“Why should age matter before the fantasy that music gives?”···‘The Empress of Blues’ Han Young-ae’s 50 years - 경향신문

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An unchanging voice? Clean living without abusing the throat

Is rock merely stylish and free? It needs a new definition

A challenge to genres? ··· I just make my own music

Singer Han Young-ae. Courtesy of Namu Music

If one were to choose the single voice that symbolizes ‘Korean blues rock,’ it would undoubtedly be Han Young-ae. Debuting in 1976 with the folk group Haebaragi, Han became a solo vocalist with the release of her first album <Yeoulmok> in 1986, after a stint as a stage actor. Music that traversed folk, blues, and rock met Han’s husky voice and was imprinted on the Korean music scene like a fingerprint. Her second album <Barabonda> (1988), which included signature songs such as ‘Is Anyone There?’ and ‘Rhinoceros,’ sold more than 500,000 copies and achieved commercial success, and people were captivated by Han’s voice, calling her the ‘Witch of Sound’ and the ‘Empress of Blues.’

Although the blues genre represents her, Han has never stayed confined to any one genre. Her third studio album <Han Young-ae 1992> (1992) was rooted in blues while embracing jazz and pop sounds. The fourth, <Bureora Baram-a> (1995), featured sophisticated guitar sounds; the fifth, <Nan. Da> (1999), incorporated techno; and the sixth, <Shakipo> (2014), reflected the pop trends of its time. Her newly released single ‘Snow Rain,’ marking the 50th anniversary of her debut this year, is in that same lineage. On the 3rd, we met Hancurrently on a nationwide tourat the Kyunghyang Shinmun in Jung-gu, Seoul. Regarding her musical footsteps, she said, “I have never kept in mind a ‘challenge to genres,’” adding, “I have only been preoccupied with how to express music over a lifetime.”

Despite the many labels surrounding her, just as she says she avoids interviews because “I dislike being explained with flat words,” the world Han has built over half a century is layered so densely that it is hard to sum up in a few terms.

Han Young-ae’s second album <Barabonda> cover. Kyunghyang Shinmun file photo

-You released ‘Snow Rain’ this year and appeared on various YouTube channels and broadcasts. Many are surprised by your unchanged voice; how do you maintain it?

“I simply live cleanly. Go to bed early, get up early, eat three meals on time, and then not abuse my throat? Nothing more and nothing less.”

-You have begun concerts to mark your 50th anniversary. In these activities, have you experienced any new pleasures in music?

“How I look at and approach music always changes with the years. I cannot explain it in words or write it down, but it seems to change depending on how you look at life. As I grew older, I sometimes wondered, ‘Will there be anything new to experience?’ but since the stage and the audience are different every time, I always find it joyful.”

Singer Han Young-ae. Kyunghyang Shinmun file photo

-How did you come to start making rock music?

“There was no special trigger. Do not people in their early twenties all have something like a fireball in their chest? I tried this and that to learn what that fireball was, and in the process I simply felt I would do the work of creating space on stagewhether in acting or in music.”

-So you did not think you had to do a particular genre.

“Genres are for the public, and I like music with various things mixed in. When I listen to blues, I feel ‘it is like home,’ but I do not think I must do that music. These days people talk about ‘rock’ easily, but what is rock, really? Just something that looks cool and free? They try to define it too easily. I think now, in the 21st century, we need to define what kind of music rock is.”

“It is truly precious to talk about the spirit of rockso that the word rock does not just pass by as something fashionable. If the fireball inside me was called the spirit of youth, I think it is a good, imagistic word to use when you are wondering how to release and express it. The genre only comes after that.”

-People sometimes say Han Young-ae’s music is not a genre but ‘just Han Young-ae’s music.’ What is ‘Han Young-ae’s music’?

“I simply make my own music. Back in the day, when people outside would call it ‘the underground’ or whatever, we would say, ‘What is the underground?’ and make music. I do have standards about what music I can make and where to place my greater purpose. Without that, could you make music? However, I have never kept in mind any challenge to genres. I wrestled with how best to express the act called usic.”

-Songs like ‘Rhinoceros’ or ‘Tuning’ with resonant lyrics gained great popularity. What, to you, makes good lyrics?

“Since I am not an instrumentalist, lyrics are important. That is probably true for other singers as well. It is not as if symbolism and metaphor are some kind of rule that must be there to be good. I think good lyrics are those that move the listener.”

Singer Han Young-ae. Courtesy of Namu Music

-Lately, more people are calling out nicknames that get attached only to women artists. What do you think about nicknames that were attached to you at the time, like ‘Witch of Sound’?

“I have rarely lived thinking, ‘Because I am a woman.’ Nor have I thought I was in unfair situations because I am a woman. I just made music. Men and women are different. I think it is important to understand each other and acknowledge the differences. Movements like feminism also change with the times.”

-I read an article saying you are reluctant to reveal your age.

“I am not reluctant. You can find it all by searching. There is one reason. Even for the sake of sharing good energy with each other, age is unnecessary. Through music, I want to give people a good fantasy. At a concertsomewhere apart from daily lifeyou receive energy and then live your everyday life the next day. But why does age need to be there? Music is enough. I sometimes worry that young people will see my age and not listen to my music. Very occasionally.”

-It seems remarkable that you have kept your core while surely facing shakier times across 50 years. What would you say to juniors wondering what kind of music to make?

“If you look at the last line of the lyrics to my song ‘Lucille,’ I wrote, ‘I want to have a sound like yours.’ Lucille is the nickname of guitarist B.B. King’s guitar, and because of its distinctive sound, everyone recognizes it as a B.B. King song. Just like that, I once said, ‘I want to have a sound like yours,’ but now my thinking is a little different. Where in the world is there such a thing as ‘mine’? Once you release music, it becomes everyone’s. If I were to say one thing to a musician who says, ‘I still do not know what is mine,’ it would be, ‘You have possibilities to grow in every direction.’ That is what I would like to say.”

-What do you think the rest of Han Young-ae’s musical life will look like?

“The joy of music is just like eating three meals a day. Are you not happy when you eat? What music I will present going forward is an unknown, but I hope to meet people from many walks of life through music. I believe that because there is music, we can meet again, and each generation can meet one another. No matter what others say.”