Singing in Korea(n)

So, by now you've guessed that we here at Getting Past the White Tiger are music FIENDS. Another wonderful noraebang night happened on Friday, and today... well, we'll get to that in a moment.

This time we had a diverse group. I was so excited to meet so many new people visiting from all around the world. Seriously. We had visitors from Argentina, Thailand, and even my hometown of Vancouver BC.

We sang and danced the night away. I drowsily rode my new street bike home and crashed. 

I woke up and spent Saturday preparing for a singing competition. Five days ago Nunim asked me to prepare a Korean song for the KBS singing contest.

I only know one song in Korean, 마지막 콘서트, or "The Last Concert" (also called Reminiscence 3). I literally practiced it until my fingers bled. This morning, after I put on my makeup, I had a chat with my daughters and met with Nunim. We went to City Hall and practiced the song together in Korean and English until it was ingrained. 

I stepped up to the stage. I was so excited. If I could only pass this round, I would have gone on to regionals, and then to the big city. I walked up the stage stairs filled with excitement, thinking of how amazing it would feel to be on stage again. I felt for my guitar behind my back. Everything's perfect. Nothing could possibly throw me off now. Two more people to go.

*SNAP* *CRASH* *BLANGGGG* My strap broke, ripping the strap peg right out, and my guitar hit the stage. The adjudicator looked up impassively. The person on stage quickly finished and skipped off stage, defeated, possibly because of my instrument malfunction.

I approached the microphone. I introduced myself in Korean and told everyone I loved them. Humor on the surface, a million voices nervously screaming what now???? beneath. I started singing off-key, nervously. Nevermind this, I thought. If I'm going to go down, I'm gonna do it with style. I started belting out the song at the top of my lungs like a latenight ajashi. I finished the first verse and the adjudicator, who hasn't so much as cracked a smile during the whole process, grins like a fool at the only foreigner in the whole building. Is that all? He looks like he's about to die laughing and the only thing keeping him from doing so is his professional responsibility. I smile and reply, "Nae."

Here's my debut performance in Korean. Hey, did I ever say I refuse to play the fool?

video by Han Jeongwon 2013