Cho Yong-pil Makes Koreans 'Bounce' Again - Wall Street Journal (blog)

By Kyong-Ae Choi

Move over Psy, here’s the real “oppa.”

Singer-songwriter Cho Yong-pil has knocked Psy from the top of the chart with his first album in a decade.

The 63-year-old made his comeback Tuesday with his 19th album ‘Hello.’ The showcase in Seoul on the same rainy day drew some 400 people from the media and thousands of fans.

Fortune Entertainment

Cho Yong-pil

Mr. Cho for the first time recorded songs written for him, and partnered foreign engineers such as Tony Maserati and Ian Cooper. The result: an entirely new sound.

One song, ‘Bounce,’ was released online the Wednesday prior. It’s about first love and by all accounts is a hit among younger music fans.

Most singers of Mr. Cho’s generation are associated with “trot” music, which isn’t particularly popular among young people. But Mr. Cho fronts a rock band â€" Cho Yong-pil and the Great Birth â€" which has been putting on concerts annually since its 1980 inception.

He’s also known as an experimentalist. He is the country’s first musician to employ a synthesizer, in 1980, and digital, in 1984.

Mr. Cho is also the first 60-something to break into the top 10 of any domestic chart. As of Wednesday, eight of the album’s 10 songs were in the top 10 of major charts usually dominated by the likes of Girls’ Generation, Big Bang and, most recently, 37-year-old Psy with his ‘Gangnam Style.’

Mr. Cho said he didn’t expect such an “explosive” response from teenagers and 20-somethings, even though he departed from his usual genre by including rap, performed by VerbalJint, in the song ‘Hello.’

“I wanted this album to be a catalyst toward generating a bond between long-time followers and younger music fans who don’t know me as well,” Mr. Cho told reporters Tuesday before the showcase.

Looking at those queuing for the showcase, it seems Mr. Cho has indeed generated that bond: middle- and high-school students mingled with those of riper years.

“I’ve been his fan for 45 years and am happy he’s continuing to experiment and hasn’t settled for the status quo,” said Seon Woong-ju, 58, who came from Ilsan just outside Seoul with his wife and fellow fan, Lee Hee-soon, 54.

Oh Sang-eun, 19, said she came to know Cho Yong-pil’s music this year because she is a fan of VerbalJint. “I like his [Mr. Cho’s] songs because they sound very young.”

Mr. Cho created a festival atmosphere at the showcase by performing two songs.

“I feel like a beginner filled with passion,” he said. “My heart’s bouncing with excitement.”

Also showcased was the music video for ‘Hello,’ which features a young foreign couple. It’s incredible it’s sung by a man in his 60s; the voice sounds as if coming from a singer as young as the couple in the video.

In January, British singer David Bowie marked his 66th birthday by releasing his first single in 10 years, ‘Where Are We Now?’

Mr. Cho has brought his 10-year hiatus to an end. Hopefully, that won’t stop him celebrating his 66th birthday in similar style.

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/04/25/cho-yong-pil-makes-koreans-bounce-again/