<Interview> Singer Kwon Mi Hee, who sings everything from Buddhist hymns to trot, talks about her aspirations for expanding into Japan.

We met and interviewed singer Kwon Mi-hee, who is unique in the field of Buddhist hymns based on traditional Korean music (folk songs) and sings modern interpretations of traditional Korean poetic tones in a form similar to haiku, after the broadcast of the BBS broadcast 'Seen Radio'.


Q. Please give us a brief self-introduction.

Hello. I am Kwon Mi-hee, a Korean traditional music singer and now a trot singer with a trot album. I also run the 'Happo Mihi' channel on YouTube.


Q.How long have you been performing on 'Kim So-yu's One Hundred and Eight Songs' on BBS Broadcasting's 'Seen Radio'? Is it a live broadcast and is there any burden on you?

I started in April 2021, and I have been selecting and singing songs every Tuesday for four years, but at first I was very burdened and worried a lot about having to prepare new songs. However, the broadcaster told me to take it easy and just come and play and go, so I really took it all easy and it's been four years, and now I'm grateful to be able to sing rather than feeling pressure.
I also didn't think I would be able to do it for so long, and I'm impressed with myself for having done it properly, as if I had made some kind of commitment every Tuesday for four years.


Q. How do you decide on the theme of each week's broadcast?

I decide. At first it was "come and sing" anyway, so the hardest part was choosing the songs, but I knew I needed to have my own criteria. So you have an issue for each weather, or for each season, or for each Buddhism.
Recently, I've been doing it in preparation, for example, I came up with the idea of a 'music quiz to find common lyrics'. It's from 2pm to 4pm, and our listeners are older people, so they have to move while listening to the radio at that time, but it shouldn't be too heavy, should it?


Q. Every time you broadcast, you receive a lot of comment support from fans. What is the average number of visitors you get?

Usually around 300, some old fans, but mostly we have a lot of new fans. We have a lot of trot fans in particular.


Q. You are the only singer in Korea specialising in Buddhist hymns, how did you come to feel the pressure yourself and what are your plans for this genre in the future?

I released an album of Buddhist hymns in 2014, and it's been 10 years now.
Before that, I was singing in a traditional singing style and when I was offered a Buddhist anthem album, I was worried that even though I am not a really famous singer.
There was a path I wanted to go down, but I was worried that if I sang Buddhist hymns I would lose my genre from now on, and it occurred to me that just being able to sing with this voice that I have makes me happy and enjoy my life, and I wondered first why I was so worried about making this distinction, and then Buddhist When I launched Hymn, I became very worried about how the fans would react.

I could sort it out, but to convince the fans I had to show them how I felt about this religion, and that I had to be prepared for this, so I started. After that, it wasn't a feeling of pressure, it was a feeling of gratitude and prayer, which I really like and have continued to do until now.
Until the time I lose my voice, my goal is to continue to make offerings with this song, which is a spiritual discipline.

Q. When I first met you, you were a singer challenging the Korean traditional music crossover genre with Voice of Heaven, but recently you have been paying more attention to trot. Is there a reason for this?

This is the same trigger as the Buddhist hymns, though. It happened while doing the radio programme 'One Hundred and Eighty Songs'.
While doing this programme, I had to choose four songs to sing every day, and at first there were many folk songs and Buddhist hymns that I wanted to sing, which I could sing. But I had to fill in the remaining two or three songs and I didn't have any. So I thought I wasn't doing music too extensively, and then I decided to sing songs that listeners liked to hear me sing to entertain them, so I practised and sang trot one song at a time from then on, and that was about two years, and then I was contacted by someone who saw the video. The fans liked it because I was doing the trot in a unique way, and I was contacted by some great composers, and I officially released the album.


Q. So you worked with the composer Ahn Chi-haeng, who is considered a master of the trot?

Yes, I did. I arranged the trot into traditional music and sang it. However, the video was the reason she heard my voice, and she ordered me to sing it like this, not like the national music, and she directed me to do so.
So she gave me one of her many songs that she had written. It is a blessing and a challenge for me. The title song is 'West Wind'.


Q. I heard that you have recently been working on an album with Ahn Chi-haeng, based on the city of Mokpo (Mokpo). What is the content of the album?

　The mayor thought that the only song that came to mind when I mentioned Mokpo was an old song called 'Tears in Mokpo' by Lee Mi-ja. So he decided to write a new song about Mokpo and joined the Mokpo Cultural Foundation and Ahn Chi-haeng's collaboration to make an album.
Six singers including Nam Jin, Kim Young Im and Seol Und are participating in the work, so please give us a lot of support.


Q. I was impressed by how you incorporated rock sounds into traditional music to create a new genre of pansori in the programme 'Windstream General'. I am wondering where the idea came from and whether you intend to continue working on this type of arrangement in the future.

In the third round of the programme, me, Lee Ha Jin and Im Jae Hyun were a team. So the three of us had to create something together, but instead of singing songs.
The three of us are still working together as a group called 'Tolgens'. We plan to continue arranging songs like this and to perform them in the future.


Q. You are thinking of expanding abroad, which genre of music are you planning to take with you? And what are your plans?

I'm studying trot, so I'll do my best in the trot genre, and wowKorea will help me in Japan.
And I'm also preparing a European tour as a traditional music album with 'Tolgens'.


Q. Finally, what would you like to say to your fans and listeners?

Please love BBS 'Visible Radio' a lot and support our new song 'West Wind' a lot.