Kim Sisters' Min-ja talks about 'Try to Remember'

Mia Kim, also known as Min-ja of the Kim Sisters, poses for a photo during an interview with The Korea Times at the Film Forum in Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times

The poster for "Try to Remember," a music documentary on the Kim Sisters / Courtesy of Indieline

By Kwon Mee-yoo

The presence of K-pop is growing across the globe and Korean girl bands are gaining popularity from international audiences with their bubblegum pop style music and elaborate dance routines from the early 2000s. However, there was a Korean female trio that swept stages of Las Vegas, the capital of live entertainment, half a century ago.

"Try to Remember," a documentary on the Kim Sisters, the pioneering girl band which headed to the United States in 1959, will hit local theaters Friday.

Mia Kim, 76, now living in Hungary with her musician husband Tommy Vig, visited Korea to celebrate the release of the film as well as to attend a festival commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in Korea.

The Kim Sisters consists of Kim Sook-ja, also known as Sue; Ai-ja; and Min-ja and established in 1953, soon after the Korean War (1950-53). Sook-ja and Ai-ja were daughters of the legendary Korean popular singer Lee Nan-young (1916-1965) and Min-ja was their cousin and daughter of renowned composer Lee Bong-ryong, who was Nan-young's elder brother.

"I was born Lee Hyang, but aunt Lee Nan-young renamed me Kim Min-ja when she adopted me to form the Kim Sisters," Kim said. "It was after the war and Aunt Lee's stately house in downtown Seoul was all destroyed. Aunt Lee thought of making a girl band and my father arranged songs for us while Aunt Lee trained us how to sing and dance on stage."

She reminisced about the hard training when she was around 12. "We were young and didn't want to rehearse but rather wanted to go out and play. Aunt Lee found bananas, which were very rare in Korea back then, and gave us the fruit when we learn singing and dancing. So three of us practiced hard to get bananas," Kim said.

Kim had performed at a musical show staged by her uncle-in-law and composer Kim Hae-song when she was around five, but her first stage as the Kim Sisters was in the southern city of Busan when they fled to avoid the war.

"Aunt Lee brought us a record and we memorized two songs 'Candy and Cake' and 'Ole Buttermilk Sky.' The American GIs in Busan loved our singing and requested an encore. We only knew those two songs, so we repeated the same songs for our encore," Kim said.

The trio was picked up by American producer Tom Ball and arrived in Las Vegas in 1959 as the first Korean musicians to perform in the States.

"We were so naive and innocent back then. We had big expectations for our arrival in the States as we were popular in Korea and well-known among Americans GIs. However, we were nobody and there were no news people for us at the airport. We were so disappointed," Kim recalled.

The three girls had a difficult time in a strange place at first. "We were not good at English and the food didn't agree with us. We missed our family and friends. We were so lonely and cried a lot," Kim said. "However, we hardened our decision to stay because we thought it would be impossible to return once we go back to Korea."

The Kim Sisters saw the silver lining when the audience went wild at their first performance at the Thunderbird Hotel in Las Vegas. "We felt that we have a chance to success in the States," Kim said.

Their success led to a contract at the Stardust Hotel, also in Las Vegas, which was renewed several times, and appearances on the famous Ed Sullivan Show, of which the group performed over 22 times in total.

The Kim Sisters are known for playing a wide range of musical instruments from guitar and bass to mandolin and Irish bagpipes.

"I played the drums at first. My father also played the drums and maybe I inherited the talent. We also played saxophone, trombone, flute, steel guitar and many more. We had instructors for each instrument and performed different instruments each time we starred on the Ed Sullivan show," Kim said.

Kim said the girl band was lucky as they arrived in the U.S. when there were few Asian performers in the States. However, there were strenuous efforts to stand out behind the Kim Sisters' success.

"We sang Korean music and played traditional instruments such as gayageum (Korean zither) in hanbok (Korean traditional costume) and changed into a dress and performed American rock'n'roll the next. Americans were amazed by us and became interested," Kim said. "We were keen about what type of music and styles were popular in the States. However, we didn't just imitate the style, but adopted it based on our style. Having our own style made us unique and original."

Kim cultivated the memory of Aunt Lee, who shepherded them to become entertainers. "She had talent and was very smart. Everything we learned was from Aunt Lee," Kim said.

The trio invited Lee to the States and performed together on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1963. "It was so moving. We haven't seen her for years and I can't quite describe the mixed feelings of joy and sorrow we felt at the moment."

Kim married a Hungarian musician Vig and performed jazz in Los Angeles after the Kim Sisters disbanded. She moved to Hungary in 2006 where old-fashioned jazz music is still popular. She continues to perform with her jazz musician husband there.

The greatest joy of life for Kim comes when audiences love her singing as she can make them happy.

"Music is my everything. It's my whole life," said Kim. "I come from a musical family and started singing when young. As long as I'm healthy and do not lose my voice, I will sing as long as I have breath. That's my life."

Kim said she is grateful to director Kim Dae-hyun making the Kim Sisters documentary. "He made the Kim Sisters live on forever. I hope Koreans will remember the Kim Sisters forever," Kim said.