The way of holding a single name in one's heart - Jang Pill Soon Reminds Jo Dong Jin
I have thought for a long time about what it means for a person to disappear from the world. As someone said, it would be the disappearance of a world. However, that world that has disappeared may not be a world that exists solely on its own. Just as a star allows several satellites to orbit within its gravity, that star itself is constantly flying under the influence of another star, the world exchanges light and darkness within each other's gravitational fields, getting closer and farther away, repeating a dance.
Here, songs that hold a world in their hearts have arrived. The name of the world that has disappeared is Jo Dong Jin. It has been over three years since he left. Considering the weight of his music and his name, it is surprisingly rare for any significant memorial acts to have taken place since his departure. There were two memorial concerts, but the first concert was essentially a joint concert he had planned during his lifetime, and there was no TV program that organized his musical trajectory, nor was there an album created where many gathered to sing his songs again. Memorials were quietly held on a personal level among those who cherished him, and in some sense, that may have been a way that suited him during his lifetime.
Now, in the 're-sung' songs that have arrived, two names appear. Jang Pill Soon and Jo Dong Ik. They were members of a community that made music together, exchanging their gravitational fields for a long time, and they were family who knew the ups and downs of personal life. Since they have passed through the journey of creating, flowing, and changing the world of Jo Dong Jin together, it may not have been possible to approach it with independent interpretations while adjusting the distance from that world. Some interpretations may not be for a new reading, but rather a way to reflect the beauty as best as they can without damaging the world they know.
This 're-singing' has been done in the most serene and simple manner. Jang Pill Soon sings softly, as if speaking, without putting much effort into any particular line, and Jo Dong Ik handles all the performances alone, in the minimal way possible. Listening to this music feels like becoming the only guest who has arrived in a small room, piercing through the cold of the night, and quietly listening to a soft story over a warm cup of tea.
“I forgot while looking at the water” (Looking at the Water) is a repeated phrase that is not indifference or neglect but a fierce peace that covers deep waves. The song begins by telling a memory that suddenly enters, like a breeze that quietly touches the view by the window, like a familiar scent brought by that breeze. It keeps saying it has forgotten, but these are stories beneath the surface that may not have forgotten anything. The water flows smoothly, and light will shine as it breaks into pieces above it. Forgotten but not forgotten memories bring sadness. The way to let that sadness pass is to sing his song. “To let sadness pass quietly with the song” (Sadness in Your Heart) is what he has already comforted in the past. Jang Pill Soon's voice swims in the air, and Jo Dong Ik's performance walks slowly with a heavy bass. The song will lightly pass over the slowly heavy footsteps of memory, so it should quietly fly, and thus, the night will pass. A new morning can feel some warmth. You have gone far away, but because we shared tears and words of love like the flowing time that repeats “leaves fall and flowers bloom again” (Morning Comes and Again It Sets), we can quietly hum a song. Fresh and gentle. With the heavy steps of “coming back from a long way” (Coming Back from a Long Way), the soaked ears will meet the light that brightly illuminates “the yard” instead of the heaviness and tired darkness. Since it is not leaving but returning, there is quiet relief and rest prepared.
And, it is the that has been listened to and sung countless times. This may be cooler, calmer, and quieter than any we have heard so far. The he sang in 1992 and 1993 also had a lot of blank space, but the warmth given by the resonance of the guitar evoked a certain romance. The new begins a cautious recollection with very small keys. Like recalling a very old memory, the restrained flashback does not allow any scene to be close-up. It follows the gaze of “I want to fly far away like a bird” rather than “there are droplets of sweat on my forehead.” Rather than being cold, it politely records the entire landscape.
In winter, snowflakes fall quietly. We are looking at the snow falling outside the window. The scene of “white snow white” falling is not snow pouring down but snow gently drifting, and the low chorus becomes a heavy wind. The winter that had a pastoral warmth in Jo Dong Jin has become a colder, deeper, and lonelier landscape in Jang Pill Soon. In the quiet room, only the ticking of the clock can be heard. “You are already running in the sunlight over there” (You, Who I Always Like) has crossed time, seeping into the quiet night’s reminiscence and monologue. Here, I feel that there is no longer a me who looks at you. There is only me who remembers you. In the scenery that recalls “a delicate star between the leaves” (Through the Leaves), the noisy sounds of the bustling city have been erased, and “that light is always in front of me,” as if I had to return, the sound appears and disappears, leaving a thin afterimage.
“The golden leaves falling like they are dancing” (Park at Dusk) became the distant sound of music that seems to stop. I feel like I am not walking but praying or deeply writing something. I hold onto distant memories, knowing the spark in my heart at that time, but I sing with a heart that has passed through the events that followed. The end of memory, or the end of this quiet conversation, reaches “your window” (At Your Window). “There is no one to share a lonely glass” becomes the heart sitting across the table. It becomes the heart that has to endure the silence of the place that has left for “a transient and arduous long journey.”
Sending off the world that was so close together, the conversation that recalls the past is this serene and calm. There is a politeness that wants to remember without swallowing tears as it suddenly enters the landscape, silently and dryly, but with an unexaggerated precision. When the time comes to reflect on the beauties that were taken for granted, the warmth that was thought to be originally there, I hope to hold it in my heart with such politeness and such calmness. _Shin Young Sun
[Credit]
Lyrics & Composed by _ Jo Dongjin
Vocal & Chorus _ Jang Pillsoon
Keyboard Works, Produced by _ Jo Dongik
Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by _ Jo Dongik at Rainbow Studio
Photography, Design, Video Filming & Editing _ Kim Dotae
Stylist _ Sa Mina, Kang Seyoung in Maison de M Jeju
Press Promotion _ Choi Youngkyun
General Manager _ Yun Sora
Promotion & Planning _ Micro Universe
Distribution _ Music & New
Executive Produced by _ Doekee Music
Thank you_
Sa Miran, Hwang Sohee, Jo Soyoung, Acoustic Homz, Cori, Gaeddong.
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