# Improvise with a total bravery - URL: https://www.petrikajander.com/younee/ - Author: Petri Kajander - Date: 2022-01-20 - Language: en - Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/1cba80bc/podcast/play/46108192/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2022-10-19%2F298051090-44100-2-606094c6b12a3.mp3 - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tjF0Ihj1Mk ## Younee - TALKS WITH PETRI **Multitalented artist Younee talks about her journey of self-discovery and rebellion in building a successful international career with many levels of accomplishments and renewal after prodigious domestic stardom in Korea. She also reveals how to push your limits and be vulnerable in front of a live audience.** #### Bio YOUNEE from South Korea is a virtuoso, prize-winning pianist and an impressively talented and awarded singer/songwriter who, from an early age, has a desire to break the boundaries. Her tuition begins at the age of three, then involves studying classical piano for the next twenty years. She is one of a small group of highly trained classical musicians who are equally at home on Jazz, Pop and Rock stages. In 2006, she releases her first and highly successful debut album ‚Love’ (EMI) as "Key's Piano" in Korea, becomes a star in her native country and a permanent guest in TV-shows, festivals and contests. She is also highly active as a songwriter writing a string of pop songs for other Korean artists, such as the title song and No.1 hit of “Dan Hansaram” for the Korean TV drama “Famous Princesses” on KBS TV. YOUNEE decides to move to England with the aim of writing and producing in collaboration with several icons of the British jazz scene and to release her English language crossover- album "True To You" in the UK. The album track ‘Home To You’ hits several radio charts in the US culminating in the No. 1 spot of the important AC-Chartbound listings, and YOUNEE, together with her co-writer, wins the category of ‘Best Songwriter’ at the Music Aid Awards. Then she signed to a German record label, management and concert agency “Karsten Jahnke” in Hamburg and moved to Germany in 2013 where she has released two albums so far. She has performed at Jazzopen Stuttgart, Leverkusener Jazztage, Dresdener Jazztage, Woman in Jazz, Ingolstädter Jazztage, Beethoven Festival, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and many more in both classic and jazz stages. [Website](https://younee.com/) | [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/youneemusic/) | [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/youneemusic) | [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/user/YOUNEEmusic) | [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/4evHTMI6f0idIh6TjiBexv) | [Clubhouse](https://www.clubhouse.com/club/younees-piano-salon) [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tjF0Ihj1Mk) #### Episode notes - how it all started - perfect pitch & synesthesia (seeing sounds as colours) - self-reflection in training and private improvisation - first public performance - public improvisation by accident - Korean competitive environment - art vs. competitiveness - teenage years - Korean pop-star - jazz and rock influences - search for own musical style - first albums as Key’s Piano - the beginning of the international career - the first British album with an impressive lineup - the re-release of the British album this year - new improvisation album coming up soon - living in Germany - cultural influences - an unreleased pop album - German studio albums - perfecting the sound in Jugendstil - stories behind The Moment and Ansbach Blues - complete improvisations (becoming braver) - never played and first performed live: Take Five - art as in-moment experiences - a live concert performance with vocal improvisation including lyrics inspired by Clubhouse experimentation - Korean culture and influence #### Episode links (Jungle) (Take Five) **Technical notes** *Correction: 1:34 "see the sounds as colours"* *There were some serious technical challenges while recording this video, and it has been improvised from lower quality* *audio and video* *backup sources.* ## Transcript (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tjF0Ihj1Mk) [0:00] Hello everyone, this is Talks with Petrishow and I'm your host Petri. Today we have a singer, songwriter, composer and pianist, multi-talented Younee with us. Welcome Younee! Hi. How are you doing? Very good. When did you realize you had a serious talent for music? I thought music is the most fascinating thing since I was very young, like three years old. So like a musical toys were my toys. So I remember you've been telling in the clubhouse room that you draw a piano. Oh, yeah. [0:46] How did it all start? I almost forgot the story already. Yeah, but the thing is, I was in the kindergarten, and then there was a piano, but then I just played it there. It was so nice feeling, but at home, I didn't have a piano, so I just draw in a long paper, and then I colored every key, and then I played on the piano. and then I imagined how it would sound like. And then the next day, I played it on the real piano in kindergarten and then it sounded great. Oh, yeah. It sounded like as I imagined and that was the really fun time. When did you make the connection that you can see the colors and you also have a perfect pitch? [1:38] Was that from the beginning? Yeah. The very first time you draw and it was perfect. Yes. Yeah, so my hobby was every sound which I heard it from the kindergarten bus or like animation theme songs or TV pop song from music from TVs, anything which I heard, I always wanted to play and then it comes out as I thought and that was really fascinating. So when you hear something, maybe birds singing, You can easily reflect and do that. Yeah. Reproduce. Yeah. And then when I was like seven, some piano teacher told me that this is called a perfect pitch. And then you started to also study and really become serious. [2:38] But it took time because actually my parents were more serious about learning other things like mathematics or some normal school subjects. But one day before I went to the school, elementary school, near my mom's pharmacy, there was a piano academy for children. And, oh, there is a piano. then I just went there and they can I play piano here and I was like six years old and this teacher thought like okay you sneaked in yeah without the permission of your parents yes but then one day this teacher came to my mom's pharmacy and she saw me there oh you are that kid so oh she always come to my piano school and she played, really she enjoys and then she was so shocked and then she paid and then she sent me this piano academy so I could really have fun. [3:44] And that was the time when you got your first piano as well? Yes. So like 7, 8, 9 years old and then at that time we learned all this basic stuff to play piano basically. and then it was really fun for me. How can I learn much faster so that I can really play as I want? This was also a really fun time. So what was the hardest part when you were growing up and learning music and playing piano? For me, learning piano was the most fascinating thing. So at the beginning, we are concentrating how to play piano or how to play both hands separately, something like this. But then after we reach some level that we can play Mozart or Chopin, something like this, then what excites me was like, how can I create very beautiful sound? [4:48] So even though we play the same song at that time, which is written songs, Or how can we express more as if we are singing through this instrument? And that was really fascinating thing too. Another level of fascination for me. So I always recorded what I was playing and listened to it and analyzed. Like how it sounds different if I breathe more and play this note, the first note. Is it different? Something like that was really fascinating. things. When was the first performance you did, the live performance? Was it in that restaurant? Oh, that was... Yeah, I know a lot of stories about you, just for the audience, because she's been talking in a clubhouse, so I have a bit of inside knowledge, but you know, they are not well-known stories. Yeah, that was... Whenever I saw the piano, I always wanted to jump on it, and I wanted to play wherever it was, whether it was on the stage, whether it was somebody's house. [5:56] So I saw the beautiful white grand piano on the stage in a very posh restaurant at that time. We say posh restaurant when we have to use a knife and fork. You know, not like this. So this restaurant's name was called Athene. It's like a greased kind of interior and luxury interior. It was nice. And then I was there with my parents when I was five years old. I thought, oh, there's a piano. And then can I play there? Can I play there? But this stage was quite high. So I was not sure if I could jump on it. But then my father asked this manager, and could she play this piano and then they say yes and then I played just a Korean national hymn anthem interesting choice yeah because that was the only one thing which I could play at that time and then with some small knowledge I did some reharmonization and then I played it and then all the restaurant guests were happy and they think oh cute and something like that so did you take any requests or did you improvise already at that stage uh i always try to change something when i play something and but nobody teach me or taught me how to do it at that time it was only my game or my own playing I remember a story where you mentioned that you forgot how you were performing live somewhere and then you forgot how the next, how the continue of the song and that was pretty much on you. [7:52] Yeah, that was maybe the first time that I improvised. Actually, I went to music school. After my elementary school, there is a very, really great music, like art school in Korea. And luckily, I could study and learn many things about art and also normal subjects too. And there, the good thing was there are many wonderful artistic students around me. So it was really great. And we had every week a concert. So there was a piano, violin, flute, cello, contrabass, whatever. We all played each week. And this was like 10 people in one stage. [8:41] But each person played what they were practicing. So it was a really fun time for me. And at that time, what I had to play was a Chopin Ballade. And that song was like very repeating kind of thing. This kind of thing, like a canon style, or like more like one minute. But then, oh, how I can end? I forgot. And then I was repeating the same part again and again. So I thought, but the B part was completely another way in this song, Chopin Ballad No. 2. And then I thought, I will just improvise. I think I can create something with the same, not the same harmony, but the same rhythm. [9:34] Like, di, da, da, da, in another harmony. And then I think I made my own cadence, finished. And now I can go to the B part. But then really funny thing was there was a music teacher. She was also watching this performance, but she could not recognize. I thought, oh, that worked very well. And that was the beginning of your career in improvisation. Yes, in public. But at home, I always improvised, but we had no chance to improvise in front of people. Because nobody does this. So when I was at home, I always played something like Beethoven or whatever. But then I go to my own way, as you listen to many times in Clubhouse. [10:26] And that was what I was always doing when I was young, too. But I did it only when I was alone. So your teenage rebel years were just within your own room and without audience in the beginning. Yeah. Yes, of course, if I do meet my teacher in a lesson, then I should play what I'm learning that improvise. So how was it to be a teenager seriously studying music and also performing and also becoming a star? Can you describe something of that part of your life? I really enjoyed to learn deeply about classical music because through this process, we are not only learning how to play better piano. we learn many virtues or values in life like how to be more serious or how about things what I really really want like I want to achieve something or this kind of thing or how to be patient to achieve something what I really want because through all this practice But also in a way, it was also, in the other hand, also it was very hard for me because I'm not the person who likes always to follow the rules, but also to competition, something like this. [12:11] And I was always wondering why we have to always compare this girl play better than the other girl or this boy win something. We all do art. Even if we play all the same chapa or whatever. But that's kind of cruel for me. And I was wondering, is it really meaningful? Even though it's also a good side too, to develop something, wanting more, something like this. But even so, I was thinking that's not really an essence of art. But in that time, it was really a big part of our learning process. So always we had to have a competition with a girl next to me or a boy next to me or a boy or a girl who are not next to me. [13:06] But we are aware of that. They are also making amazing much effort. Because I don't know at that time, still in Korea, People are very enthusiastic and very wanting very much. Competition is a lot. So I really enjoyed when I was alone to be out of this kind of pressure or this kind of thinking. Can you describe a bit of the effort it takes to become a talent in your level? how many hours you needed to practice? And, you know, did you have any other life, you know, the social life, friends and, you know, the regular student life, so to speak? [14:02] I think 95% of my life was only thinking about music. Wow. And it doesn't mean that I was not socially unable to be with other kids, but actually my life was very busy. Not only me, at that time, students who were learning piano or violin or whatever instrument, they were all busy because if the school is finished, it's already like after 3 p.m. And then we go somewhere to learn more things. And also we take a piano lesson or whatever. And then we had to practice. But also we had to learn other subjects too. And we had so many examinations. [14:53] So there's not many time left to. So at that time, my wish was like, I want to sleep when I want to feel go to sleep. So you were like 20 when you, I would say, gave up the classical pianist career, but started to also sing and do other stuff. I was doing at that moment a parallel, because my major in my university was classical music, my major was classical piano. So I had to play every semester some songs like Beethoven, Brahms, still. but that was what I was doing in the school. So after the school is finished, then I went to the studio. [15:46] I write songs with other pop singer or rock musician and went to jazz concert, also alone, whatever, many different things. Something like Kenny Barron came to Korea. I think that was the first jazz concert which I saw in Korea when I was 20 or 19 years old. So as I entered university and then I wanted to experience, I wanted to exposure myself to many different genres of music so that I can find my own music. So while I was still practicing and learning classical piano, But my mind and my heart was much more in another area of music. [16:38] I was always searching for other music. And then at that time, my mom also told me, actually, I'm a big fan of rock music. So like Deep Purple and so on, like The Who and Elton John. And she had many LPs from the old days. And we was listening also sometimes together. And then at that time, actually, there was many, this downloading things was also there. And then I download many things, rare videos, rare music. I bought it from Amazon, LPs, like Mint. Oh, that looks nice. But at that time, Amazon was not that popular like nowadays in Korea. So I always had to find and search more. [17:31] And so that I could listen to as much as possible many different kinds of music, like rock and jazz and also progressive music like Floyd. For me, it was like, wow, amazing, something new. Then you became like a superstar in Korea. You did a lot of things in there. You did at least two records. You were also in the top charts. And like you mentioned, you were also doing stuff for other artists. Can you describe a bit of that part of your life? Because it came to an end. And we can go to that part a bit later. Yeah. So, I mean, at the daytime, I was in the school playing Brahms in front of the professor. As if I practiced much more than actually it was. [18:25] but because my heart was somewhere else, not at that time classical music anymore. And I was writing pop songs for other artists. And then I made my own album under the name Kiss Piano. It was like my own song. And actually, I never felt that I was a singer. I wrote a song for singing, so I must practice singing too. So I sang a song with my own lyrics, and I was playing piano also together. And this was started after some singer and songwriter competition. I just was, at that time, was really like wandering around where would be my way, where is it, and where I should go. I didn't have a guide in a musical way. [19:18] So I entered this singer and songwriter competition. I saw the plug cut, so like big advertisement on the street while I was in the bus. And oh, this sounds interesting. And then I enter there and luckily I get the first prize. Wow. And they gave me quite a lot of money as a prize money. And after I get this money, I did also many good things. And it was really fun to see people ask me, oh, what are you talking about in your lyric? Who is that? Or when was it? Something like they are asking me about my own story through the lyric. But if I play classical music, it's from the composer, which we love, but it's not my own story. [20:16] And then I thought like, oh, that's so fun. I think I should write my own story. But the first format which I expressed my own story was like pop music because I was in Korea and that was the most popular way of expressing ourselves so that naturally I debuted with my own songs. And then suddenly I was in a completely another atmosphere area like TV shows after the really famous rock or rocker. And then his piano, and then I had to play my own song. And it was really completely like a G. Kill and Hyde kind of life. But my professor in my university was not against it. And she thought it's kind of very interesting. [21:09] And one day, but I always act like I practiced it very much. This Brahms. But she could feel that my heart is somewhere. And then one day I entered this lesson. And she asked me, I heard that you would enter this singer-songwriter competition. I heard it from another student. Oh, yeah. And can you sing that song? And then I sang in front of her. And she really liked it. And she asked me, what will you wear on the stage? Something like this. Because how you look is also important. And so she was really open-minded. So I was really happy. Yeah. [22:00] So then you started to look outside of Korea as well. Yeah. And after I released second album in Korea, I had a good chance and good luck to meet many different kind of people from the internet. Many great artists, jazz artists, and also just friends, music lover friends like you. Really music lover and music, great musicians from all over the world. How did you do at the time? You went to clubs, you go to MySpace, you know, and online. MySpace was the thing. It was a long time ago. But also before even MySpace, I also was writing. [22:52] I had an idea that what would it be if I write a song in English lyrics? Because I've never been to another country until that time. But we grew up listening to pop songs. like British pop songs yeah like British pop songs or American pop songs and at that time nobody was singing in Korean so I was wondering if I write a song in Korean how it would be and then I wrote something on the internet site about songwriting forum kind of site and there some man sent me an email with so many lyrics which he wrote. [23:43] And then I put my melody on it. And it was always perfectly matching. And it matched perfectly. I didn't have to calculate how I have to write a song. It was just naturally, if I read his lyric, I could put the melody on it. And if I a little bit changed the order of the sentence or whatever, then it just matched. And then I was so happy. And he was from America. And with him, I made so many songs. And those songs I uploaded on MySpace. And many people liked it. So was that Niles? Include Niles and also many other great musicians I get to know at that time. [24:39] Yeah, I recall I read somewhere that you met the foreplay Bob James and he introduced you to the producers and songwriters and basically kickstarted you to the European side of the... Yes, so through this great artist with open-minded people, also introduced me to great other musicians in Europe. So I could have met Richard Niles and also other great musicians in the UK. So I produced an album. Just before we go there, let me just tell to the audience a bit about Richard Niles. So if the name doesn't say anything, I'm just taking stuff from his website. [25:30] So he has 28 platinum records, 30 gold records. He's been collaborating, working with Paul McCartney, basically everyone. Tina Turner, Take That, DS4 Fears. The list goes on and on. There's like 50, 100 names in there. And Uni. Yeah, and Uni. You did at least one album with him in your bedroom in Korea, in Seoul at midnight via Skype. So I wrote music and he wrote lyrics. And then I decided to produce it in England. So I went there and we produced a great album with great musicians. the lineup in this album was like, wow. [26:27] Yeah, it was amazing. And also he actually writes this in his website. Let me just go a bit. A couple of years ago, James introduced me to a Korean virtual pianist singer and songwriter, Yuni. We recorded an incredible album with the finest players. We co-wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics. I arranged in an area I love, band stylistic, a combo of rock, jazz, classical and fun. What a fun it was to have a pianist with unlimited technique. I could write anything. I did. Yes, it was definitely an amazing time in my life. so I could have really, like, how I can say, expand my view in my own musical ability. [27:27] Like, when I was only thinking like this, I think I only can do this, but I was like, more and more, I came out from this X in many ways about how I think. Also, many experiences give me more motivation and something like that. Can you recall the moment when you decided to leave the stardom behind in Korea and start to shift to Europe? Actually, after the second album in Korea, I had also another offer from another great company in Korea. then I could make a third album in Korea, in Korean pop style. But I was really wondering what would happen, and I wanted to know what I could make even more in music, not only Korean pop style. [28:22] So I just thought I would rather go this adventurous way, and I just went there. So you were like, okay, pop style Korea, check. Swipe left. some people could have started everything like a pop music side much earlier if i read some biography from western artists but i was devoting my time so long time for learning and studying and classical music so i wanted to experience everything quick maybe yeah and and you got a lot of success uh with the first album the uk album yeah you hit the charts you won some awards and you were touring in us and uk and you took the british invasion quite seriously they made a very nice article about me and i was very uh thankful that they saw my music and all my um effort and challenge or my music just and as me as a musician uh they take took it very positively and so I was very motivated and thankful and very happy. [29:49] You were also not, first you were a classical style, then you did pop in Korea and now you are in the jazz. It's like mixed pop jazz, everything mixed. So I actually recall that in your YouTube channel, there are some videos you did maybe 2009 or something like that when you went to the, was it go to the recording or something. But, you know, just for the audience to know that there's some footage, you know, still maybe you need even don't remember herself anymore. But, you know, it was just a fantasy that, you know, when you were doing the recording and when you're doing the UK stuff that's happening. Yeah. It's quite amazing. This album is not available at the moment because we wanted to re-release that, at least in a digital form, but in this year, in like springtime, it will be again available. [30:52] So if it's again available, then I can post every information about it on my website. Is there going to be some new song? So are you going to do something differently there? No, this is only a re-release. And then actually my next step of my new album will be my improvisation album from my concert, live concert in Germany. And you are living at the moment in Germany. You are not actually in the UK. So far, people who have been listening to us would assume that we are just, I don't know, halfway through your journey. journey so far. So there's like four albums. You have achieved quite a lot in the UK already. [31:43] Five. And we're like 10 years back, 2010s now in the timeline. Around that time. Yeah. And then I went to Germany. So you just completely had it with the British way of things and you wanted to go to the countryside of Germany? So it just happened very naturally and while I was doing concerts and live in England, I met many great people from Germany, some great people from Germany who believed in my music and they suggested me and offered good contracts to do music here in Germany and Germany is also very big country and in music also in europe they are really center and very cultural uh rich country cultural land and londonese country so sometimes i mix german and korea and english so yeah and it sounds very interesting and actually in seoul or in england they're mainly focused in London or Seoul, but here in Germany, I could do many concerts in many other cities and states. [33:08] And that was also interesting too for me. And there are many stages for classical side and jazz side. So I wanted to again do a next adventure. And this time, the mainly the most important reason why I could bravely come to Germany was also that I was a producer of my own music so that I don't do something I'm not sure kind of thing I just just I can decide musically and artistically I was in charge I am in charge of my things so yeah then it's good idea let's try it and I came here and learn German and I made two albums. You've been in TV, you've been in a lot of places and you can actually, the audience can see it also in your YouTube channels and you share things in Facebook. [34:02] So there's a lot of interviews, there's a lot of stuff going back way to the 2013. Yeah. So for some years I was spending time actually to make another album. Actually, I had another album, which I didn't release at all. And that's in a reserve, you say in German, that's in my drawer. It's actually a pop album again, but which is completely produced by myself. Every instrument, every arrangement, everything. It's like a one-man band, but played by a great German musician. But even so, somehow, I had also made another album too. And that album is Jyginstir. This was always... So the pop album, which is not released, came before that? [34:51] It's not released until now. Wow. Okay. One day I will release it. Does it have a name already? I have many songs recorded, but I didn't make an album title yet. All right. Yeah. But then at that moment, I made that pop album, but also I made this classical improvisation album too, like Beethoven, Debussy, Brahms, Bach kind of songs. Very beloved, lovely classical theme. I improvised as I want and recomposed some songs. And then I did it with a very, very free mind, as if I did it all the time when I was young, maybe it's a little bit more developed but basically so comfortable free mind when i recorded it in berlin and then we decided to do the album or did you do it yes studio album in berlin and um this album i recorded in uh studio in berlin with amazing great uh engineer who understands also me very well, what I wanted, something like this. [36:08] So I had also very, very, apart from the success of the album or apart from the result of the album, I was very satisfied with the album because whenever I listened to the album very, again, still, I feel so comfortable because, yeah, that's the sound that I wanted. Yeah, that was the album where you were really picking like this is the proper piano for this and this song and you were really like affecting it. Yeah. So even in that album, we mastered like three times. Are they still talking to you? And also, I was fighting with, kindly fighting with this great engineer who won many Grammys and think like it's normal. I felt like, but I asked him like, but this frequency, can you a little bit reduce or change something like this? [37:10] But then, okay, he didn't say it so easily like this. He wanted to test me if I can really see the difference. Yeah, the difference. so he sent me without the name just a and b so uni now you can choose so i said definitely a please do it i really like this one much more oh you have golden ears and then he did it so not only the music side like how to play or how i improvise or what to play how we recorded was also a big part of the album because even before we went to the studio, I think about so many things about the concept of the sound, the piano sound. [38:03] And then with great help from my own engineer, we was trying many different things for recording. And then, oh, with that kind of concept, just like when you go to a hair salon, You show some picture and can you do it like this style? And then some good hair designer would say, oh, okay, great. I know what you mean. And then they do it close to that style. But someone said, oh, this is only a photo or this is a Photoshop. This is a hairstylist who's made it. It's not something. But he also tried to make the sound as I wanted. It was really nice collaboration, working with him. And then he sent it to me again. This is a master. [38:52] Oh, before you master it, it was like that. But this small magic is disappeared, I think, because what you did. Oh, I did it with an amazing, great machine, like analog something. So I said, I think analog machine is my dream, but I think maybe there is only piano. So maybe, can we do it again? And then he sent me again, something like this. So yeah, it was really fun and no compromise of what I wanted. And what I wanted is really not easy to explain because it's something abstract, like to describe some sound to explain in a perfect way. It's not that easy. But somehow I always had luck that he and also my own engineer who helped me to get that sound, to find that sound. [39:46] They all can understand what I needed. And I said, ah, and they said, ah. So it was a really great experience. And then you did another album. Was it straight after the album? Yes. So the first album, Yubi and Steele, was inspired by the classical melodies, which I improvised or rearranged and recomposed. But the next album is called My Piano. And that album is my own composed piano piece. Include improvisation. And yeah, so I was even more nervous and wondering how they would judge. Because I was wondering because I never show this big, long piano piece, which I composed. [40:39] But I just composed as I think. I like this kind of thing, like a bit rock, a bit opal, so there's a melody. But the main thing was every song has a story, like a storytelling, because I had the consequence why I wrote that song. And that was fun for me, so whatever they would judge, I thought, but it's my story. And for example, there's a song called The Moment. And there I was walking on the street after my German course in Würzburg. And then suddenly I had a crazy back pain. And I could not walk anymore. And then someone who was walking on the street had to help me. And then for two weeks, I was like, ah, like this. [41:33] This is called Hexenschuss in German language. So Hexe is like Hexe. Like, I don't know. It's a really crazy, funny word. Like, so you get this back pain. Yeah, instantaneous. Yeah. So at that moment, I heard like kind of unharmonized, unharmonish, unharmonized. a nice chord in my head like yeah like a shock yeah almost like a discord yeah discord shock moment so i was thinking oh this was what i was listening through my body so i wanted to write a song with this discord in the beginning and then also it has to have some groove. And then it came out very naturally. [42:33] And then it's called the moment. Because I cannot really forget that moment. Now everybody knows about that back pain moment in the history. And also there's a song called Unspot Blues. And I really love blues. Many people said that they can feel from my music many bluesy atmosphere or elements but there is mississippi blues or some other georgia kind of blues but i i thought there will be never unspark blues and this is the area where i'm always been to because i always had the pilates in this city and i love the city i enjoy that city very much to eat something, going out for shopping, something like that. And in this city, there is a Bach in the middle, this Bach statue, a very old style church and houses looks like amazing old, like fairytale, a Beethoven style fairytale. But people look very modern, like you, and they look like very modern so this modern people and this old style environment of the city that was like a really funny contrast for me because i came from seoul and we see always very high buildings and things like that so with that contrast old and new i wanted to make blues a bit like Bach but blues So I made that song, Anspach Blues. [44:19] And other songs have also many stories, like Toccata and Blues, again Blues, and E minor. That has also, at that time, everybody asked me, are you okay in Korea? It looks like something will happen from North Korea or ever, just conflict. And we actually didn't feel that. But if the news always said North Korea, whatever, then of course they think like it's very dangerous. But anyway, it's not pleasant to hear that all the time. So why do we have to have always conflict? But that conflict is not only in North Korea and South Korea. Everywhere there's conflict. In every part of our world, there's always conflict in the news. [45:10] There's not always good stories to hear. So I thought with this anger about this, how the wide world has to be always like this, and for those little bit more hope, I mixed it, so Tukata and blues in E minor, and this was also my song, and I like that song very much. When I play that song, I can show this anger. so every song has a story and some of them are tales from the countryside of Germany or different parts of Germany as well yeah because I could not talk because there is no lyric but even so I can really remember when I wrote that piano song what I was thinking and what I felt and it's a really good thing to write a song And I can see easily that the latest Clubhouse events, what you've been doing, you've been improvising, but you've also been improvising in your concert. [46:18] So you're asking directly from the audience that, you know, what they feel, what they would like to hear, give you some kind of impressions. You're also picking stuff from exactly from the same day, you know, like, you know, how did you come to the venue and what happened before? You compose it on spot. can you describe a bit of that improvisation process yeah actually I never thought that I would do the complete improvisation so many times like this but I think I become more and more not embarrassing or more and more brave I think more and more brave will be the right sentence I think because I did the first time an improvisation in Germany in a place called Trapgast. Trapgast is some area in Germany and there I did a concert. [47:17] When was that? How many years back? 2015 I think. After my first album. So you did like two years to get a bit of courage in Germany and then you started to improvise. Yeah, so after my first album, so after my first album I did concert and I mainly also played a song from the first album, like a Beethoven improvisation or something like that. Then I get an encore, like, oh, one more at the end. It's this encore. And then I thought, what if I just play completely free without thinking anything, only just what I feel right now? And then people really liked it. And I was lucky I had a record. I said, wow, that's really fun. [48:04] I liked it. And then I talked with my team in my company and they said, I think you should do it more. You should do it more. Really? Ah. And then I get more and more brave. Braveness. And then, yeah. Because when I do a loan, it's very natural. You mentioned you've been doing it from the childhood, basically. Yeah. recording and then revisiting it. So now you just do it in public. Yeah. It's basically the same thing but just in public. But then I wanted to but I think it's like a composition like I do it in a real-time composition and when we do compose you have to tell the story and there is nothing given like no given chord structure or no rules like where do where you have to go and after distance there's nothing given and also i have no other musicians around me so i feel like i'm completely naked so but anyway um that's really fun for me this gives me adrenaline and i can really remember that moment the people who was who were there because then I thought to improvise, if I just blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it comes out from my finger, it's really meaningful and maybe it's like I only can satisfy myself. [49:43] That's my feeling. But I wanted to feel with the people together. Then I was thinking like, oh, what is the element that exists only today or right now or on that day. So sometimes I said, oh, I had a concert in Bonn. And I always went to the concert place with a car. But in this place, there was too many traffic. So I could not do it. So from the hotel, I took a tube. I took a tube alone. But I never took a tube alone in Germany. And my team and my crew were all in the concert place already. And I was alone in the hotel. [50:31] And they were supposed to come to me and pick me up and bring me there. But they could not come because it's just crazy, the traffic. And then, oh, you can come with the tube. And then it was a very not too long journey, but it was for me very new. And then as soon as I was in the stage, you know, it was a journey in Bonn and something like that. So I would use the story like that as an improvisation source for composed songs. And also somebody on the day, I was very happy to come to the concert hall. And then I heard very sad news from my colleague and their child. newborn baby has passed away. [51:21] So that's so shocking because they were really expecting kids. And it let me think so much about death and life. And in Korea, we say if somebody's died, then somebody's born, something like that. And I could not get away from that kind of inspiration. Then I improvise about death and life, for example. or and then I thought it doesn't have to be always from my story and then I also asked people is there any good idea and to compose another XS song like oh play take five not like that and then always audience gave me an amazing interesting subject to compose like the full moon or whatever we could feel together. [52:13] But most funny request for me was jungle. Somebody just said jungle. What? Oh, we are in the palace now. So you say jungle. So okay, then we are now in jungle. So I will think I would compose and I will imagine as if I'm in jungle, something like that. And that's recorded nicely. And you can watch it also on YouTube. But there are so many moments that I didn't upload it anywhere. It's recorded. But all these musical moments are recorded. And the next album will be this improvisation live album. So I have to choose from many concerts for the album. Yeah, that's what you say. [53:02] That there's so many things to choose from and so much. I was suggesting, I think, in one of the rooms that, you know, hey, just call it a playlist and just, you know, let people decide. Vote. Take a vote. Yeah, CD is limited format. You can only have, you know, so many minutes in there. Playlist is limitless. So you have, like, hundreds or thousands of hours of recorded music. Yeah. Unpublished. Yeah. So this year we will be lucky and we're going to have at least two albums or is it three albums? I already lost count. I hope I can make it at least one album and re-release album from the old days. And I will see what I can do more. [53:53] I have so many things. I'm curious about the pop album now. It's been waiting patiently so long. Maybe it's time. Yeah, maybe. pop side of uni yeah I haven't heard that too much the take five side I've heard a bit and I think people love that as well David Probex thank you that's amazing yeah as that man suddenly asked T5 and I could not avoid because he said it very very loud so oh I never played it but okay I will try it and I did it. So it was the first time you never played it? Yeah, I never played it because it's too famous. [54:40] In public or never played? Never played it because it's just too famous. Sometimes if something is too famous, then I didn't think like I want to practice it because it's already so many times played. And I always also like to find something. This is so nice, but I think people will not know this one. This is also my taste also. So, yeah. It sounds quite brave if you never played in private and then you go live and you do it and if you're expecting yourself to do it a bit better than you have to be in a certain level Yeah, that's the really braveness and if it didn't work well then it didn't work well but I did it because I think that's life I think Always just to show something. [55:36] I prepare perfectly and show the best thing. That's also a really great form of art. But I wanted to do some other kind of art that we all experience something new. So I also want to surprise myself. But there's no guarantee that it will always work. And that's why it's very risky. But that's why also I feel more adrenaline. Well, that sounds like a perfect loop. You know, you were like doing the pitch perfect mustard album. And then you just improvise totally on spot without any preparation, anything. And see what comes out. [56:26] Has there been a moment when you're on stage that you sort of hit blank? And there's like, you know, you don't know what to do next. or something happens on the stage, you're like, okay, I'm all alone here, and I'm not exactly sure what should I do next. There's some moments, you know, you're a bit... I don't know. I had always, like, after a while, I didn't have any more set list, because a set list means what I will play today as a program, first set, and intermission, second set, six songs in the first set, second song, a second set, this sixth song, something like this. Sounds like your teenage years. Like normally every concert has a set list. It's like a set already, it's almost, you know, like done before you start. But I thought in that way, I don't surprise myself as much as I wanted. [57:20] So I thought after a while, I do not use so much this set list before the concert. And I just went there and I just made really everything like not only improvisation itself, but I really do it spontaneously as it comes to my mind as a concert. Because like when we talk, we are not only preparing everything. So I also don't know what you ask me. So in that way, but when I play alone, nobody asks me something. So I have to ask myself. So then, oh, let me see what I answer. So everything in that moment comes to my mind. And as I had a concert in El Pheromone last year, no, already 2020. So that was March. [58:14] I was very overwhelming for me because, wow, El Firamoni, that's a nice place. Everybody was talking about that place and I was very happy. But then I also the piano was amazing. Great piano, Steinway, and was really so light. It was very light to play the keys. And then it made me really flying. And then I felt really like a living room. I felt so close to people. And they always gave me a new idea to compose and like improvise. So this take, it took like almost three hours to concert. And it was so long. But we was all like, what will happen? [59:04] What will happen? And then we could not really feel the time. Only the crew was like... But it was all recorded and the result was really great. So I think the next album could include that part also. So at least three hours is going to be released now. No, not three hours. And also I sing sometimes too. So I feel like if I compose, it's not like anything, but it comes to my finger, blah, blah, touching. It's not like that. It's really, I feel amazing much connection from my brain, my heart. And I'm really somewhere. [59:56] And after the concert, I'm really literally like fainted, like this. Because so much, my brain or something is really somewhere amazing much energy from here more than here or my body. So, and then after the improvisation, then I sing, then it's more comfortable. Because when I sing my own song, then it's also very comfortable. And also one day in Berlin, I did a vocal improvisation, including the lyrics, and it was even also more fun. It was even more risky, but I really liked it. That came from Clubhouse, actually, because in this Corona time, I did Clubhouse many times. [1:00:47] And it was, for me, really fun to know many new people, interesting, inspiring people, and also… musicians in your rooms, you know. Yeah. You first time start to chant with them and there's a later thing also. So it's really challenging. Yeah. And it was really imagination playing, imagination game and listening and communicating with the imagination. And because we don't see them, also the audience or the speakers or listeners, we don't see them, we just imagine. There must be someone from Hamburg, there must be someone from Estonia. We are all in different places, but it was so fun and inspiring. And they are all individual, interesting individuals. So I used some stories as a lyric. [1:01:38] It was so comfortable there because there I didn't have so much pressure to show off or don't have to wear something. They are watching me. So comfortable. We're only listening. And it came out. And then bravely enough, I did it in concert. on the stage and I felt I liked I think more and more I leave my heart a little bit less like I want to show really perfect thing, something like this really more comfortably something unexpected good thing came up from me and also people liked it and I liked that. In the previous episode I was talking with Piedis Stanislaus he was talking, I think I also named the episode called Happy Coincidences. [1:02:30] Yeah. Magic moment. Magic moments happens exactly. I remember so many moments in your uni's piano saloon, you can find it in Clubhouse where artists start coming in and you start to play and more people are coming in and they're joining and you never know what's going to happen there. Yeah. I really like to surprise myself. And that's really fun. So when I feel fun, I think mostly people also feel fun. That's how I experienced. So what's next? You've been doing so brave things that are there anything left? Any other brave things still do you discover? Any uncharted territories left? [1:03:19] Maybe I will change my profession. are there any good candidates for that no at the moment you just one day dump all your music and say i'm done sayonara so long some people are really doing that some musicians well maybe sometimes you need just a bit of break and do some other stuff to find inspiration yeah but I really think of music all the time but I am interested and curious about many other things in the world too as you also talk to me and I'm not only interested in music I'm interested in general many things so who knows what we'll bring in the future how does the is there any difference in the audience and also your style has changed so has your audience changed can you describe something about your career and also the times have been changing so now there's Clubhouse there's different ways to actually experience music you know going back to the Sony Walkmans and the different ways of doing stuff in my space and tapes and LPs. [1:04:52] I mean, you mean the audience side? Yeah, in the audience side and also from your artist side. Is there something that you really miss from the old days and something that's really good these days? Because, you know, there's a lot of new stuff also happening nowadays. There's NFTs and whatnots, you know, happening as well. So the whole area is changing as well, obviously. Yeah, I think basically when I was younger, European or Western people were aware of Korean culture so much like nowadays. Squid game. Yeah, like Korean dramas and K-pop things. So I think it's really very interesting. [1:05:45] And what I felt is basically what we feel is great. Then they also feel it's great whatever language it is. I see also, for example, Netflix. And even if I don't understand the language at all, like a Danish drama, who would understand Danish language? But if it's good, then it is now says 20%. So if it's good, then it's good. So I think music is especially the universal language. So I think even if I would sing in Korean, if they feel something, if it resonates their heart, then I think audience would like it. And I experienced it a lot of times in Western world too, like while I was in Europe. [1:06:42] So I think it's just the journey about finding my own music. And just at that period of my life, if I'm into that thing, then it's that thing. And then just like that, I can remember my 20s or something like this. So just like it's my journey. So audience are always nice. What is your favorite word? Essential or essence. Which one? Essence. It's a noun. What is your least favorite word? Rules. [1:07:32] What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Can you say it again? What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Interesting people or my state that I am so bored so that I want to break that state. What turns you off? When some people compare always with others. What is your favorite curse word? Scheisse. [1:08:21] I don't think we will translate that. Scheisse is a German curse word, which I learned when I was in high school. It was the first German word I learned. Very common German sweet curse word. Compared to Korean curse word, it's just like nothing. So what's the Korean equivalent? It sounds too brutal. More sexual way, like fuck. What sound or noise do you love? my rice cooker said, my rice cooker is talking and at the end of the time they said, now your rice is finished. Please open and stir the rice. [1:09:14] That's my favorite sound. And also some nature sound. What sound or noise do you hate? can I say more than one yeah it's your choice like a TV sound which I'm not watching or consciously or untuned piano what profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Movie director? I would like to experience many other jobs actually so it was a really nice question. [1:10:06] Like movie director or painter or anything which creates something like author for writing books. You have to pick one. What would be the... Movie director. What profession would you not like to do? Working in a company. Every day in an office kind of work. Like in Japan, they say salaryman. Salaryman. If you could be a co-founder of any startup in any era, which one would you choose? So it means I can create a new startup. [1:11:00] Or if you would like to founder one, it can be something from the past as well. If I could be a venture founder, then I think as if I could be in the future, and as if the time travel is possible, then I would like to do a concert booking agent. But as the time travel is possible, so I can be a booking agent for many different eras, artists. So you would like to go to the past or you would like to go to the future? The future, so that the time travel is possible. So for example, I arrange a concert, then I can book a musician from the past. [1:11:56] So Beethoven can be there too, I can bring him here. Oh, I see. So you're making people to travel between 80s. Yeah. Come together. Yeah. So like Michael Jackson and Beethoven, everybody can come to here and we can do all concerts. So in my booking agency, the musicians are not only from these days. That's going to be so fantastic. But I know that's not possible, but it will be great if it's possible. Maybe it's somewhat possible with some technology. Obviously, it's not exactly like that, but some ideas. And also, I would like to invent a new type of piano. Because TVs or radio or internet, cars, they are all developed in the last 100 years so much. [1:12:57] The piano looks so sane. So what's wrong with the piano? What needs to be improved? For example, I would like to test many different pianos. It's a beautiful performance. So it was my imagination. While I am playing this piano, I can get some good energy from the piano. So it's really good for the player's health. Isn't that called electric piano? Not electric, maybe. Some good hertz is coming to me. And if I touch when I play it, then some good bioceramic kind of energy comes to me by touching these keys, the white one and these black keys. [1:13:50] gives me some good frequency for my body. So if I play this piano, I become more healthier, something like this, another concept of piano. Or just like if you go to a dentist, then this chair, if you sit, then they always go back. So this chair, piano chair is always separate. They can be together. So somehow I can like this, so I can play even if I'm lying down. I guess the chair is easier to accomplish. That could be probably done even this year. Then this key has to also move with the chair at the same time. Because if the key is always here, then I have to sit properly. But I saw other instruments of players, they can also play while they are on the bed. [1:14:44] For example, on clubhouse. Yeah, saxophone. a saxophone, guitar or trumpet, anything they can play while they're lying down on the bed or sofa or singing. But if I have to play piano I have to always sit here with a microphone. I'm so fixed. Then I thought this will be nice. You have to throw the keyboard again. Together with a chair. Any final words for the audience? or you can even improvise because you have a player next to you. Now, our bar here is so narrow with so many things. It's a bit difficult to play something. [1:15:39] I don't know, the sound is not so great now. Yeah, it sounds perfect and you can even sing if you like. Ah, yes. A really short one. As if we talk amazing much. Talks with the trees. Wow. that's the new outro I guess so it could be even the intro if you allow me thank you Juni for so much your brilliance today it was a lot of fun to talk with you and hear your journey your braveness and your artistic journey which is still in the beginning I hope. Thank you. [1:16:47] You're not dumping all the music to us in one day and just become... I want to leave 1,000 years, so I hope this is the beginning of the journey. Oh, then we're like in the infant mode yet still. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And thank you for the audience as well for joining us today. Please follow Yuni. You will find her in YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Clubhouse, even live, hopefully, city near you. And till next time.