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사람들은 모차르트나 스트라우스, 바흐 같은 위대한 클래식 음악가들이 당시에는 락스타 같은 위치였다는 것을 잘 모른다. 그들의 신곡은 여기저기서 연주되고 사람들은 그 음악을 어디에서고 흥얼거리고 또 춤을 추곤 했다. 마치 우리가 지금 비틀즈나 마룬5의 음악을 들으면 그러하듯이.
코미디언 김영철씨는 클래식 음악의 그 시절을 복원하고자 하는 듯하다. 그는 3월 29일 여수 GS 캍렉스 여울마루에서 시작되는 “Fun Fun 콘서트”를 시작해 좀 더 대중화 된 클래식 공연들의 사회자로 나설 예정이다.
김영철씨는 자신의 장기인 사람들을 웃게 만들고, 그럼으로 음악에 더 가깝게 느껴지게 만드는 역할,을 할 예정이다. 그는 Loeroy Anderson의 The Typewriter 라는 곳이 나올 때에는 직접 타이프라이터를 칠 예정이며 로시니, 호프만, 드보르자크와 베르디의 작품들에 대한 허심탄회한 소감들을 1000명 이상 되는 관객들과 나눌 예정이다.
김영철씨는 클래식을 잘 알지 못한다고 터놓았다. “초보자가 초보자나, 아니면 오히려 식견이 높은 분들을 이끄는 형식이 될 겁니다,” 라고 말하면서 김씨는 자신이 사회를 맡게 된 연유는 제안이 들어왔고, 호기심이 발동했기 때문이라고 말했다.
“하지만 먹히는 부분이 있습니다. 클래식을 잘 모르는 사람들이 어떠한 생각을 궁금해하는지에 대해 저는 알고 있습니다. 바하는 바하라고 하나 바흐라고 불러야 하나, 같은 것들입니다. 저는 항상 헷갈렸고, 아마 많은 한국 사람들이 헷갈릴 것입니다. 그런데 많은 사람들이 그런 단순한 것들을 어디 물어보기 부끄러워 하잖아요, 저는 그런 것들을 말하려고 합니다.”
개그맨 김씨는 자신이 하는 일이 좀 더 많은 사람들이 클래식을 가깝게 느낄 수 있게 했으면 좋겠다고 했다. 현재 클래식은 좀 더 “품위있고” “잘사는” 어떤 제한된 계층의 사람들이 향유하는 전유물로 여겨지고 있다.
“저는 김정운 교수의 ‘남자의 물건’ 이라는 책에서 교수님이 스트레스 받을 때는 바하의 ‘양들은 평화로이 풀을 뜯고”라는 곳을 듣는 다는 구절을 보고 찾아서 들어보았습니다. 정말 마음이 편해지는 느낌이었습니다. 아직도 무엇을 좋아하는 지 찾아보고 있습니다. 그런데 처음보다는 많이 편해지고, 다른 장르의 음악과 마찬가지로 조금 다를 뿐이라는 생각이 들고 있습니다.”
Fun Fun 콘서트는 김영철의 시그니처 프랜차이즈 – “Fun Fun”시리즈의 최신작이다. Fun Fun 은 또한 한국어 뻔뻔과 음차되기도 한다.
김씨는 잘하지 못하던 영어에 매진한 결과, 상당한 성공을 거두었다. 그는 서울예술전문학교의 영어 관련 겸임교수로 재직 중이며 SBS 의 라디오쇼를 진행하고 있고 영어 학습과 관련된 책만 5권을 냈다.
“영어를 배우는 것과 클래식 음악 입문하기는 비슷한 점이 있습니다. 뭔가 멀리 있는 것 같고 나와 어울리지 않는 것 같았지만 처음부터 잘 모른다고 인정하고 시작했더니 조금은 편해진 듯 했습니다.”
그는 북한에서 영어로 된 클래식 공연을 진행하는 꿈을 꾸고 있다. 아마 남북의 평화에 지렛대가 될 수 있지 않을까.
그는 주빈메타가 1월 방한했을 때 한 말에 싶은 감명을 받았다고 고백했다. 세계적인 음악 거장인 메타는 “음악의 힘을 과소평가해서는 안됩니다. 음악이 모든 것을 해결해줄 수는 없지만, 모든 사람 입에 미소가 걸리게 할 수는 있습니다,” 라고 말했다.
“가끔 생각해봅니다. 금강산에서 열리는 클래식 콘서트 가운데에 영어로 조크를 넣으면 어떨까? 평양이나 개성은 또 어떨까? 저는 아마 평화를 불어넣을 수는 없겠지만, 조금이나마 해빙시킬 수 있지 않을까요?” (배지숙 기자. baejisook@heraldcorp.com)
<관련 한글 기사>
Kim Young-chul, more than just a funny man
By Bae Ji-sook
People often forget that Mozart, Beethoven or Strauss were rock stars of their times. Their newest pieces were performed everywhere and people danced and hummed to every tune as we do with the Beatles or Maroon 5.
Comedian Kim Young-chul is hoping that classical music can regain that status. He is to host a series of touring classical concerts, “Kim Young-chul’s Fun Fun Classic,” this year starting with a concert in Yeosu GS Caltex Yeulmaru in South Jeolla Province on March 29.
He plans to make the most of what he is good at -- making people laugh and feel closer to music. He will act as a secretary using a typewriter on stage during the performance of Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter.”
Then he will share his knowledge and impression about Rossini’s “Wilhelm Tell Overture,” Hoffmann’s “Les Oiseaux dans la Charmille,” Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, and Verdi’s arias with more than 1,000 spectators.
Kim confessed that he isn’t really familiar with classical music at all.
“So it will be a novice leading novices or an even higher-level audience,” he said, explaining that he had gotten into the project out of pure curiosity when it was brought up by a friend.
“But this is the selling point: I could point out what exactly anyone unfamiliar with classical music may wonder about -- is Bach pronounced [bɑːk] or [baha], as the name is commonly pronounced in Korea? I was always confused about that and many Koreans definitely are. I know that many people are too embarrassed to ask such simple questions to experts. I will do it for them,” he said.
The funnyman said he hopes to start a movement to widen the public’s access to classical music, which has been widely perceived as a “classy” and “special” genre limited to rather highly educated and economically privileged people.
“I have started listening to some pieces very recently after reading a book, ‘Namjaeui Mulgeon (Belongings of a man),’ in which the author Kim Jung-un mentions that he listens to Bach’s ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’ whenever he is stressed out. I searched the music and started listening to it and find it very comforting,” he said. “I am still searching for what I like best. But nowadays I find it comforting and enlightening like other genres of music.”
The Fun Fun concert is the latest of Kim’s idiosyncratic project, “Fun Fun (which puns with the Korean word “bbeon-bbeon” meaning thick-skinned) series.
Kim, who confessed to not having been fluent in English, threw himself into learning English and his efforts are now paying off. He now teaches English at Seoul Arts College; hosts SBS FM’s English morning show, “Fun Fun Today”; and has written five books on learning English.
“To me learning English and classical music are the same in a way. They seemed distant and not really for me, but after learning from scratch, admitting that I don’t know them, I have become really comfortable with them.”
Kim said he dreams about hosting a classical music concert in English in North Korea, being a bridge of peace between the two Koreas. He said he was inspired by Maestro Zubin Mehta who visited Seoul in January and said, “We should not underestimate the power of music. Music will not solve all the problems, but can make all people smile at each other.”
“I dream about (what) would it would be like to perform some silly jokes about solemn classical music in English on Mt. Geumgangsan. What about Pyongyang or Gaesong? I am definitely not a peacemaker but I could thaw some ice,” he said. (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)
Kim Young-chul, more than just a funny man
By Bae Ji-sook
People often forget that Mozart, Beethoven or Strauss were rock stars of their times. Their newest pieces were performed everywhere and people danced and hummed to every tune as we do with the Beatles or Maroon 5.
Comedian Kim Young-chul is hoping that classical music can regain that status. He is to host a series of touring classical concerts, “Kim Young-chul’s Fun Fun Classic,” this year starting with a concert in Yeosu GS Caltex Yeulmaru in South Jeolla Province on March 29.
He plans to make the most of what he is good at -- making people laugh and feel closer to music. He will act as a secretary using a typewriter on stage during the performance of Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter.”
Then he will share his knowledge and impression about Rossini’s “Wilhelm Tell Overture,” Hoffmann’s “Les Oiseaux dans la Charmille,” Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, and Verdi’s arias with more than 1,000 spectators.
Kim confessed that he isn’t really familiar with classical music at all.
“So it will be a novice leading novices or an even higher-level audience,” he said, explaining that he had gotten into the project out of pure curiosity when it was brought up by a friend.
“But this is the selling point: I could point out what exactly anyone unfamiliar with classical music may wonder about -- is Bach pronounced [bɑːk] or [baha], as the name is commonly pronounced in Korea? I was always confused about that and many Koreans definitely are. I know that many people are too embarrassed to ask such simple questions to experts. I will do it for them,” he said.
The funnyman said he hopes to start a movement to widen the public’s access to classical music, which has been widely perceived as a “classy” and “special” genre limited to rather highly educated and economically privileged people.
“I have started listening to some pieces very recently after reading a book, ‘Namjaeui Mulgeon (Belongings of a man),’ in which the author Kim Jung-un mentions that he listens to Bach’s ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’ whenever he is stressed out. I searched the music and started listening to it and find it very comforting,” he said. “I am still searching for what I like best. But nowadays I find it comforting and enlightening like other genres of music.”
The Fun Fun concert is the latest of Kim’s idiosyncratic project, “Fun Fun (which puns with the Korean word “bbeon-bbeon” meaning thick-skinned) series.
Kim, who confessed to not having been fluent in English, threw himself into learning English and his efforts are now paying off. He now teaches English at Seoul Arts College; hosts SBS FM’s English morning show, “Fun Fun Today”; and has written five books on learning English.
“To me learning English and classical music are the same in a way. They seemed distant and not really for me, but after learning from scratch, admitting that I don’t know them, I have become really comfortable with them.”
Kim said he dreams about hosting a classical music concert in English in North Korea, being a bridge of peace between the two Koreas. He said he was inspired by Maestro Zubin Mehta who visited Seoul in January and said, “We should not underestimate the power of music. Music will not solve all the problems, but can make all people smile at each other.”
“I dream about (what) would it would be like to perform some silly jokes about solemn classical music in English on Mt. Geumgangsan. What about Pyongyang or Gaesong? I am definitely not a peacemaker but I could thaw some ice,” he said. (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)
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