Just 4 days ago.

When I hear Dongha singing with this kind of manly voice, and when I see him being so relaxed and happy on stage, interacting with audience - I want to be his fan forever, and ever. Apologies to AleSong, for stealing her video from YouTube. I just couldn't resist.

New Jung Dong Ha?

I am a little nervous. I am worried that under the new agency Jung Dong Ha may be gradually changing his image into less youthful, less crazy, less playful, less surprising , but more subdued, more tame, and therefore more bland singer. More predictable as an artist, less inclined to take any risks, or to put any unusual ideas into his live performances. Not as fearless, not trying new things?

Maybe it is way premature for me to worry about it. It's been only about a month since the new agency took him under their wing.  However I'm beginning to think they are trying to create more "mature" image of him. It starts with the choice of first song that they promote; the remake of  the old movie song, "If You Love". It is very sentimental, mellow, sad. Not that I dislike the song - I actually totally accept it, and appreciate the gentle style of it. I'm enjoying it every day. It warms up my heart.

But I can't help but feel some sort of anxiety, because I'm unsure about Jung Dong Ha.
Has he decided that now that he is a daddy, he should change into a more dignified guy? But why?! Regardless of his family situation, he is still young, and looks much younger than his real age! What is that talk about soon reaching the age of 40, when in reality it will be in 2 years?
Is his agency pushing these ideas into his head? Are they trying to re-make his image into some sort of Korean Michael Buble?
In recent few days the promotional events for the new song are very intense. Dongha has been singing it at a various of programs, both live, as well as doing recordings in some TV studios, for later broadcast,  trying to reach as wide an audience as possible.  He continues to put overly tragic expression on his face, presumably because the song is sad.  I noticed that his styling is not that great - the stuff he wears seems to be kind of old fashioned, more suitable for a fuddy-duddy. Also, he wears more heavy make-up, than he used to. Even in his promotional pictures his face looks unnaturally brushed.
He really doesn't need that "I am becoming old person" stuff. It's too early to be doing that at his age.

The weekend is coming, and there will be a couple more live appearances, and the broadcast of the recorded 'Yoo Hee-yul's Sketchbook' TV show. I hear that the host is saying that Dongha's fans are housewives. This annoyed me to the maximum. That person already said the same thing 4 years ago! Why say a thing like this, it's not very original! Couldn't he think of something more intelligent to say?
It is not relevant to artist's accomplishments, what kind of people are his fans. At least it shouldn't be relevant. Artist should express his creativity, and accept the people who love him, and want to support him. The kind of fans Dongha has, should not reflect upon his style. He should be himself, that's it.
I fear, that his agency may be trying to put into his head something like: "your fans are all those housewives, ("adjuhmas"); and you know what stuff  housewives like - cheesy and sentimental, weepy stuff. They have very unsophisticated tastes. So you should deliver what the old ladies want".

OMG, I am torturing myself too much!  I should not overthink, and just wait and see.
 

Poe revisited

The musical "Edgar Allan Poe" has ended  February 4th, but the show was televised , and broadcast in 2 parts, on April 14th and 15th, on MBC channel. And guess who was featured in the televised version? None other than "uree Dongha-nim". 💜 Yesss. And even the broadcast was in the middle of the night, at 1:30 am, he was noticed, and got good reviews. Before the broadcast, Dongha was interviewed quite extensively, giving his comments about it.

Several video clips showed up on You Tube, and it became obvious to me, that his role in musical "Poe" is a great achievement, and that he grew better, much better,  in his acting ability .
Below is the video of a duet with "Elmira". His voice is exquisite in this song,  smooth like velvet, absolutely perfectly expressing the affection Poe has for Elmira.

                      
                                                                                              ***

And a completely different scene: Poe delirious under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
  

 I am always struck with awe, when Dongha is at his best. I just can't compare him to anyone. I am amazed how his acting has vastly improved since Turandot or even Notre Dame De Paris. He can now truly be called "musical actor" as well as pop singer. Which path will he choose in the near future? I hope he can go both paths in parallel.

Birthday; and a gift of song

It's Dongha's birthday today. I'm not even gonna mention how old he is this time. The poor misguided guy thinks he's been 39 since January 1st anyway, so I'm not going to argue about it.
Today is his day to celebrate, and he decided to give his fans a gift. He recorded an old song from the movie "Classic" (reviews said it was a very good movie), and released it today, saying it's for the fans. Aww, how cheesy of him.
I mean, sweet.

The song is very mellow, sentimental ballad, with soothing melody that flows very nicely. He recorded it with his higher range voice, and he sounds as if he is trying gently to comfort somebody. Do I like it? Oh, yes. It comforts my heart. I like that he sings in such soft, subdued way, instead of over-dramatizing it. He could have gone either way, and he made a good choice. This is his first recording released under the new management.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   
And here is  the lovely man on his birthday, heading to KBS2  studio to record a TV appearance. Thanks to Summer Yu for permission to use her pictures.💜

Close to my heart

Notre Dame De Paris 2018!

As predicted by some fans, Dongha will again play the role of Grignoire, in the musical  Notre Dame de Paris this year! These are special shows, because year 2018 is the 20th anniversary of the musical, and the 10th anniversary of the Korean production.

And a couple of promotion pictures showed up.  Mysterious. Will they really change the way Grignoire looks? Different costume, different hair? Or maybe it's just for the pictures.

                         Below is the initial schedule of Jung Dong Ha, for the month of June 2018.

Jung Dong Ha is going to be 40 yrs old next year ???

No, no,  that can't be! 😲

Who said so? Well, Jung Dong Ha himself said so. At a recent special yearly concert dedicated to the late Kim Kwang Seok, Dongha sang his very well known ballad "About  Being 30".  He had performed it multiple times before - he almost always participates in this commemorative event. But this time he apparently said that this was probably the last time he would sing this particular song, because he will not be in his 30-ties any more. He will turn 40 next year.

What? I must protest! This is wrong.
Jung Dong Ha was born April 17, 1980. So everywhere in the world, except Korea, he will be 38 next month.
So a year from now he will be only 39!
I was already slightly irritated last year, when 37 yrs old Dong Ha received a cake with a big number 38 on it, but I didn't say anything. It's the silly way Korean calculate age of a person. Why is that? I did some research online, and here is what I found on the website https://www.90daykorean.com/korean-age-all-about-age-in-korea/  

"Age in Korea is different from age in other countries. You may be thirty years old whether you are in the USA, France, or Russia, but as soon as you arrive in Korea, you magically become thirty-one or thirty-two. How can this be?
Well, Koreans have a different way of calculating their age than people in other countries.
People in most countries calculate their age based on their birthday. If you were born on April 1st 2000, then you would turn 17 on April 1st 2017. However, in Korea, age isn’t calculated based on your birthday.
If you are born in the USA, then on the day after you are born, you are considered to be one day old.
In Korea, on the day of your birth, you are considered to be one year old; the time you spent in the womb counts as the first year of your life (despite it only being nine months). Because of this, your Korean age is always at least one year higher than your international age.(...)Koreans all age on the same day. January 1st. No matter when your birthday is, if you were 40 years old on December 31st, then on January 1st, you will be 41. Korean age works as if everybody was born on January 1st.(...) if today is February 14th, and you were born in July, you would add two years to your age. If today is February 14th, and you were born in January, you would just add one year to your age."

Under  the article quoted above, a Korean posted a comment: "I read this article and found it succinctly explains what Age means in Korea. However, the explanation on Korean age is not correct. (...) The reason why the new-born baby's age is 1, is that it is the first year of the birth.
So, regardless of the birthday, at January 1st, everyone get 1 year older.
It has nothing to do with that pregnancy period."
                                                                                     ***

OK, then now that we have full understanding of Korean convoluted way of counting age, we can listen to Dongha singing "About Being  30", maybe for the last time? It seems that knowing he is approaching 40, he feels he will not have the right to sing about being in the 30-ties. Therefore he sings it somewhat differently, with added emotion, and nostalgia. His face expresses self irony, maybe. How cute.

                    

New beginning

While I'm re-starting my blog, I am still a very devoted fan of Jung Dong Ha, but I have to admit, I do feel a little different. 
My previous blog  jungdongha.blogger.com, originated out of sheer excitement with a new discovery of a wonderful singer in a far-away country.
This time, it's going to be more like solid cheering for him, by someone who knows him well, and is aware of his past, and current endeavors. I already know who he is, and what he is capable of, as an artist. So I want to keep saying "Go, go go, Jung Dong Ha! Keep going!"

The past 4 years consisted of excitement, and adventure. Excitement of finding him, and going through countless of videos, and audios. Excitement of meeting new friends online, who shared their knowledge with me about him, whenever I had questions. I followed his appearances on TV, his concerts, his interviews . It was so easy, because his fans diligently record and share everything! 
I became more adventurous than ever. I attempted to learn Korean language, because I wanted to know the lyrics of his songs. First of all I learned to recognize his name written in Hangeul alphabet.  Now, I know some common expressions.. 😀 I learned a lot about Korea itself.
Also, because of Jung Dong Ha fever, I developed new hobby - watching Korean TV dramas - LOL - it's true!
Then, there was a big adventure to travel to his concert  near Washington DC!!! Wow, I saw his live performance, and I was NOT disappointed.
Finally, almost out of the blue, I decided I must  go to Korea to see him in the musical Notre Dame De Paris. I took advantage of the fact that my adult son went to Korea to teach. I felt it was a sign that I should just do it, while visiting my son. It was a once in a life time opportunity. It happened!!!! I visited Seoul, I went to the musical, and I even got to shake Dongha's hand, and get his autograph on a CD. And I got to meet a few of his fans in person and they were very nice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      
It's all in the past, enjoyable as it was. Nothing like this awaits me any more, I don't think so.
Following Jung Dong Ha became a steady hobby of  mine. It's still extremely enjoyable, but not as frenzied as before. I love being his fan, and I feel proud of  all his success. Cheers.