasn’t something I wanted.”

Kang, whose new album was released earlier this month, had been determined to keep singing as a hobby so that she could take up classical piano professionally, which is how she ended up at a music school in Germany. But while she was there realized that jazz, like classical piano, was an extensively studied genre, one that she could spend a career poring over.

“But as a classical piano major, it wasn’t easy fitting jazz classes into my schedule,” she said. “So in my last semester before graduation, I applied and was admitted as a freshman to another music school in Groningen in the Netherlands. For a semester, I went back and forth between the two schools, but after finishing my studies in classical piano, I was able to focus on jazz.”

And the hard work paid off. In 2011, she became the first Asian runner-up at the biennial Netherlands Jazz Vocalist Competition.

“It’s a competition that all students studying jazz want to take a stab at,” Kang said. “I entered first as a junior in college, but returned home empty-handed. In my first year of grad school, I re-entered and finished second. The winner was a Dutch male vocalist... I was satisfied with the results, nonetheless.”

Kang’s new disc, titled “Story Haven’t Told You Yet,” reflects the many emotions she experienced during her time abroad, having spent a good chunk of her 20s in Europe, her second home. Three years ago, after she received her master’s degree from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Kang began work on her first album, finally finishing it last summer.

“Because it took three years, I feel like a huge burden has been taken off my shoulders,” she said. “All the same, the album is especially meaningful in that it contains my passion for music, and I have experimented with it.”

Kang’s parents have always supported her decision to study music, but she did have to persuade them that jazz would be a better fit for her, reminding them of just how many classical pianists there already are.

“I didn’t really know what I was talking about then, but there is definitely an applied music boom spreading here in Korea,” she added.

Kang gave a showcase performance at the Seoul Jazz Academy’s SJA Hall on Dec. 12, an experience unlike the 300 or so concerts she has held in Korea up so far.

“I was extremely nervous, much like a student about to take an important exam,” she said. “But you only get to celebrate the release of your first album once.”

Kang says she knows her music will never appeal to audiences the way popular music does, and wants to create and perform music that bespeaks her thoughts and emotions. In fact, her most memorable performance was one she staged at a music class for the underprivileged.

“It was a sense of accomplishment I had never felt before,” she said. “Music touches the heart, and it is my hope to share mine with the marginalized.”