Indie bands to hold benefit concert for Japan

Posted on : 2011-03-17 13:41 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The show will take place near Seoul’s Hongik University on Friday
Kim Chang-wan’s message of condolences written by famous calligrapher Kang Byung-in and Kim Chang-wan’s band.
Kim Chang-wan’s message of condolences written by famous calligrapher Kang Byung-in and Kim Chang-wan’s band.

By Surh Jung-min, Music Correspondent

 

The Kim Chang-wan Band, headed by 57-year-old singer Kim Chang-wan, has a Japanese guitarist, Yohei Hasegawa. Kim wanted to travel to Japan and offer condolences to Hasegawa’s mother, who he felt was likely upset about the major earthquake. Soon the conversation turned to possibility of holding a charity concert for victims of the disaster. After efforts to contact younger musicians, a group including dozens of participants was quickly rounded up.

The charity concert, titled “Why On Earth,” will be taking place at V Hall in front of Seoul‘s Hongik University at 7 p.m. on Friday, with seventeen acts performing, including the Kim Chang-wan Band, Crying Nut, Jang Kiha and the Faces, Seoul Electric Band, Park Ki Young, Jeon Je-duk, and Kingston Rudieska. Admission is 15,000 Won ($13.20), with all proceeds going to help victims of the Japanese earthquake.

“Recently, it has been very frustrating to see tragedies of history repeating themselves in the global village, including the bloodbath in Libya, and I discovered a hopeful future for humanity in seeing the people of Japan responding calmly, with a sense of order even amid disaster,” Kim said during a telephone interview Wednesday with the Hankyoreh. “It cannot be easy after losing family members. I wanted to send them some encouragement.”

Kim went on to say that upon seeing the situation unfolding in Japan, his thoughts went to his younger brother Chang-ik, who died in a 2008 traffic accident in Canada.

“My youngest sibling died in an accident because of snow,” he said, “and when I went to the scene I saw that the snow that had taken my brother away had melted away without leaving a trace behind. Seeing the ocean that swallowed up tens of thousands of people in this disaster, its waves rippling as though nothing was wrong, made me think that it really is cruel, and I thought back to what happened.”

Kim said that he subsequently wrote a poem. Titled “Why on Earth,” it begins with the words, “The earth lies there without a word / and the ocean ripples there without a word,” and ends with the lines, “My friend, I will hold you / Cry, I will hold you.”

“I would like to be heard as a warm poem in which you discover that even though we are tracing an unbearable destiny, we can hold one another within it,” Kim said. Plans are under way to have the poem engraved into a frame by noted calligrapher Kang Byung-in and delivered along with the donations.

Kim also made sure to mention the younger musicians he assembled for the performance. “The occasion was organized because of the disaster in Japan, but I also think it would be nice if it could be an occasion for us musicians to discover one another,” he said. “Lately, the singing world has been in a real slump, and I hope this can be the first in a series of occasions for older and younger musicians to get together and communicate.”

 

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

 

 

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