태진아 / Tae jin Ae / Tae Jin-Ah
태진아: Golden 2CD
Some people would wonder why I list this highly commercial artist, but to me, he’s the living proof how music can be turned into a Las Vegas show. Let’s first add funk and disco to trot, and people would swing to the obvious. Always up tempo, always flashing, always loud and a show-off every second. For a track or two like this, I think it is rather funny/entertaining (I would pick out track 3 of this compilation to illustrate this). Then we have several, in fact a lot more slow & at times overdone crooners too, backed by piano, strings and singers, the whole lot. There’s obviously more than once put some more money and effort behind this, but when not it has of course less effect (which might be something like the Heino-effect, but don’t expect too much effort either). For foreigners I think its at times funky-disco flashiness can as easily work with a smile for one track, but could work as easily to become annoying, like a too loud neighbour’s radio while he’s washing the car. After having flashed once more he quickly turns to the crooners after that. When returning to his toys (almost the whole CD2) I more had the feeling I almost wanted to take it off. I started to feel a quest for survival, and an urge to end this.
I am convinced my listing of this compilation on these pages could make some western collectors cry out of misery and frustration, but I don’t mind. Life is already too serious not to allow a complete let go now and then. I wonder how serious Korean music lovers place this singer. To western music collectors I would say: don’t ever buy this.
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BIOGRAPHY:
1974년 ‘추억의 푸른 언덕’으로 가요계에 혜성같이 등장해 그해 MBC 신인상을 받았던 태진아(본명 : 조방헌, 1952년)는, 재벌부인과의 스캔들로 옥고를 치루는 등 순탄치 못했던 생활로 도미했으며 1984년 ‘경아의 사랑’으로 다시 재기전을 펼쳤으나, 신통치 못한 반응으로 다시 미국으로 건너가 교포 상대 나이트클럽에서 생활을 해야 했다. 그가 완벽하게 재기에 성공한 것은 1989년 현 부인의 이름을 제목으로 한 ‘옥경이’로 트로트의 전성기에 뛰어들면서였다. 그의 성공은 주현미부터 시작된 트로트계에 활력을 불어넣었으며 그것은 송대관의 ‘순이 생각’으로 이어졌다. 한번 성공의 물살을 탄 그는 계속해서 ‘거울도 안보는 여자’, ‘미안 미안해’, ‘선희의 가방’, ‘사모곡’ 등으로 인기의 지평을 확산시켰고 한번 올라선 스타덤에서 내려가지 않았다. 이로 인해 1990년에는 KBS에서 시상하는 가수상을 수상했다. 댄스 음악이 가요계를 덮자, 제작자로 변신한 그는 성진우, 김자옥 등의 앨범을 기획했으며 꾸준한 가수 활동을 해오던 끝에 2000년에는 중.장년층의 연기자들을 대거 포진시킨 ‘사랑은 아무나 하나’로 댄스와 10대의 숲을 뚫고 MBC 가수상을 수상했다. 1999년 ‘차표한장’으로 골든 디스크를 수상한 송대관과 함께 유일하게 트로트 음악의 경쟁력을 유지하고 있는 그는, 신곡 ‘잘났어 정말’의 뮤직비디오에 대표적인 인기 연예인들을 대거 투입시켜 지난해 ‘사랑은 아무나 하나’의 성공을 이어갈 야심에 차 있다.
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Translation:
Tae Jin-ah (real name: Cho Bang-heon, 1952), emerged as a comet in the music industry as a ``green hill of memories'' in 1974 and received the MBC New Year Award in that year, ended up in an unsatisfactory life, including jailed by a scandal with a conglomerate. He restarted his life again with the love of Kyung-a, but he had to go back to the United States and live in a nightclub with a compatriot. He succeeded in recovering perfectly when he entered Trot's heyday in 1989 with the title of 'Ok-gyeong', who was named after his current wife. His success invigorated the Trot world, which began with Hyun-mi, which led to Song Dae-gwan's "Soon-Ie-Th thinking." Once he succeeded, he continued to spread popularity to ‘the woman who never sees the mirror’, ‘sorry sorry’, ‘sunhee ’s bag’, ‘private song’ and did not go down from the stardom that climbed once. As a result, in 1990, he won the singer award from KBS. After the dance music covered the music scene, he turned into a producer and produced albums such as those of Sung Jin Woo and Kim Ja Ok. In 2000, he continued to sing as a singer. He won the MBC singer award. With Song Dae-kwan, who won the Golden Disk in 1999. He is the only trot singer who has maintained evolving with the competitiveness of the music, ambitious to succeed.
