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I’m guitarist Lim Hyeon-gi. Nice to meet you.
The atmosphere here is really embarrassing and so good.
This is my first time on stage without a guitar so my heart is about to burst.
My music and I am from Daejeon.
I currently work in Seoul but I went to high school in Daejeon
and I hope we all have a great time with my talk about 12 years
since I went to Seoul in my early 20s .
I had my first album in 2007,
and I was in a fusion jazz band called “Spotlight” in 2008.
And there was another album from that band, and then a second album in December 2009
. I was going to have another album this March but it got delayed a little bit so I think it will come out this fall.
Do you know the types of jobs
that musicians have?
Most of the time, they’re back ups behind singers.
Now, the musician who plays music for singers
to sing is called the ‘session man’
and I’m a professional musician with that job.
The reason I started music was… I used to live with my mom.
So when I was in grade 1 in middle school, when I was 14 years old,
I was so lonely at home so she let me go to study places
with older brothers in the neighborhood.
. It’s very social in there and I saw an older borther who played guitar there.
And when I was looking at him,
he looked like a male animal begging to make love to the female animal in the animal kingdom
in the animal kingdom
and was hitting on his girlfriend and I thought,
“Ah. That’s my path.”.
So I started playing the guitar then.
I told my mom I wanted to go abroad. To Seoul.
I attended lessons on weekends
and then graduated high school.
There was not much for me to do after I graduated.
There was nothing special that I could do by playing guitar
and not many bands existed.
. I used to play and practice
and dream of doing something with a guitar
And then reality hit me. When I was 22.
I thought, “this is not good”.
As I think about then now, I just pushed myself
and thought I didn’t try hard for my dream
but I guess it was a mere excuse.
Now I realized I’m from the country side
I thought I could play the guitar well
but there was nothing
that I can do so I dream a bigger dream.
. I wanted to run Korea’s biggest street vendor.
. With that dream,
, I went to “Haja street vendor” in Chung-dam ***.
The yearly sales there is almost the same as a medium sized company
and many celebrity goes there.
I worked for about a year
and a brother that I got to know in high school in Daejeon came to talk to me
and asked me why I wasn’t using my skills.
I packed my belongings at 4 AM and came back to Daejeon.
. I think it was in 2002.
I came back in 2002 and he made me play the guitar.
So I did.
And he told me I did well.
And then he asked me “what about something else”
and I said “something else?” and he wanted me to play the polka.
. If you have played the guitar once,
, you’d know that
it’s the easiest rhythm.
And it was the most basic pattern on .
‘Lee Jung Sun’s guitar class’ page 14
But I couldn’t play it.
But he didn’t say
“you can’t even do that?”
he said “you have to do these also”.
I didn’t understand.
I was very stubborn
on playing the guitar.
I practiced thinking “I can’t do this
because I haven’t done this, not because I just can’t do it”.
Of course I didn’t get any better.
The brain was already controlling me
so the fingers didn’t move.
I didn’t listen to music as music.
I just thought about it as an instrument.
I was a technician.
Then I fixed my mind.
I fixed it because
when we were drinking,
he was asking me
why I wanted to run a street vendor.
So I told him that I am living with my mother and I don’t have a father.
I should at least make my mother feel happy.
I felt that my guitar playing skills weren’t getting any better
so I thought I’d learn the street vendor business
and run it big here in the suburbs.
And he said one thing.
that her son can’t do
what he wants to do because of his mother”.
I realized.
Realized big time.
It was my first time learning something
by drinking.
So after that I fixed my mind.
I started opening my heart
and practiced really hard for about a year.
I wouldn’t come out of my room for about 18 hours a day.
After day, a chance came.
There’s a saying chance comes to anyone,
but I’d like to fix that saying.
Chances come to those who try hard.
My first chance was the singer BMK. Do you know the singer BMK?
BMK was singing at a very famous jazz club called “Cheon-nyeon-***-an-do”.
And they told me they needed a guitar player
so I auditioned for it and got the job.
I worked with them for a few months
and then debuted from there in 2003 but the leader sacked me suddenly.
So I came out.
I told them I would come back
in 10 years after I get better.
And I was very proud of myself
when I was saying it.
And then when I went to see the musician
who filled my spot and I was very disappointed.
I thought I was better than that.
Even people around me told that.
I drank again.
The older brother told me
I was looking at that musician relatively.
He named the most famous musician at that time and told me
“you wouldn’t have been fired if you were playing like that”.
And that was my second panic.
Because he was right.
I relatively thought I just needed to play better than him,
not playing the best.
So I learned from drinking again.
I practiced and practiced for about a year
and then another chance came.
I didn’t even forget the date. March 16th in 2004.
A phone call came
and in that street vendor there were a lot of celebrities and workers
in that industry who took care of me.
I used to get paid 140 a month
and then got 300 for tip.
You have to learn drinking from the elderly. Haha.
Joking. Anyways
, a phone call came
and then the caller saw how I was living back then
and asked me what I wanted to do.
So I told him I wanted to be a guitarist
but it wasn’t happening
so I’m doing this.
He laughed and told me this.
Well he was a bit drunk.
I’m a manager for the singer t Yoon Mi-rae
but I’m not a producer yet
but when I become a producer, I’ll definitely contact you.
And then a phone call really came. In 2 years.
I don’t even know how he got my phone number.
So I asked who the producer was
and they told me it was Bobby Kim. (laugh)
I said thank you for giving me a chance
and then met them.
It was June in 2004.
I met him and now the chance was given to me
and I had to make a session team
and make a band but for 4 years I’ve been moving boxes
and work as a cashier
and wash the bottles
so I knew I could do it but there were no fundamentals.
now, I think
if I was only making excuses back then,
I wouldn’t be able to be there.
No matter how much I would’ve made, no matter how famous I would’ve been,
I just wouldn’t be able to be here.
I still have many flaws.
I think you get upgraded when you admit it instead of making excuses.
I’ve been feeling that and living that.
And there’s one more thing.
Not long ago, and this is about drinking again. (laugh)
I was drinking beer
with a brother I know
and the worker told me something.
The brother asked the worker
at a bar
“What are you majoring in?” and the worker said “I major in clothing design”.
And then he asked “what’s your dream?”
and the worker sighed and said “I don’t have a dream.
I just want to get into a good company and then make money”
and when I heard that, I just couldn’t help
but pity him. Really.
I don’t think there’s a reason to live if you don’t dream.
Not the ones you dream when you’re sleeping.
I think you have to dream a dream 24 hours a day.
I dreamed of becoming a cool guitarist when I was a teenager.
I am a guitarist now
but I didn’t lose weight so I’m not quite there yet.
Eventually I wanted to debut
as a movie music director
and I did. When I was 26.
It’s called OCN’s “Her Technic”.
Yes, actually the clip that we just saw isn’t the movie
that I just mentioned. This is Director Choi Sung-Woo’s ‘Give or Take’.
It got an award in Canne film festival.
It’s quite famous.
Anyways, I thought I’d achieved most of my dreams,
until a few days ago.
Do you know the guitarist Gary Moore?
He recently passed away
and he’s from North Ireland.
I didn’t realize he’s famous enough to appear
in a news clip in a country in Asia.
I truly admire him and love his music
and while I was watching the news,
I was thinking
“How I wish I could be on MBC news desk when I die”.
It’s kind of funny but it can be a goal.
And I’m young.
I’m only 32 and I have a dream for my thirties.
The one I just told you is a little one.
The new dream is
to become a stage producer.
I think I might be the first in Korea
to be a guitarist and become a producer at the same time.
But I can tell you
that I can pull it off.
I think chance will come to me
if I try hard.
Did you know that there was a concert from the band “Buhwal”last November?
Did you know that there was a concert from "The Bocalist?"
I produced both concerts.
So now I’m moving towards my dream step by step
but I’m not getting paid much so my wife doesn’t want me to continue. Haha.
What I’d like to say is
that it can be a little extreme,
but a dude even like me,
who wasn’t in a good environment,
don’t need to
make excuses
but just work hard
for yourself
and then some day
you’ll get closer to your dream.
Not long ago, I saw a movie called “Don’t cry for me Sudan”
I do not know Father Lee Tae-seok personally
but I got to know him through my mother
and there was a famous saying.
There are a lot of people
who dream but not many make it come true.
And there was something else
that I was also inspired by.
He was the 9th child out of 10 siblings including him in Busan’s slum
He was raised up in a small town
and made Africa think
that Korea is a land
of the angels.
I don’t think this applies the same
but I was raised in Ja-yang ***’s mountain area.
But I don’t think I’ll be able to go to Sudan.
I have my wife and my kids.
But I will try hard in Korea.
I hope you can be the power
for this country in the future.
Lastly, I have a song named “Mother”.
There is no one in the world who does not have a mother.
And she has a special meaning to me.
To explain with more details,
my mother married my father
when she was 23,
and had me when she was 24,
and my father died at 24.
She told me that he died
when I was only 4 months old inside her.
My mother’s family panicked.
They wanted her to erase me and start a new life.
But my mother raised me.
I did bad things
and didn’t really listen to her.
I even worked
a part time job
at a convenience store
when I was 20.
I would work there at night and then drink in the broad daylight,
and then work at night.
I was wandering off somewhere everyday.
My birthday is January 6th.
My mother gave me 10 million won,
well she gave me ten 1 million won bills
and a letter. And then went outside.
That was my first time receiving my mother’s letter.
There were only two lines
and the grammar was wrong.
But it read “I can block the stones
that all the people in the world throw at my son,
but the stone
that my son throws at me really hurts”
After that, it was my turning point.
So now I’ll play my last song.
Actually I wanted to play the song myself
because this might be the first
and the last time
we ever meet.
I’m terribly sorry but I think we have to substitute
that with a video clip.
But in the future when a chance comes
and we meet again,
I’ll be a musician playing
with my heart and soul.