고복수 - Ko Bok-Soo
고복수, 황금심 힛트곡 전집 (split album with Hwang Keum-Sim) 1988.01.20
1. 타향살이 / Saliva (1934)
* 2. 사막의 한 / One of the desert
3. 짝사랑 / Unrequited love
4. 이원애곡 / Dual Love (1934.6)
5. 휘파람 / Whistle (1934)
6. 풍년송 / Pungnyeonsong (1938)
7. 세동무 / Seongmu
8. 꿈길천리 / Dream Road
9. 새날의 풍년 / A good harvest for the new day
with Hwang Keum-Sim
10. 산호채쭉 / Coral Blueberry
Tracks with * I consider essential listens or classics, or tracks to check out for sure. It are tracks that makes them also very suitable for western radioshow airplay.
Tracks that are only underlined can be considered fine tracks you might better check out as well, but I am not sure at all how essential these tracks are.
This is a split album of Ko Bok So(o) (10 tracks), with one duet with Hwang Keum Sim and then Hwang Keum-Sim herself (10 tracks).
This leaves us sadly less time to dig deeper into the gentle voice of Ko Bok-Soo. He is capable of showing different sort of intonations in different tones, like with his low tones, which makes the slower songs especially easy to appreciate.
The accompaniments are the kind of small combo orchestras where each member has his own place of contribution, it is the electric guitar, sax or organ (often a special toned organ) or accordion or clarinet shortly lead the melody, to be taken over after that and with more combo-orchestral responses, which has only at time with a 30s jazz flavour, otherwise like a small high society ballroom orchestra or mood-on-scene focused movie orchestra.
The songs sound either rather Japanese-like in the unique Korean way of interpretation with it’s own subtleness in balancing harmonies. Old songs of Korean or sometimes perhaps Japanese-like origin also get rhythms like tango or mambo or so.
We have happier songs too. Two tracks use the typical Korean percussion with it’s typical rhythmic accents on the melodic-rhythmical aspect instead of the on beat progression, these songs always feature Hwang Keum-Sim.
The second half of the CD features Hwang Keum-Sim only contains less surprises despite the great talent of singing, I just wish I could have stayed longer with Ko Bok-Soo’s voice to sense further his qualities.
유성기로 듣던 불멸의 명가수: 고복수 편 / Immortal Singer Heard of the Meteor Period
* 1 타향(他鄕) / Foreign Country (1934)
* 2 이원애곡(梨園哀曲) / Rien Son ? (1934)
* 3 불망곡(不忘曲) / A disregard (Unforgetable Song)
4 항구(港口)야 잘 있거라 / Having a good harbour
5 사막(砂漠)의 한(恨) / Han of the Desert (1934)
6 꿈길 천리(千里) / Dream Street Chunli (1935)
* 7 고향(故鄕)은 눈물이냐 / Are these Hometown Tears? (1934)
8 사향애가(思鄕哀歌) / Lament (1934)
9 짝사랑 / A Crush (1936)
10 애달픈 행복(幸福) / My happy happiness (1932)
11 마차(馬車)의 방울소리 / The sound of bells (1932)
12 흐르는 장미(薔微) / Flowing roses (1932)
13 귀곡새 우는 밤 / Earrings crying night (1932)
14 환상곡(幻想曲) / Fantasia (1932)
15 광야(曠野)의 서(西)쪽 / West side of wilderness (1932)
* 16 가을의 황혼(黃昏) / Twilight of autumn (1939)
17 제2타향(第二他鄕) / Second incense (1939)
18 안개 속의 처녀(處女) / Maiden in the Mist
I had already heard a previous compilation by Ko Bok-Soo. This is with much earlier works, (or at least sounds like older works), all taken directly from phonograph records.
The recordings are of mixed quality. Some have more cracks and hiss than others. Some might find it charming, but I have heard remastered albums from this period too, I still think it is somewhat a shame because this way the music sounds more mono, more dull and less dynamic than it could be. In combination with the repetitive character of the kind of songs that were recorded in those days, the final outcome could have been better under better circumstances.
The first few tracks however immediately shows how much Ko Bok-Soo is a talented voice, and how the combos were able to achieve the creation of a moody chamber ball room atmosphere, which at times can be very special.
Especially when certain solos appear, like with the Hawaiian guitar, this certainly gives these accompaniments something extra. In such tracks,
Ko Bok Soo sings unusually slow in its Trot style allowing the instrumental and song moods to develop (highlights at first hearing seems to be like this for at least track 1,3,10,11,14…).
Track 16 has a more jazz arrangement, and track 17 starts with acoustic pickings and voice only.
Some songs in between can have that predictable melodic style, one is tempted to fall asleep with them, making the creative moment secondary almost automatically despite the talents being present.
Still: a good collection from a great voice. It doesn’t show all the best possibilities, but the voice and specific Korean band interpretation should still be remembered for these unique qualities.
This CD comes from the following 23 CD box:
More tracks can be found here:
유성기로 듣던 가요사 / Songs that I heard during the musical period from (1925~1945) [Disc 2]
* 16 사막(沙漠)의 한(恨) / Han of the Desert (1935)
This is an extraordinary and somewhat jazzy composition, sounds like a classic of a song for its melody, performance, singing and arrangement.
도미도 베스트 컬렉션 100 VOL.1 / 50-60 Domido (5CD)
CD1 3 짝사랑 타향살이 사막의 한 / Unrequited love in the desert
* CD2 11 노래하는 부부 / The singing couple -mambo-
-with Hwang Keum-Sim-
This is a fine mambo with great arrangements, which is actually first lead by Hwang Keum Sim, then taken over the lead by Ko-Bok Soo.
힛트 앨범 Recorded 1954-1965
CD1-13 노래하는 부부 / The singing couple
The song can be found on this compilation too.
가요(歌謠) 박물관 / Music Musem: 220 Best [Disc 1]
22 장한몽(이수일과 심순애) / Jang Han Mong (Lee Soo Il and Shim Soon Ae)
-with Hwang Keum-Sim-
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BIOGRAPHIES:
https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/고복수
경상남도 울산군 출신으로 어릴 때 그의 집은 국수 공장을 했었다. 유년시절에도 축음기에 매달려 노래만을 부르면서 꿈많은 어린시절을 보냈었다.
20대 초반의 나이에 콜럼비아레코드가 주최한 콩쿠르 부산대회에 입상하고 경성부에서 열린 본선에 진출해 3위를 차지한 것이 가수로 데뷔하는 계기가 되었다. 그러나 1934년에 〈타향〉과 〈이원애곡〉을 발표하여 음반은 오케레코드에서 발매했다. 후에 〈타향살이〉라는 제목으로 알려지게 된 〈타향〉은 일제 강점기 최고의 대중가요 중 하나로 꼽힐 만큼 크게 유행했다.
이후 1936년 말에 발표한 "아 으악새 슬피우는 가을인가요"라는 가사의 〈짝사랑〉이 또다시 히트하고 이은파와의 듀엣곡인 신민요 〈풍년송〉 등으로 지속적인 인기를 누렸다. 오케레코드와 전속 공연단인 조선악극단에서 활동하다가 1940년부터 빅타레코드의 반도악극좌로 이동하였다. 여기에서 〈알뜰한 당신〉의 인기 가수 황금심과 만나 1941년에 결혼하였다.
고복수는 채규엽, 강홍식과 더불어 일제 강점기 초기의 가수로 분류되며, 이들 가운데 가장 오랫동안 인기를 누렸다. 한숨을 쉬는 듯한 분위기의 가창은 〈타향〉, 〈사막의 한〉, 〈짝사랑〉 등 한탄조의 가사로 이루어진 그의 인기곡에 잘 어울렸다. 그러나 1930년대 후반에 남인수와 백년설이 등장한 이래 인기가 수그러들면서 1940년대부터는 무대 공연 위주로 활동을 전환하게 되었다.
인기 가수였지만 인생에 굴곡이 많았기에 불운의 가수로도 기억된다. 한국 전쟁 때는 조선인민군에게 체포되었다가 탈출하는 일을 겪었고, 1957년 은퇴 공연 이래 손대는 사업마다 계속 실패하여 어려운 생활을 했다. 아내 황금심이 영화 주제곡을 부르며 생계를 연명하는 사이 고복수는 서적 외판원으로 일해야 했다.
이후 투병을 하다가 뇌신경 고혈압과 식도염으로 1972년 사망했다. 향년 62세.
황금심과의 사이에서 얻은 자녀 가운데 맏아들이 트로트 가수 고영준, 둘째 아들이 가톨릭 복음가수 고영민, 셋째 아들이 작곡가 고병준이며, 둘째 며느리는 대학가요제 출신의 가수 손현희이다. 동화예술학원을 경영할 때 배출한 제자로는 이미자와 안정애가 있다.
rough translation with possible mistakes):
Go Bok-Soo (髙 福壽, December 29, 1911 ~ February 10, 1972) is a Korean singer, film producer, and filmmaker who has been active since the Japanese occupation.
Born in Ulsan-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, he had a noodle factory when he was young. Even in my childhood, he this childhood dream of singing on phonograph records and singing only songs.
At the age of 20, he won the Competition Busan Competition hosted by Columbia Records and entered the finals held by the Kyungsung Department, which led to his debut as a singer.In 1934, he released Thayang and Dual Love Songs, and the album was released by O'Record. Later, the song known as "The Percussionist", was so popular that it was considered one of the best pop songs under Japanese colonial rule.
Later, in the late 1936, "I Love You" became a hit. Then he continued to be popular with Lee Min-pa's duet song of Shin Min-yo's ` Pungnyeonsong''. He was active in the Korean Record Troupe, an OK-Record and an exclusive performance troupe, and since 1940 he moved to the peninsula theater of Bigta Record. Here he met Keum-Sim, a popular singer, and married her in 1941.
Koh, Bok-Soo, along with Chae Kyu-Yeop and Kang Hong-Sik, were classified as singers in the early Japanese colonial period, and they were the most popular among them. The sigh-like songs went well with his popular songs of Hantanjo's lyrics, such as "Tahyang", "Hansa of the Desert", and "Unrequited Love". However, since the popularity of Nam In-soo and "Hundred Years' Snow" which appeared in the late 1930's, the popularity has shifted to stage performance since the 1940's.
Although he was a popular singer, he was remembered as a singer of bad luck because he had a lot of curves in his life. During the Korean War, he was arrested by the Korean People's Army and then escaped. Since 1957, his son retired from each business and had a difficult life. While his wife, Keum-Sim, sang mainly songs and made a living out of it, Go Bok-soo had to work as a book salesman.
He later died of disease in 1972 due to cranial nerve hypertension and esophagitis., aged 62.
Among the children he got from Keum-Sim, the first son was a trot singer Ko Young-joon, the second son was a Catholic gospel singer Go Young-min, and the third son was a composer Ko Byeong-jun. Other offsprings are Mija and Ahn Jung-ae.
가수. 1912년 11월 29일에 경상남도 울산에서 태어났다. 울산에서 보통학교 4학년 때까지 살다가 1922년에 경상남도 동래군 동래면 수안동으로 이사를 갔다. 동래보통학교를 졸업하고 약 2년 동안 서양인 선교사 부인에게 음악을 배웠다고 한다. 이후 부산실업학교에 입학한 뒤 1933년 무렵부터 경상남도 일대에서 촉망 받는 가수로 공연 활동을 시작했고, 그해 11월에 콜럼비아(Columbia)레코드에서 주최한 신인가수 선발대회에서 경상남도 대표로 선발되었다. 1934년 2월 서울에서 열린 최종 결선에도 출전했으나, 콜럼비아레코드에서는 정식으로 활동하지 않고 오케(Okeh)레코드에 스카우트되어 5월에 전속가수로 입사했다. 1934년 6월에 오케레코드에서 데뷔곡으로 발표한 <이원애곡>과 <타향>이 크게 히트하면서 일류 가수로 인정받았고, 이후 많은 히트곡을 발표했다. 1935년에 잡지 ｢삼천리｣에서 발표한 가수 인기투표 결과에서 남자가수 3위로 뽑히기도 했다. 데뷔 이후 1939년까지 오케레코드에서 발표한 주요 작품으로는 <이원애곡>, <타향>, <불망곡>, <휘파람>(이상 1934년), <사막의 한>, <꿈길 천리>(이상 1935년), <새날이 밝아 오네>, <울며 새우네>, <밀월의 대동강>, <고향은 눈물이냐>(이상 1936년), <짝사랑>, <흑장미>(이상 1937년), <마차의 방울소리>, <풍년송>(이상 1938년), <산호채찍>, <제2 타향>(이상 1939년) 등이 있다. 1938년 5월에는 <고복수 걸작집>이 발매되었는데, 이는 오케레코드에서 발매한 첫 번째 가수 걸작집 음반이었다. 1939년 봄 조선악극단 일본 공연 당시에도 고참 가수로 인기를 모았으나, 그해 말 출연 계약 문제로 이철과 갈등을 빚어 1940년 2월에 김능자(金綾子), 김정구(金貞九), 남인수(南仁樹) 등과 함께 해약을 당했다. 다른 가수들은 곧 복귀했으나, 고복수는 혼자 복귀하지 못하고 오케레코드와 조선악극단을 떠나게 되었다. 이로 인해 광복을 맞을 때까지 음반을 발표하지 못했고, 무대를 통해서만 가수 활동을 이어가게 되었다. 조선악극단을 떠난 고복수는 우선 1940년 3월에 조직된 반도(半島)악극좌에 참여하게 되었는데, 반도악극좌는 주로 빅타레코드 소속 가수들이 참여하고 있었으므로, 거기서 빅타(Victor)레코드 전속가수였던 황금심을 만나 결혼에 이르게 되었다. 고복수·황금심 부부는 반도악극좌의 후신인 빅타가극단에서도 함께 활동했고, 1943년에는 새로 창립된 제일(第一)악극대에도 함께 가입해 무대에 섰다. 광복 직전에는 유성(流星)연예대로 옮겨 활동하기도 했다. 광복 이후에는 예전처럼 활발한 활동을 하지 못하고 1950년대 중반까지 여러 공연단체를 오가며 무대에 섰고, 1957년에 은퇴공연을 가졌다. 은퇴 이후에는 공연 수익을 기반으로 여러 사업을 벌였으나 성공하지 못했고, 1972년에 지병으로 사망했다.
Rough translation:
Born in Ulsan, Gyeongsangnam-do on November 29, 1912. He lived in Ulsan until the fourth year of ordinary school and moved to Suan-dong in Dongnae-myeon, Dongnae-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do in 1922. After graduating from Dongnae Normal School, he learned music from a Western missionary wife for about two years. After entering Busan Polytechnic School, he started performing as a promising singer in Gyeongsangnam-do around 1933. In November of that year, he was selected as a representative of Gyeongsangnam-do at the Newcomers contest held by Columbia Records. He participated in the finals held in Seoul in February 1934, but he was not formally active on Columbia Records, then was scouted towards Okeh Records and joined there as a singer in May.
<Ione Love Song> and <Tayang>, were released as a debut song at the Oke Record in June 1934, and both were recognized as first-class performances, and since then, many hit songs have been released. In 1935, he was selected as the third male singer in the result of the popular vote of the singer published in the magazine Samchully. The major works released by O'Record until 1939 after his debut include <Double Love Song>, <Taekyang>, <Despairs>, <Whistle> (around 1934), <One of the Desert>, and <The Way to Dream> (around 1935). Year), <New Day is Bright>, <Crying Shrimp>, <Taedong River in Millennium>, <Is Hometown Tears?> (1936), <Love>, <Black Rose> (1937), The sound of the bells>, <Wind Songsong> (around 1938), <Coral Whip>, and <Second Direction> (around 1939). In May 1938, Go Go-Sung Masterpiece was released, which was the first album released by O'Record.
In the spring of 1939, he was popular as a senior singer during the performance of the Joseon Drama Theater in Japan, but in late 1940 he came in conflict with Lee Chul, Kim Neung-ja, Kim Jung-gu, and Nam In-su and his cooperation was canceled with 仁 樹. Other singers soon returned, but Ko Pak-soo did not only return alone, also OK Records and the Korean Troupe left them down. As a result, they could not release any more albums until they were liberated, then could continue their singer activities on stage.
Go Bok-soo, when leaving the Korean Troupe, first participated in the Peninsula Music Exposition, organized in March 1940. Since the Peninsula Exposition mainly was mainly participated by singers from Victa Records. There he met Keum-Sim, an exclusive singer of Victor Record. They got married. Then Ko Bok-soo and Keum-Sim as a couple worked together at the Big Taga Theater, the successor of the Peninsula and Exodus, and in 1943 joined the newly formed First Theater. On the eve of liberation, he moved to Meteor entertainment.
After the liberation, he did not perform as active as he used to, and he went on stage to of various performance groups until the mid-1950s, until he retired in 1957. Since his retirement, he had worked on performances based on his own performance, but that was pretty unsuccessful. He died of an illness in 1972.
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ROUGHLY ATTEMPTED
TRANSLATIONS OF LYRICS
via Google Translation:
고복수 - 타향(他鄕) 1934
김능인 작사 / 손목인 작곡
1. 타향살이 몇 해던가 손꼽아 헤여보니
고향 떠난 십여년에 청춘만 늙어
2. 부평 같은 내 신세가 혼자도 기막혀서
창문 열고 바라보니 하늘은 저쪽
3. 고향 앞에 버드나무 올봄도 푸르련만
버들피리 꺾어 불던 그 때는 옛날
4. 타향이라 정이 들면 내 고향 되는 것을
가도 그만 와도 그만 언제나 타향
----------------------------------------
타향살이 몇 해련가 손꼽아 헤어 보니
고향 떠나 십여 년에 청춘만 늙고
부평 같은 내 신세가 혼자도 기막혀서
창문 열고 바라보니 하늘은 저쪽
고향 앞에 버드나무 올봄도 푸르련만
호들기를 꺽어 불던 그때는 옛날
타향이라 정이 들면 내 고향 되는 것을
가도 그만 와도 그만 언제나 타향
1927 년, '콜롬비아 레코드' 주최 <가요콩클대회>에서 당선된 고복수가
OK 레코드사 전속 가수로 입사하여 맨 처음으로 발표한 작품으로
너무나 유명한 노래이다.
조국강산은 일제 침략자들의 말발굽 아래 무참히 짓밟히고
그들의 학정이 날로 심해지자 동포들 중에는 북풍 휘몰아치는 만주로
또는 북간도로 이주해 가는 사람들이 늘어갔다.
그 무렵, 그들이 비분을 달래며 부르고 또 부르던 노래가
바로 이 노래 고복수의 '타향(他鄕)살이'였다.
가수 고복수의 정한(情恨)이 엇갈린 떨리는 목청으로 흘러 나오는 이 노래는
그 당시 듣는 이로 하여금 민족의 비분을 공감케 하여
다같이 부등켜 안고 울분을 삭이며 눈물의 홍수를
이루었던 노래이기도 하다.
간도(間島) 용정(龍井)에서 고복수가 이 노래를 불렀을 때
한 여인이 비탄(悲嘆)에 못이겨 자살을 했다는 일화가 전해지는데,
노래에 의해 살고 죽을 수도 있었던 시대였다.
Tahoe
How many years have you lived already?
Youth grows old in a decade
My attitude like that of Bupyeong was of amazement
I opened the window and looked at the sky
Willow trees in front of hometown Purun Bay
Once upon a time, the willows whistles
Because it's a hometown, it's my hometown
If you go, halt there, always halt
1934 - Written by Kim In-in / Composition by Wrist-in
In 1927, Ko Seong-soo, who was elected at the ?? Contest hosted by Columbia Records, He joined the OK Records company as an exclusive singer. He became very famous.
Mt. Jokkugang was trampled under the horseshoe of Japanese invaders. As their must does got worse day by day, more people migrated to the north. At that time, the song they sang this song 'Voyang-sa'.
The song that singer Go Bok-soo's sing shows emotions that hets you by the throat. It makes listeners sympathize with the nation. Hugging together and tear down its tears. It is also a song that had accomplished that.
When Ko Bong-soo sang this song at Gongdo Yongjeong, an account is told of a woman committing suicide because of her grief. It was an age where one could live or die by hearing a song.
