Arirang America
From the moment she grabbed a guitar and sang, everything changed. The depressed girl transformed to someone who greeted her friends first and joined a school a capella group. After entering New York University, the road she must travel became clear to her. She decided, I must become a musician, and quit school. However, her parents opposition was fiery.
Mom and Dad wanted me to pick a specialized profession. They said if you really want to be a musician, you should go to Juilliard and study classical music. However, thats just something they wanted for vicarious satisfaction. Whenever that happened, I would bury my emotions and write a song.
After 20-year-old Susie made a decision akin to declaring war on her parents, she wrote the song Your Battlefield. Even when no one requested her to play, she would play at cafes and clubs, sometimes even subway stations, and sing with her whole body. She also went to the big record labels and did spontaneous performances, asking them for a record contract.
However, rather than praises, people called the singing Asian girl an amateur and sneered. However, whenever this happened, Susie would get rid of the mic and sing about her life. She was determined not to give up her songs for anyone.
Supporting herself, suffering from poverty, discrimination, and anxiety, she relied only on her guitar, singing for four years. Then she got a call from music producer-turned-EMI executive Charles Koppelman.
We like your voice. We want you to make a record.
Glen Ballard, who had produced world-famous woman rocker Alanis Morissette, said he would produce her album.
Finally, her debut album which contained her lifes stories came out on the Sony Epic Records label in April 2005. The New York Times compared this new Asian singer, whose eponymous record was entitled Susie Suh, to singer-songwriters like Norah Jones. Her rich and husky voice sings about the desire for love most compellingly, it praised.
On May 22, Susie Suh set foot on Korean soil. Along with the Ahn trio, a piano trio of Korean sisters active in the United States, she will play four concerts including the Gyeonggi Seongnam Arts Center (May 31st), the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts (June 8). She will play songs from her album like Right On My Shoulder, and she will coordinate with the Ahn Trios classical accompaniment to play songs including All I Want.
She laughed, saying that her parents who didnt believe in her talent even after the New York Times favorable review, said, Were proud of you, after she told them, The Korean newspapers want to interview me.
Her voice is as deep as her idol Billie Holiday and husky, and her tone and rhythm are contemplative. When she is told that it will be difficult for her to succeed in the Korean market, dominated by dance music and ballads, she says, I dont think about success. If there are people who like my music, that is enough to be thankful for.
She beams because she is happy to be able to sing. Susie Suh, or the tough Korean woman singer Suh Su-ji.
bsism@donga.com
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