Shin Jung-hyeon

Infobox Korean name
hangul=신중현
hanja=申重鉉
rr=Sin Jung-hyeon
mr=Sin Chunghyŏn

Shin Jung-hyeon (born January 4 1938, Seoul) is a South Korean rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. Known as Korea's "Godfather of Rock",cite book |title=Hollywood Bowl 2008: The 6th Korean Music Festival (Program Guide)|pages=p.10|year=2008|publisher=Hankook Ilbo|language=English|location=Los Angeles] he led Korean psychedelic pop/rock culture during 1960s and 1970s. His sons Shin Dae-cheol and Shin Yun-cheol are also respected guitarists in K-rock scene.

Biography

He started his musical career in 1955. In those days, immediately after the Korean War, there were very few musicians. In 1957 he played for the U.S. army in Korea. His psychedelic style of music fascinated the U.S. soldiers, and some record companies asked him to make LPs. His cover of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly is a legend today.

His first recording in 1959 was covers of traditional Korean music. He managed his own band, Add 4, in 1962. Add 4 was the first rock band in Korea and their music style was similar to the Ventures.

From 1968 he wrote many songs and all of his then became hits.Fact|date=April 2007 This is why his discography is so complex. His melodies were simple and fascinating, like "KeoPi HanJan" (커피 한잔) or "GeoJitMalIYa" (거짓말이야). He made the Korean pop/rock scene with his psychedelic sound.

From 1974 he started to sing his own songs, and his popularity was still at the peak with his hit song "MiIn" (미인). When the South Korean president, Park Chung Hee, asked him to make a song to praise the president. Shin jung-hyeon refused; instead, he wrote a song about the beauty of Korea, called "AhReumDaUn GangSan" (아름다운강산) and his music career began to suffer from the government's interferences. With political oppression his works became worse. Most of his masterpieces were made in 1968-1974.

With the collapsing of the military dictatorship he became a legend. Among his 1990-2000 works, 'MuWiJaYeon'(無爲自然, 1994) is his finest album. His electric guitar sanjo proved he still does musical experiments. His legendary albums were reissued as LP miniature CDs in 2002-03.

In 2004, Shin provided the musical score for director Im Kwon-taek's film "Low Life". After announcing his retirement in 2006, [cite news |last=Kim|first=Hee-kyoung|title=록의 대부 신중현, 마지막 발길…|url=http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/culture/200612/h2006120718200384220.htm|publisher=Hankook Ilbo|date=2006-12-07|accessdate=2008-05-19|language=Korean] Shin returned on May 17, 2008 for a public performance with three of his sons at the sixth annual Korean Music Festival held at the Hollywood Bowl. [cite web |url=http://www.koreanmusicfestival.com/|title=2008 - The 6th Hollywood Bowl Korean Music Festival|accessdate=2008-05-19|publisher= [http://www.koreanmusicfestival.com/ www.koreanmusicfestival.com] |language=English]

Discography

: # is recently reissued

The Add 4 Era
* (1959) Guitar Meolody Compilation [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (1964) The Woman in Rain-The Add 4 First Album [Add 4]
* (1966) The Ventures of Korea, Add 4 : Shin Jung-hyeon Insturumental Arrange Compilation Vol.1 [Add 4]
* (1967) The Woman in Rain [Blooz Tet]
* (1968) Enjoy the Guitar Intrrumental Twist [Add 4]

The Superstar Era : producer, singer-songwriter and guitarist
* (1969) Green Apple [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (1969) No/Spring Rain [Lee Jeong-hwa / Donkeys] #
* (1969) Before too late / Sgt.Kim from Vietnam [Kim Chu-ja] #
* (1969) Bell-bottom Trousers/Dear [Pearl Sisters] #
* (1970) Hello/You're a Fool [Questions]
* (1970) Hit Instrumental Compilation vol.1 [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (1970) In-A-Kadda-Da-Vida [Shin Jung-hyeon / Questions] #
* (1971) Sound [Shin Jung-hyeon and his combo band]
* (1972) Setting Sun/Woman in the Mist/Beautiful Korea [Jang Hyeon / Shin Jung-hyeon and The Men] #
** Partly reissued as CD 'GeoJitMalIYa', three 20 mins psyche jam pieces
* (1972) No/Don't Say to Go [Kim Jeong-mi] #
* (1972) Angel/I ... You [Seo Yu-seok] #
* (1972) Your Dream/Little Ship [Yang Hee-eun] #
** Shin Jung-hyeon's compositions of Seo Yu-seok and Yang Hee-eun albums reissued as 1CD
* (1973) Wind [Kim Jeong-mi] #
* (1973) Now [Kim Jeong-mi] #

Shin Jung-hyeon Bands Era
* (1974) The Beauty/Think of You [Shin Junh-hyeon and YeopJeons] #
* (1975) Beautiful Korea/Mountain and River [Shin Jung-hyeon and YeopJeons] #
* (1975) Instrumental Best [Shin Jung-hyeon and YeopJeons] #
* (1980) Nobody Here But/Whenever See You [Shin Jung-hyeon and Music Power] #
* (1980) Please Wait/Even Your Leaving [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (1982) The Satellite I Shot/As Waiting Somebody [Shin Jung-hyeon and Music Power] #
* (1983) Let's Go/Happy [Shin Jung-hyeon and SeNaGeuNe]

Solo
* (1988) During the Days/Winter Park [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (1994/2CD) Do Nothing, Let it be [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (1997/2CD) A Tribute to Shin Jung-hyeon [Various Artists]
* (1998/2CD) Kim SatGat [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (2002/5CD Box) Not for Rock [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (2002/2CD Box) Body and Feel [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (2006) The Crane of a City [Shin Jung-hyeon]
* (2006) Comfortably Safe [Shin Jung-hyeon]

References

ee also

*Korean music
*Contemporary culture of South Korea
*Korean rock
*List of Korean musicians

External links

* [http://home.kidp.or.kr/1998/shinjh/index1.htm Shin Jung-hyeon] - official site and biography, in Korean
* [http://www.sjhmvd.com/ SJH MVD] - his own label, in Korean
* [http://www.weiv.co.kr/review_view.html?code=album&num=1757 weiv] [http://www.izm.co.kr/music/artist_content_disco_view.asp?key=kartinfo&a_idx=184&a_name=신중현&r_idx=199&page=31&disco_articlenum=6&index=&letter=] - reviews in Korean
* [http://koreanrock.com/kr.pl?ShinJungHyeon koreanrock.com] - reviews in English
* [http://thrmen.musicchain.net Shin Jung-hyeon All Music]
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