It's Fortunate...

In the beginning, I was very enchanted by another Korean singer, Hong Kwang Ho. He is a fantastic, emotional performer, and also charming and adorable. However, I wasn't able to find nearly as much "material" about him. I think he does have a lot of fans, but they are not "crazy" enough to enthusiastically and passionately jump on every opportunity to share every little bit of everything about him, with the world, like JDH fans do.  ^_^

I found so many video clips of JDH, almost exactly a year ago, starting in Jan. Feb. 2014. I want to give big thanks to JDH dedicated fans, who compulsively have been recording and posting online his every little appearance. Thanks to you , DEAR OTHER FANS OF JUNG DONG HA, I became a fan as well. ^_^

Now, that my fascination/infatuation/obsession with him has cooled considerably (settled to much more manageable levels, haha!), I find it easier to write about him in a light manner. 

I have many things that I want to write still, since Feb.2014. I feel I am falling behind, because time is  moving forward, but I am still dwelling in his past performances.

It's fortunate though, that Dong Ha has been mostly inactive through January and February this year. It gives me time to catch up, I hope.  In the meantime before I do, I want to share his more recent performances, which I find particularly irresistible.

FIRST: the song from New Year Special of Immortal Song2, which was broadcasted January 3, 2015 on Korean TV. It's a very hopeful song, and it's all Dong Ha. Just him, 100%.

The Sun Will Shine Again

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SECOND: OST (original sound track) from a TV historic drama "Kings Face", which was shown at the end of 2014, and the song was released Dec.10th, 2014. Dong Ha recorded

quite many OSTs for various Korean dramas, and I heard many, but I wasn't particularly enchanted by any of them. But this one has a very nice flow to it, and I feel very moved whenever I listen, even not knowing the exact words. All I know, it's a song about not wanting to say goodbye to a lover. I love the piano background, flowing like a stream. 

Most of all I love JDH's voice.

                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIRD: This time I will be able to embed the video made by a fan during a concert last December. It was a big concert, under a name Jung Dong Ha - Musical Story, Dec 28, 2014. 
The concert was kind of a recap of all major songs DH did in the past several years, which included  songs from his first solo album "BEGIN", from his Immortal Song 2 appearances, and from musicals he starred. One of the musicals was "Notre Dame De Paris " which he participated in 2013, and his role was The Poet, who is narrating the story to the audience.
His major song there was "Les Temps Des Cathedrales", but during the Dec 2014 concert he included  song "The  Door of Paris". What I love about this performance is that he uses a different voice range than usual, to reflect the gypsy style of the song. He is almost singing it a-capella, with only a guitar. Here we go:
 
There is a magic moment at the end; he finishes, and the audience is silent, as if waiting for more. He smiles,  and whispers to the microphone "It's over" . Everybody laughs. 
                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOURTH:  From the same concert, a duet. I like it because it's a very cute song from "Jack The Ripper" musical. Dong Ha is being cute on stage acting as if he is in the play. Trying to convince the girl to come with him. And, at the end he even kisses her hand which is the first time ever I saw him do it.                                       
 


                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FIFTH: From his first solo album "Begin", a great fun song "Falling, faling". For many fans it is a favorite song on this CD. Dong Ha himself never said he liked this song, but he performed it a few times during promotion of the album, last Fall 2014.

Obsession, because of confession

I found this audio clip on You Tube. I have been very surprised listening to it, because the year of the post  is 2010, and I find it hard to believe that Dong Ha was singing like this, already then. Already in 2010, such deep, rich low voice?  From all other recordings, whether live in concerts, or in the studio, or on TV performances early on, I concluded that he started using his low range only around 2012.
I became obsessed with this song, listening over and over. And every time the tone of his voice brought me to tears. Also the song itself, the melody, suggested that it was a prayer.

I inquired with a couple of my friends (fans of JDH), and it turns out this song is really a confession of love.
It is frequently performed at weddings by male singers. In the song, a man is describing how much he loves the woman, and how he is grateful for everything to her, he is even grateful he can breathe the same air as her. It was interesting to find out about it, but the contents of the song is not as important to me, as Jung Dong Ha's voice.
I wish I could describe the ways his voice moves me. I am not able, I'm not a poet. So I will just repeat, that it has become my obsession. Song was recorded live during one of DH's visits at a radio studio in 2010. And I only discovered it last December 4th 2014!



100107 부활 정동하 다행이다 (Live) 
I wish the video created by a fan could be embedded, but it can't.
As a consolation, here are a few images snipped from the video, showing Jung Dong Ha of 2010.
Here is young looking, 30 yr old Dong Ha, 5 years ago. At that time I had no idea that this wonderful singer even existed.

And because today is the first day of the LUNAR YEAR - Happy New Year dear Dong Ha. Wish you all the happiness and success in 2015.

POST SCRIPTUM: A couple of days after I posted this blog, my friend in Tunisia (!), who is a big fan of Dong Ha sent me a live performance of the song.  This took place Aug 1st, 2010, at an annual Fan Meeting, celebrating the 5th Anniversary of DongHa's debut in entertainment business.
It's a real treasure for me:

Sold Out!

Dongha is having a good beginning of 2015!  After a hiatus in January and February, a small concert has been scheduled to take place March 14, and March 15, 2015 , at Songang University in Seoul.  Small,  intimate venue of 800 seats.  Tickets went on sale February 4th, and the agency Evermore Music informed that the concert was sold out in 10 minutes!
Below, is Google Translate of the Korean text:

"보컬리스트 정동하의 소극장 콘서트 티켓 예매가 10분만에 매진됐다.
2월 4일 정동하의 소속사 에버모어뮤직측은 "오는 3월 14일, 15일 양일간 서강대 메리홀에서 이루어지는 정동하의 '교감,조금 더 가까이' 티켓 예매가 4일 오후 4시부터 인터파크에서 진행됐다. 예매 개시 10분만에 800석, 전석 모두 매진됐다"고 밝혔다.

"Playhouse Concert Ticket vocalist Chung Dong-ha has sold out in 10 minutes. 
February 4 Evermore Music agency's Chung Dong-ha said, "on March 14, 15 days Anniversity of Chung Dong-ha made from Sogang University Mary Hall, sympathetic, a little bit closer," Ticket was four days at 4 pm at Interpark progress. Booking 800 seats at the start of 10 minutes, all seats were sold out, "he said."

And here is Dongha's reaction to this news, while working at his radio show "Music is like a book" in EBS studio:

 Cute sweater

And here is a picture of him performing sometime in the Fall 2014, while promoting his first solo album "Begin". Just because. Obviously hard work is paying off. Besides I like this picture very much:

This picture showed up online, I think  last November, to announce a concert, during particularly cold weather. Some fan put a caption under it:
"Dong Ha Says: Please, be weary of the cold!"

Trying to catch up. Quick reminscence about the year 2014.

It's already 2015! And it's already even February 2015!
I'm very disappointed with myself. I had so many ideas about various topics that I was going to cover, regarding Jung Dong Ha. I had endless ideas almost daily. So what happened, why wasn't I continuing?
It was one silly thing that kept me stalling for so many months. My plan was,  to always illustrate my posts with videos of Dongha singing.  From You Tube of course. But it turned out that the really good videos, from his TV performances on Immortal Songs2, and other appearances, have been blocked by KBS. I actually didn't even want to embed them into my blogs,  but I was hoping to be able to have link with previews. This would make nice illustrations.  It can be done on Facebook, or in e-mail - if you link to a video on YouTube, the link shows a small image and title, and a few words about the video.
But nooooooooo. This couldn't be done on Blogger.  All that can be done, is a one-liner link.
Which of course looks boring. Plain, one line link does not  "promise" anything exciting, like preview does.
This minor obstacle distressed me so much that my energy and enthusiasm about filling this blog on regular basis, almost completely evaporated. Every time I thought about it, it sent me into a depressive mood (well I'm exaggerating a little bit). I had wanted to create something, but I couldn't, waaaaah, waaah, waaaah!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that the New Year 2015 started, I decided snap out of it, and just do what is possible.
Jung Dongha (I decided to spell his first name as one word), has taken the whole January 2015 OFF, for some mysterious reason. His only January activity has been his radio show, on EBS, entitled "Music is Like a Book".

Otherwise, there were no public singing appearances, except  TV broadcast of performances pre-recorded  in December 2014. There was an interview somewhere, where he said he would take January off, to recover from a small surgery, and that he would be back singing in February.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The whole Year 2014 was very successful for Dongha, one good thing after another. Of course, he worked very hard, it was evident. I will do a separate blog to make a summary of  his 2014.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But I was a little shocked when as the New Year 2015 started, he said some strange things on the New Year's Special of "Immortal Song2", which was broadcast on January 3rd 2015 on KBS-TV.

 Then I asked Fatma, what she thought about it.  She explained he might have meant the Sewol tragedy, where almost 300 kids died in a horrific way, in a drowned ferry to Jeju Island. I think she was right. And then I also think Dongha said the 2014 was tough for him, because of the fact he started solo for the first time, with new agency, and had to really work hard to assert his position as a "new" artist, separated from the band Boohwal. The separation might have not been very amicable, who knows. There might have been other things, but  I will not dwell on this. Even though at first, I thought he was talking about something extremely personal, now I am convinced that he would not ever put his personal life out in the public TV show.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
However, some "little" news came to light during that New Year's Special. Very important news! Out of the blue, the host introduced Dongha as a singer whose wife is very much taken by someone's  little boy, and from now on Dongha wants to be a father of a son. The talk about Dongha hopefully becoming a father in the near future (in 2015), was repeated several times, and there was even an exchange between the host and Dongha, whether he wanted a son or a daughter.

                                                                 ***

                                                           ***

Aha!!! Based on this, we can safely assume, Dongha's wife is pregnant, and there will be  little Dongha coming in 2015. It's going to be a very special year for him and his family to welcome a new baby! Dancing bananas!  ^_^