Jang Sa-ik

Infobox Korean name
hangul = 장사익
hanja = [These hanja given in [http://www.mindan.org/kr/newspaper/read_artcl.php?newsid=389 "Mindan"] and [http://www.donga.com/fbin/new_donga?d=9708&f=nd97080190.html "Dong-A Ilbo"] reports.]
rr = Jang Sa-ik
mr = Chang Sa-ik

Jang Sa-ik (born 1949) is a singer from South Korea. He is one of the nation's most popular performers. His music combines elements of popular music, jazz, and Korean traditional music (particularly "pansori"). He was born in Gwangcheon-eup, Hongseong, Chungcheongnam-do, [cite web|url=http://people.empas.com/people/info/ja/ng/jangsik/|title=장사익|work=Empas 인물|accessdate=2007-05-30]

He grew up in the countryside and in his adolescence he went to Seoul . He spent over 25 years doing different jobs in various towns. But he missed his hometown and the sound of 'nongak'(Korean traditional farm music).

He made his debut at the age of 46, at which time he was working as an electronics salesman and amateur player of the "taepyeongso", a traditional Korean oboe.

In 1980, he began to learn Korean traditional instrument called 'taepyeongso'It was no surprise because his father and his uncle also played it.He won the 'Jeonju Daesaseub' (a traditional Korean musician contest) in 1994.

In 1993 Jang decided to quit his job as a car center clerk. He said "I found that singing was my job after changing jobs more than 10 times from trading company, insurance to automobile maintenance". And in 1994 he released his first album, 'Hareulganeungil'(Passage to Heaven). In this album, pianist 'Im Dong Chang' played piano. His piano sound made Jang's music elegant. In his first album, he tried to contain the life of poor people in korea. At that time western pop music was popular in Korea, but his debut album was known as the most unique and powerful. And it also was accepted by the mainstream.

After that he introduced 4 albums and created his songs filled with Korean soul and spirit for 14 years. He has held concerts at the 'Sejong Center' in Seoul every other year since 1996.

Jang had his first concert tour of the United States in New York. He made stops in Chicago, Washington and Los Angeles. "I feel very sorry for the situation, I want to sing for the people who are suffering from the incident at Virginia Tech. Jang's American tour was entitled "Missing People". The concert was successful and many audiences were moved by his songs. They didn't know what he said exactly but they could understand what he wanted to say by feeling and emotion. Jang said that without using foreign languages, we can communicate through music. Music is international language itself.

His song is hot and spicy or it's something like garlic, that's his genre. But some musucians really don't know what to call it. His art is a mixture of Korean pop, American pop, classical music and 'kukak' (Korean traditional folk songs).

He wrote a song during a difficult time in his life called Jil Lae Goat (Korean White Rose). Jang says the scent of that flower gave him lots of energy for living and he remembers it every time he performs the song. People find themselves in his music and take comfort from it.Some of the songs are his original compositions but most of them are someone else's poems. He is planning to introduce his new songs such as 'Ggodgukyung' (Flower Viewing) this autumn. Jang Sa-ik is one of the greatest musician of Korean music. Now, Koreans never hesitate to call him 'maestro' (Soriggun) in our generation.

Notes

External links

* [http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/you/vidvibe/view_article.php?article_id=65200 Article about Jang Sa-ik]
*http://koreanrock.com/kr.pl?JangSaIk
*http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2007/05/143_2808.html
*http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/15/jang-sa-ik-goes-to-america/
*http://blog.naver.com/sunonthetree/110020149172
*http://people.naver.com/DetailView.nhn?frompage=nx_people&id=18807

Listening

* [http://www.theworld.org/?q=taxonomy_by_date/2/20070529 Interview with Jang Sa-ik] from "The World", May 29, 2007