<이야기해주세요> 기획팀 (왼쪽부터 이윤혁, 황보령, 송은지, 서상혁)

Unfolding the stories of the “comfort women” issue and women through music

Q. Hello. First of all, please tell our webzine <Kyeol> readers how the <Tell the Story> project got started.

Song Eun-ji: My grandmother passed away after being ill and bedridden for a long time. While I was watching my grandmother’s suffering, I came to think about many things. By observing how a woman becomes marginalized when her body could no longer carry out the functions the society assigned to her, I determined to talk about my grandmother’s story at some point. Then, one day, I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night thinking, 'I should write a song about the surviving “comfort women” victims.' That is how the inspiration I got from my own grandmother led to the project about the surviving “comfort women” victims (the “comfort women” grandmothers). I believed the project could be meaningful in many ways.

I also took part in a study group on feminism with other musicians around 2006 to broaden my perspectives. The group was called 'The Gaze of Lilith'. Together, we read books, had discussions, and shared personal stories. Many members of that group participated in the first album. I proposed to the group members that we should sing about the Japanese military “comfort women” issue from the female musicians' perspectives. We ended up making a little profit after the release of the second album, so the third album was the result of the discussion on how to spend the profits. Of course, we thought for years, 'Wouldn’t it be better to donate the money?' It wasn’t easy to create the first and second album, and personally, my energy was draining as well. However, making this new album was about the process of returning to music and finalizing the journey. It was also about deciding to take the direction of sharing my heart with others as much as possible. That is why the project’s planning team was set up.

Q. The social awareness on gender equality must have been quite different from now around the time the project first began. For instance, people are now aware that the word 'Hongdae goddess' is a form of hateful expression that objectifies women. Nevertheless, many articles that wrote about the first album described the participating musicians as 'Hongdae goddesses'.

Song Eun-ji : At the time I was infuriated so much at the 'Hongdae goddess' trend and I hated the term as well. I heard that a lot during my career. For example, the press used the expression, ‘The Hongdae goddesses got together,’ covering the release of the first [Tell the Story] album. It was irritating because the title 'Hongdae goddesses' was given to us as a praise for our album that told the stories about women's pain. Still, it wasn’t easy for us to raise an objection against the media report that was promoting the album.

Hwang Bo-ryeong: Some people even asked, "Why are you upset about something that means well?" I think we were thought to be ‘overly sensitive’.

Song Eun-ji: In fact, that touches an important part of the album's intention. I thought it was wrong to lump together the images of female musicians who had long been active in Hongdae's indie scene to package and consume in a way to objectify them as 'goddesses.'. This made me to think that it would be great if female musicians who are doing their own wonderful work could join their hearts together.

Hwang Bo-ryeong: I felt the term was particularly unfair to me. My image had always been a tough girl, like a general, or a swordfighter, but people were suddenly calling me a goddess. So, I went around showing people how angry I was. (laughs)

왼쪽부터 송은지, 황보령

Pondering the “comfort women” issue as a musician by transcending boundaries

Q. In one of your (Song Eun-ji's) interviews in another media, you talked about hoping to see gradual changes in the conventional or outdated elements that come to people's minds when they think about the Japanese military “comfort women” issue. What do these conventional elements refer to?

Song Eun-ji: I was struck with a particular impression when I participated in the Wednesday Demonstrations for the first time. The demonstrations have been continuing in a consistent pattern for almost 30 years now, playing the same protest songs such as 'Like a Rock' during demonstrations. I realized that the first image that enters our minds when we think about the “comfort women” victims might be the scene of the demonstrations. That started to worry me, as people might feel increasingly detached from the issue if the only image they associate with the victims (called “Grandmothers” in Korea) is of them shouting on microphones, 'Apologize! Compensate!" It is certainly not easy for many people to stay engaged and angry for an issue that’s been left unresolved for a long time. Some might get bored, while others might want to avoid it. Therefore, I began to consider if there was any different way to give strength to the Grandmothers.

I wanted to make the stories of the Grandmothers accessible through a different channel, rather than through demonstrations. Japanese military “comfort women” issue is not restricted to the past or to the direct victims only. Therefore, I thought it would be nice to make the first [Tell the Story] album about a female body by featuring each musician’s experiences. Therefore, I told the participating musicians that I hope 'the output to be a single body'. Although I couldn’t say at the time, I was really appreciative of everyone for accepting such an obscure proposal.

Lee Yoon-hyuk : Song Eun-ji once talked about her ‘desire to avoid people who say that they’re suffering.' Although the work itself is significant and worthwhile, sometimes I can see that people are tired at times. I remember her mentioning that it was the reason she desired to create an opportunity to refresh conventional elements.

송은지

Q. Male musicians took part in the project for the third album. The Japanese military “comfort women” issue is not simply an issue between the countries, but it is also an issue of gender power gap. Men's perspectives on this issue may be different from women's perspectives. I wonder if there was any wariness about male members’ participating in the album, given that they were born as men and thus had no choice but to partake in the gender power gap.

Seo Sang-hyuk: Frankly, I am more interested in a history in terms of existence versus existence. As South Korea was a perpetrator during the Vietnam War, I thought it would be possible to have different ways of dialogues if the victims and perpetrators can go beyond their rigid positions, and understand circumstances and contexts.

Hwang Bo-ryeong: I also assert that everyone is a victim when it comes to war. I think it is meaningful to meet other people and do what they can do as people, regardless of the boundaries imposed by borders or gender.

Song Eun-ji: In fact, male members did participate in the first album as well. Male musicians also took part in the fund-raising performance at the time. Yet, since I, as an old fashioned person, was obsessed with the form of albums, I insisted on creating the album as a visible outcome by female musicians. For this third album, I contacted the male musicians first who had joined in fund-raising performance of the first album.

Lee Yoon-hyuk : [Tell the Story] is the result of contemplating the “comfort women” issue through the eyes of people living in this era. I believe the important point of this project is that, we can record and leave what we’ve witnessed to the future generations from the artistic perspective of music. I came to view this issue by taking a step back from my identity as a man living in South Korea, thanks to the medium of music. It would have been easy to get caught in rigid and wasteful arguments, had we demanded bluntly, "Discuss the “comfort women” issue!", but I see that addressing this issue through music could make a difference.

이윤혁

What is the role of music for the “comfort women” issue?

Q. It looks like everyone knows about the Japanese military “comfort women” issue, but people do not know about it that much in fact. It is because people rarely think about this issue as their own. The [Tell the Story] is really outstanding in this respect. It must have been definitely not easy for the participating musicians to think about the issue in their own ways and to express it in their own words. In particular, considering the characteristics of music as a genre, the creative undertaking must have been painful as it had to compress and deliver the process of thoughts and emotions into three or four minutes or less.

Hwang Bo-ryeong: That's right. I gave it a lot of thoughts, indeed. I initially wanted to break away from the typical 'sadness’ by expressing the topic through the genres I used to work on, such as rock, trance, or techno. However, the process of creating a new message while taking into account the whole context of the album was truly challenging. After a long deliberation, I eventually decided to rearrange and release [As If Nothing Happened] from my personal album. The song is so emotional that I usually end up crying during the performance, but I thought the song’s lyrics and messages were in line with the Grandmothers' history, so I edited the song by adding a hopeful touch.

Song Eun-ji: Some musicians even said, 'I thought about ringing you several times to tell you that I’d give up'. Everyone had immense difficulties figuring out how to write the song. However, they eventually completed their songs, and that was truly touching each time.

Lee Yoon-hyuk : It is true that a lot of the songs in our album feel heavy because the album features “comfort women” as a starting theme. No one could be free from that. However, I feel pleased as a project planner to see such a broad spectrum of songs and the highly diverse ways they were expressed according to the values held by each musician.

Q. As you mentioned, the brilliance of this album is that various musicians of different genres and characteristics joined to accomplish a vast spectrum. However, if the work was not done right, the album could have turned out looking like a haphazard mix of varying messages. I suppose that was a concern for the planning team.

Seo Sang-hyuk: I came to the conclusion that what we want to talk about eventually, after long discussions on the Japanese military “comfort women” issue, is peace. Thus, I requested the participating musicians to work on their music by maintaining the imagination of peace and solidarity in their minds, with this issue as a starting point. (The latest album was released in two separate CDs: CD1 and CD2. The songs directly addressing Japanese military “comfort women” are featured in CD1, while those addressing the extended theme of 'peace and coexistence' are featured in CD2 – Editor’s note).

Song Eun-ji: Since we decided to address 'peace and coexistence' in our third album, I thought it would be good to expand the themes of the songs to include various stories such as minority issues. I requested this to the participating musicians, but many chose to focus on the Japanese military “comfort women” issue itself rather than to expand the theme. I guess each musician must have felt that this was the task they must deal with. They did not give up their work until the end, and that's the fruit of this album.

Lee Yoon-hyuk: I personally expected that the results should look rather vague and fuzzy. In other words, I thought the music should come before the slogans, because the music lovers are usually drawn to certain music by wondering ‘How was this music created?’ when they happen to listen to something beautiful for the first time, and I think that is not only how the music fans feel, but also it is the purpose of music. I thought that good songs would prompt people to seek the reasons and processes by which this album was created, and they would also encourage people to search for the reason why they should be interested in the “comfort women” issue.

Seo Sang-hyuk: Listening to music evokes fresh thoughts and emotions, and those emotions can vary depending on people's circumstances. I think music itself acts like a prism. Just as light bounces in different ways depending on the different objects it passes through, listening to those songs would allow listeners to engage in various thoughts and emotions.

서상혁

Hoping to be remembered simply as good music

Q. How do you expect people to perceive the [Tell the Story] project which contains various musicians' thoughts on the Japanese military “comfort women” issue?

Song Eun-ji: It is simple. I just hope people to enjoy this music for the beauty of it. I would feel grateful if our message is delivered after that. The aspects I focused on and desired the most from the first album were 'I want to capture the work of the female musicians' and 'Let's make our own stories into music.' I feel proud that these have developed into the notion 'How should we remember the Grandmothers?' in the third album.

Seo Sang-hyuk: I think we can also draw lessons from how COVID-19 is currently interrupting people's daily routines across the globe. South Korea's meticulous handling of it will not stop the problem; instead, the current situation calls for many entities to unite and form solidarity. Similarly, I think it is crucial for people to embrace and face various social problems such as the Japanese military “comfort women” issue as their own, and to actually feel them.

Hwang Bo-ryeong: Music comes before slogans. I think this expression fits exactly what we want to say.

Lee Yoon-hyuk: I hope people would listen to our music carefully. There are 16 songs in the album, so I'm sure there would be at least one song that suits one's taste. (laughs)

Q. Do you have future plans for the [Tell the Story] project?

Seo Sang-hyuk: I’d like to share even more stories in the future through this project. Since doing outdoor performances is difficult these days, I consider the possibility of giving light project performances with the participating musicians in a new way.

Song Eun-ji: I guess now is the time to change the ways we view life. It would be fantastic to see more performances and meetings that discuss the alternative ways of life. In fact, the music in this album is kind of construed as one of the suggestions on how to remember the Grandmothers. I want to keep working to put forward such suggestions. I truly believe music is love. I would like to continue sharing these stories in places where music flows.

황보령

본 인터뷰는 문화공간 '행화탕'에서 이루어졌다.

Credit

Planning/execution : Hyun Seung-in  
Interview/writing : Geum Hye-ji 
Photo : popcon)

Date : Tuesday, April 21, 2020 
Location : 'Haenghwatang' ART Space : Cultural Complex, Mapo-gu, Seoul 

*This interview was conducted safely in accordance with the rules and guidelines for preventing the spread of novel coronavirus.