BRUSSELS, Jan 31 (IPS) – When the mother and father of Korean jazz singer Youn Solar Nah realized that the COVID-19 pandemic had begun, they referred to as and urged her to return to Seoul from New York, the place she was primarily based on the time.
“They stated purchase the ticket instantly,” the singer remembers. “There’ll be a complete lockdown and also you would possibly by no means have the ability to come residence. Once I watched tv and heard that borders could be closed, I packed my luggage and I bought the final ticket. I assumed I’d come again in three months, however not a 12 months.”
In Korea, below journey restrictions like a lot of the world, Solar Nah questioned how she might combat the blues that threatened to overwhelm her. She started writing lyrics and composing music for what would change into the extraordinary Waking World (Warner Music), her 11th album, launched in 2022.
The songs are an exploration of the lifetime of an artist, confronting angst and despair, and their haunting magnificence – in addition to experimental vary of kinds – could assist Solar Nah to broaden her already substantial worldwide viewers, as she embarks on a “Spring Tour” starting in March. With the memorable monitor Do not Get Me Fallacious, the album additionally incorporates a message in regards to the risks of spreading misinformation and hate, the “different” ills of the pandemic.
Born in Seoul to musician mother and father (and named Na Yoon-sun), Youn Solar Nah realized to play the piano as a baby however grew up specializing in the same old curriculum at college. She graduated from college in 1992 with an arts diploma, having studied literature, and he or she thought this is able to be her profession course. She didn’t need to pursue music, she says, as a result of she had seen her mother and father – a choir director and a musical actress – work too arduous.
Nonetheless, when the Korean Symphony Orchestra invited her to sing gospel songs in 1993, she started taking her first steps on this planet of performing and recording, ultimately shifting to France to review music, as she relates. In Paris, she adopted programs in conventional French chanson and enrolled on the prestigious CIM Faculty of Jazz and Modern Music, the place she needed to overcome sure inventive challenges.
Within the years since then, she has carried out worldwide, sung on the closing ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, contributed to a Nina Simone tribute album, and brought half within the 2017 Worldwide Jazz Day live performance which was held in Havana, Cuba. (Worldwide Jazz Day is an initiative of legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and the United Nations cultural company, UNESCO.) As well as, she has acquired the Officier des Arts et des Lettres award from the French Ministry of Tradition, the Sejong Tradition Award from Korea, and a bunch of different music prizes and accolades.
In an interview with SWAN earlier than a current live performance in Brussels, Youn Solar Nah spoke of her profession with self-deprecating humour, discussing the consequences of the pandemic on her artwork and the meanings behind the songs on Waking World. She shed mild, too, on the expertise of being a jazz singer amidst the worldwide Korean pop music phenomenon. The edited interview follows.
SWAN: How would you describe your self?
Youn Solar Nah: I’m a jazz singer from Korea. I studied jazz in France, and I journey around the globe, and I’m type of all combined up, however I’m very proud of that.
SWAN: Are you now primarily based in France?
YSN: No, I used to stay in Paris for a very long time, however truly, I don’t have a spot to remain in France now. Each time I’m going there, it’s only for the tour, so I’m going to completely different locations. I might say I stay in Korea, but it surely’s a nomadic life.
SWAN: Let’s discuss Waking World, which was launched final January. You’re doing a tour to put it on the market now, as that wasn’t attainable earlier, throughout the pandemic.
YSN: Sure, we couldn’t actually do the promotion factor, however c’est la vie. My supervisor referred to as in 2021 to say: now you’ll be able to come, you’ll be able to take the aircraft now. So, I rapidly purchased the ticket, got here again to France and recorded the album in Paris, after which I did some exhibits.
SWAN: Plenty of artists have needed to discover methods to maintain going throughout the pandemic, and it’s been particularly tough for a lot of musicians who couldn’t tour, couldn’t be on the street. Has that been the case for you too?
YSN: As you understand, jazz is basically stay music, and I feel most jazz musicians really feel the identical manner. You need to do as many gigs as attainable. I don’t know if folks take heed to my music on platforms like Spotify or iTunes, however I really feel very fortunate to carry out stay music. Greater than 400 jazz festivals exist in France, so it’s a privilege.
SWAN: How did Waking World come about, and what does it imply in your followers, for you?
YSN: Once I went again to Korea at the beginning of the pandemic, I used to be type of optimistic that issues wouldn’t final lengthy. Everybody was carrying masks, however we might transfer round, simply not take the aircraft. Then … six months, seven months, eight months. From that second, I bought actually depressed, and I assumed that possibly I ought to change my job, that possibly I’d by no means have the ability to return to Europe and carry out. What can I do, I assumed. All of the musicians I performed with had been in Europe as a result of I studied jazz in France, and I don’t know that many jazz musicians in Korea. So, I had a type of homesickness regardless that I used to be residence. However in Korea, we by no means lose hope, so I feel that’s in my DNA. I instructed myself: it is best to get up, and it is best to do one thing else; you’ll be able to’t disappoint the individuals who’ve supported you for a very long time, it is best to have one thing to current to your viewers. So, I began writing some new tunes. With out the musicians I normally work with, I needed to do all of it on my own.
SWAN: However you’re used to singing in English?
YSN: Sure, after I began finding out jazz. You already know, once I got here to France, I didn’t know what jazz was. If I’d recognized, I’d undoubtedly have gone to the States. I used to be so naïve … and possibly silly? At some point I’d requested considered one of my musician buddies in Korea what sort of music I ought to research to change into a very good singer, and he’d stated: do jazz. What’s jazz, I requested him. And he stated: jazz is authentic pop music, so when you learn to sing jazz, you’ll be able to sing something. And I stated: oh, it sounds nice!
I’m an enormous fan of French chanson, so he stated one of many oldest jazz colleges in Europe is positioned in Paris, so go there. Oh, nice! I arrived there, and what you study at college is American requirements, and the whole lot was in English. I truly studied in 4 completely different colleges on the identical time as a result of, properly, I’m Asian, and I’m used to that training system the place you don’t should have any free time for your self! Once I had solely six hours of classes, I assumed: what am I gonna do with the opposite eighteen hours? (Laughter.)
SWAN: That type of method will need to have helped with the album?
YSN: Properly, I didn’t know once I might document this album, so I simply stored writing and composing. And arranging on my own, as I had quite a lot of time. However, as you understand, jazz is like … we should always collect collectively and prepare within the second. Once I might lastly fly to France, I simply gave all the fabric to the musicians. They usually stated, oh, we’ll respect your scores. And I stated, no, no, do what you need. However they performed precisely what I wrote, each single notice. I’m embarrassed.
SWAN: Inform us in regards to the inspiration behind a few of tracks, resembling Chicken On The Floor, the primary music, which has the chorus “I need to fly. I need to fly. I need to fly.”
YSN: Properly, “hen on the bottom” – that’s me throughout the pandemic.
SWAN: Don’t Get Me Fallacious, the second monitor, has an infectious melody, however the message is evident: the world “has no likelihood with those that lie and lie”. Inform us extra.
YSN: Throughout the pandemic, I might solely watch TV or go on the web to know what was occurring. However generally the knowledge wasn’t true, and regardless that it’s a lie you find yourself believing the whole lot. Yeah, so I assumed the world has no likelihood with individuals who lie.
SWAN: The sixth monitor has an intriguing title – My Mom. (Lyrics embody the road: “How will you maintain drying my eyes each time, my mom?”) What’s the story behind it?
YSN: With the touring, I normally don’t spend that a lot time at residence. However with the pandemic, I used to be residence for an entire 12 months, and I spent quite a lot of time with my mom, and I actually had the prospect to speak about the whole lot, about her life and what she skilled. She’s my finest pal, and we turned even nearer.
SWAN: And the title music Waking World?
YSN: I needed this to be a dream and never actual, however on the identical time that is the fact, so it was type of ambiguous for me. The place am I? Am I dreaming? No, you’re wakeful.
SWAN: Tangled Soul, monitor eight?
YSN: My soul was fully tangled. (Laughter.) After which at some point, I felt: it’s okay, the whole lot will likely be all proper.
SWAN: Talking about music generally, Ok-pop has change into a worldwide phenomenon. Are you within the improper discipline? (Laughter.) Extra to the purpose, are you impacted by the massive curiosity?
YSN: At each present, I’m actually shocked or stunned as a result of the viewers says “hiya” and “thanks” in Korean. Unbelievable! There are a lot of individuals who’ve instructed me about their expertise in Korea, too, saying they’ve spent a month or six months there. It’s one thing that my mother and father’ era couldn’t have anticipated as a result of the nation was destroyed throughout the conflict – it’s not that way back – they usually needed to construct a totally new nation. They labored so arduous, and due to them, we now have this period. Individuals know Korea by means of Ok-pop, by means of Netflix.
SWAN: Then there’s this Korean jazz singer – you. When listeners hear your work, the “soul” comes by means of. Are you able to discuss that?
YSN: Once I arrived in Paris, not realizing what jazz was, as I discussed, I instructed my mother and father: Oh, I’m gonna research jazz for 3 years, and I feel I can grasp it, after which I’ll come again to Korea and possibly educate. And afterwards, I felt so silly, and so dangerous as a result of I can’t swing, and I don’t have a voice like Ella Fitzgerald, and I might barely study one normal music. So, I attempted the whole lot. On Honeysuckle Rose, I feel I wrote down each second that Ella breathed in, breathed out. However … I couldn’t sing like her, it sounded so faux. So, I stated: No, I’ll by no means have the ability to sing jazz, this isn’t for me. After a 12 months, I instructed my professors that, sorry, I made a improper alternative, I’m going to return residence. They usually laughed at me. They stated: What? Youn, you are able to do your personal jazz with your personal voice. And I stated, no, I can’t. Then they advisable some jazz albums of European jazz singers, resembling Norma Winstone, who’s an English singer, and my idol. She has a type of soprano voice like me, and when she interprets, it’s like an entire new tune. And I stated, oh, we will name this jazz too? I didn’t know.
So, I realized to strive with my very own voice and my very own soul, with my Korean background, and the extra I used my very own voice, the extra I did issues my very own manner, the extra I felt accepted.
SWAN: What’s subsequent for you?
YSN: Properly, everybody has instructed me that this album is just not jazz, however that’s what I needed to do. Herbie Hancock all the time stated that jazz is the human soul, it’s not appearances, so you are able to do no matter you need to do. We’ll see. It’s been some time that I’ve needed to do an album of jazz requirements, so we’ll proceed this tour in 2023 after which we’ll see. – A.M. / SWAN
Youn Solar Nah’s Spring Tour runs March 9 to Could 26, 2023, and contains live shows in France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
