INTERVIEW Korean-speaking German honorary ambassador for Seoul releases first album

Sharing hope through music

By Yun Suh-young

His music was as soft and serene as his character, flowing gently and smoothly.

Daniel Lindemann / Korea Times photo by Yun Suh-young

Popular Korean-speaking German TV personality Daniel Lindemann recently presented his fans with a pleasant surprise - an album of six songs he personally composed and played on piano.

“Esperance,” it is called, to give hope to others. The album, released late last month, features an eponymous song which Lindemann said makes him feel good, and hopefully others too. Hence the old English word for “hope” settled as the title. It was the only proper expression that could actually convey the essence of the album, he said.

“I never studied composing or went to university to study music or anything,” Lindemann said, speaking to The Korea Times during an interview in Seoul last week.

“Composing is like building a sand castle on the beach. You build the castle and if you like it, you can keep it but if you don’t, you can destroy it. The process for me is I just sit down and play around with the piano and then afterwards decide on the title. It’s like matching a puzzle. I don’t start with inspiration and then compose the piece, I first compose the piece and then when I listen to it, I try to correlate to experiences.”

He was trained in the piano since he was young, keeping it up as a hobby till this day.

“I started having lessons when I was 10. Before that I was playing the flute. My grandma told me to play the flute but I told my mom I wanted to play the piano. So she gave it to me as a birthday present when I was 10 and I had lessons until I was 15. Then my teacher’s husband who was a church organist offered me to try so I switched completely to organ and I had lessons for four years until I was 19,” he said.

Composing, however, wasn’t something he had planned to get into. It was a “big bang” that suddenly hit him.

“I saw a video of Korean pianist Yiruma three years ago when he played on EBS television program Gonggam. He combined his pieces Maybe and Love together with only piano. And this piece blew me away,” said Lindemann.

“When I played piano, I played a lot of classics. But it was never that touching for me. I wanted to create new things. Then I saw a video of The Piano Guys’ mix of Vivaldi with the Bourne soundtrack. I wanted to remake and cover songs and afterwards make my own songs.”

His songs took two years to compose.

“Last year I had about five to six pieces but at that time it wasn’t completed and I didn’t like my music. It was too technical and too classical. I wanted a little bit more dynamic - some strings and sessions.”

He recorded his piano part first and the strings were added through a separate recording.

Life in Korea

Lindemann, who was newly appointed as honorary ambassador for Seoul on Nov. 23, became locally famous after his appearance on the cable TV program “Non-Summit” on JTBC where Korean-speaking foreigners discuss various social issues.

His Korean is near-perfect - in pronunciation, intonation and vocabulary - which can be challenging for foreigners. He started learning Korean when he was 20 years old, in college back in Germany. His interest in the language, he said, sparked due to taekwondo which he started at age 12 (he is now 32). He regularly goes to work out at a hapkido studio in Seoul.

Lindemann first came to Korea as an exchange student at Korea University in 2008, and the following year he won the top prize at a Korean-speaking competition at Kyung Hee University. He went back to his country but returned to Seoul in 2011 to attend Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies, majoring in international security. Ever since, he has been living in Seoul except for a few hiatuses in between.

“When I’m in Korea, I don’t miss Germany as a country that much, but when I’m in Germany, after three to five days, I notice I want to come back. Living in Korea is better for me. I’m constantly wanting to return to Korea,” he said.

“The way I communicate with Koreans, the way they talk to each other - it’s pure. It’s more friendly, more open, more smiling. Germans don’t smile much.”

Initially, he thought of getting a Ph.D. and going to university to teach. Even when he began his TV appearances in 2014, he thought of going back to academia because he loved what he studied. But he didn’t. It seemed “too dry” for him.

“The impression I get from the academic world is that you can’t really change anything. You feel like you have to say something fancy, intellectual, and show off to have people listen to you, but here it’s not like that - I can say whatever I want and get immediate feedback,” he said, referring to his current role in TV.

But that doesn’t mean he wants to change society or make a huge difference through his appearances.

“I’m just a guest in this country. I’m not here to criticize and there are no answers. It’s about learning from each other, expanding perspectives. It’s not about changing or influencing, but contributing something,” he said.

As much as he likes living in Korea, he won’t be applying for citizenship as he feels no need to.

“I’m not Korean and I don’t see any reason to become Korean. But I want to live here as a permanent resident.”

Regarding his newfound fame, he tries not to care too much about all the attention.

“Some days I don’t mind, some days when you’re stressed out and have a bad day, it’s tiring if someone keeps talking to you. You always have a feeling that somebody is watching you. There are many eyes. But I try not to reduce my space of living. I try not to care.”

Passion for music

He also won’t be dropping his musical passion. He plans to continue composing and continue producing albums.

“I’m not sure if it would change my composing style, but I don’t want to put too much boundaries in what kind of music I want to create. I would love to do more musical projects in the future, with no limitations. I want to do more combinations with instruments,” he said.

Ironically, he didn’t listen to classical music until last year, even though he played it.

“I played it, but didn’t listen to it. I didn’t get emotion from it. I started listening to classical music when I listened to Lang Lang last year. He doesn’t focus on perfectionism,” Lindemann said.

And when the next opportunity comes, he plans not to have titles in the album.

“The more I think about it, I think it’s not necessary to create titles. Because if you listen to classical music, they call it Serenade E or something. It sounds technical. If I title it, I give people the explanation. But everyone has their own interpretations. I want to give them freedom to explore their own imaginations.”