The public’s love of the modern folk singer Kim Kwang-seok and his music grows even deeper long after his death 20 years ago. This year, exhibitions about his life and concerts featuring the late singer in holographic images are drawing endless streams of fans.

Kim Kwang-seok healed many wounded souls of his generation with his singing, to his own accompaniment on guitar and harmonica. Kim took his own life at the age of 32 in 1996. Twenty years later, he continues to be loved by many Koreans.

On June 13, the hologram concert hall K-Live, located on Eulji-ro in Jung-gu, central Seoul, staged a concert that featured the late Kim Kwangseok. Kim was resurrected as a 3D image on stage thanks to cutting-edge audiovisual technology; he sang old favorites, such as “Letter from a Private” and “Around Thirty,” accompanying himself on the harmonica and guitar just as he did while alive.
An audition was held ahead of the concert to select the person whose facial features, bearing, and movements most closely resembled those of the late singer. A professional stage actor was selected, and he had to train rigorously for two months so he could move like Kim and mimic his facial expressions. When the actor was ready, he put on the outfits that Kim had actually worn during his live performances, and his lip-synching was recorded at a chroma key studio, capturing even the subtlest movements of the actor’s facial muscles. Anything that seemed to be lacking was added in by professional animators who overlaid 68 images of Kim Kwang-seok’s unique expressions. As part of the Ministry of Science and Future Planning’s Digital Heritage Program, the holographic concert was produced by 3D Factory; the project took nine months and cost some 550 million won. A Short, Intense Life “I used to feel sorry for him, but now I envy him,” said singer Park Hak-gi, who was a close friend of Kim. “Is there a singer who is loved so much for so long? He left behind a real story about his life deep inside the hearts of people who listened to his songs.”
Kim Kwang-seok first made his name known in the 1980s when he joined the working-class singing group Song Seekers and the band Dongmulwon (Zoo). He became socially conscious singing protest songs that were refined in pop style. He sang the songs that his contemporaries wanted to hear but at the same time he never wavered from his personal principles.

He was an insightful singer in that regard, for which he was widely respected. He later went on to become a solo performer. From his first album “Kim Kwangseok I” in 1989, to his remake album “Resinging Kim Kwang-seok II” in 1995, he sang more conscientiously than anyone else and reached out to a wider audience, calling himself the “singer worker.”
Kim held his 1,000th concert at Hakchon Theater in Daehangno on August 11, 1995, where he said: “I read a book written by the go player Cho Chikun [Korean name Cho Chi-hun] when I was in middle school, in which Cho said that he does not play to win. He said he just places the stones [on the board] one by one, with as much care as possible, and he became a Kisei [“Go Sage”] and a Meijin [“Master”]. I never aimed for a 1,000th concert. At each concert, I just performed every song with all my heart, and here I am. I owe this to you. What are my plans after this concert? Nothing planned, really. Just go on living.”
But the following year, on January 6, 1996, he committed suicide at the young age of 32. It remains a mystery to this day why he decided to take his own life.

Kim Kwang-seok Street in Daegu, created to honor him in 2009, has become a tourist spot frequented by 800,000 visitors every year.

Icon of Contemporary Folk Music
Kim Kwang-seok’s music is unique in that it sounds like typical folk music at first, but when you listen more closely you realize that it is a combination of several genres. His enunciation and on-beat, forthright singing style is compatible with protest songs or folk songs, but his melodies also include elements of pop and jazz. When he sings, it isn’t the songs themselves that we appreciate but “a montage of paintings.” He painted onto his songs the tapestry of life, including feelings of happiness, sorrow, friendship, and love. His singing style could have gone the way of musical cliché but because of this his songs struck a chord deep in people’s hearts.
Kim was a short man, with rough features. His appearance was nothing like that of a star, but the voice that came from his heart was enough to bowl over his audiences and leave them mesmerized. Few other pop culture stars have the ability to overwhelm an audience like Kim, and his unique, powerful music comforted and healed so many weary souls. He has been lauded as a pillar of contemporary Korean folk music and icon of lyrical pop music, and his music is still being reinterpreted today. A youthful singer, Kim Kwang-seok was suddenly gone like the wind, 20 years ago, but his memories linger on, laying a solid foundation for today’s pop culture.

‘Re-singing Kim Kwang-seok’
The annual “Re-singing Kim Kwangseok” concert has been staged since 2008. It serves as an opportunity for audiences to be reintroduced to Kim’s songs. The memorial concert, where musicians in tribute to the late singer replay and reinterpret his music, is now celebrating its ninth year.
In 2009, his hometown of Daegu dedicated the Kim Kwang-seok Memorial Art Street, also known as Artists’ Alley. This 300-meter-long street is lined with large murals of iconic images of the homegrown singer-songwriter, painted by local artists, and sculptures of Kim from when he was a young boy to when he attained fame as a singer. The street has become a tourist spot attracting 800,000 visitors every year. At Theatre Bundo, a holographic Kim concert is presented from Thursday to Sunday every week. The 20-minute show is free; it only requires an online reservation. The 70-seat theater is rarely empty as people steadily flock in to see the show.
An exhibition, “See Kim Kwang-seok,” was held at Hongik University’s Daehangno Art Center Gallery in Seoul, from April 1 to June 26 this year, displaying Kim’s handwritten music scores, diary, memoirs, and his favorite guitar. It was a large-scale exhibition that included eight themed spaces, where his music came together with the works of artists who paid him tribute. Another memorial exhibition is under way at the nearby DDP Design Pathway, from July 16 to September 11. It is titled “Kim Kwang-seok in My Heart: wkf tkfwl?” The cryptic sequence of letters was the last message he posted on “Round Sound,” the bulletin board of his online fan site, just before he died. Decoded into Korean, this odd sequence of letters may be read as “are you well?”
Kim Min-ki, a singer-songwriter and impresario, who is heading the Kim Kwang-seok memorial program, sums up the inspiration behind the many efforts to keep the late singer’s work alive through the decades: “The DDP exhibition is all about extending ‘my’ Kim Kwang-seok to the realm of ‘our’ Kim Kwang-seok.”