Tuesday, December 30, 2008

[News] Lee An on U Weekly 29 Dec 2008




An article about this winter tour by Wei Qiang from U Weekly.
Thank you Wei Qiang! ^ ^
And.. someone help me translate please? I'm studying very hard but not good enough read through whole article! hahaha...
And.... I won't forget about 'pai zhao' and 'pao cai' from next time.. hahahaha
Thanks! ^ ^
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* Translated by Lee Hua (thank you! ^ ^)
28 years old Korean Artiste, Lee An, released his debut album and subsequently another of his work in the year 2004 and 2005. He subsequently set his sights on Asia, picking Singapore as his strategic market to further his music career. In conjunction to setting Singapore as an entry point, he released a Mandarin album.
His album is released in Jan 2007 where he received much positive feedbacks and response. However, due to certain external factors, promotional activities are not coordinated and carried out. Lee An released another album in May 2007, featuring 3 Korean-Mandarin remixes.
Lee An is scheduled to release his brand new album next year where much support is rendered by both the KTO and a self-initiated organization in Jeju. They hope to bring Lee An further in his music career in both popularity as well as building more awareness of Korea itself to the Singapore market. This third album will also be released in Korea and Jakarta, with much potential of breaking into the other Asia markets.
KTO and Diners World Travel co-organized a Korea trip special earlier this month with Lee An as the celebrity tour-guide, allowing more people to know about this Korean artiste. An exclusive interview was arranged where Lee An displayed much professionalism despite a late night interview along with his busy schedule.
Taking language classes in Singapore
Lee An is very passionate about singing and have the intention to major in it in college. However, back in 2001, such specialization was not offered in teritiary institution yet. Hence, after graduating from high school, he further his studies and passion in a US University.
Upon graduation, Lee An returned to Korea to work as a music producer for six years, working on various artistes’ albums.
In 2006, Lee An came to Singapore upon invite from the Korean expatriates living in Singapore. He came as a performer where his performance revealed his potential and talent as a great artiste. Rock Records (Singapore) subsequently help Lee An to bring his albums to the Singapore music scene.
Upon the end of the 1-yr contract, Lee An was signed as an artiste to his current manager, Miss Ha Boyi who helped him to release another album, displaying his music works. Despite a long preparation prior to the album release, due to his first attempt in writing a Mandarin song, his album collate only three of his new works.
Lee An places much emphasis on the Singapore’s market, where he released and performed several Korean-Mandarin remixes along with frequent visits to Singapore. He also started taking language classes in Singapore to learn mandarin. Lee An expressed his liking for Singapore and comment that Singaporeans are very friendly and its weather suit his preference for warm climate.


Singapore’s Music Scene
Given Singapore’s market size, many local artistes are looking for opportunities to venture beyond home-ground. What makes a Korean artiste to decide to set his base here in Singapore?
In response, Lee An expressed that Singapore is of strategic point in Asia, along with multi-cultural and multi-language environment, receptiveness of foreigners are much higher than other Asia counterparts.
Quoting an example, he feels that taking Japan as a base point will face several restrictions in terms of language and communication. This is due to the mother-tongue which is much taking to sing mandarin songs in China. However, in Singapore, both English and mandarin songs are accepted and understood. Hence, much rooms for advancements are available.


Keen to work with Singapore’s Stef Sun
Lee An’s albums that are released in Korea incorporate six of his own composition. Lee An expressed that despite him knowing how to play the guitar and drum, his composition is done via recordings given the mobility and convenience. He believed that composition allows for better understanding and appreciation which translates to better projection of the songs. Lee An also comment on his desire to work with Stef Sun, well-admired by him who is astonished to see a very powerful vocal expressions.


Loves racing and water-rafting
Lee An participate in a all-celebrity organized racing team in Korea where he conducts practices every week. The team participates in numerous races where Lee An was a runner-up in one of such races. Lee An is also a water-rafting’s lover. He will engage water-rafting with his friends occasionally. Additionally, he is also an avid traveller. He has been to numerous countries including Bintan, Japan, Spain and London. He looks forward to a honeymoon over at Phillipines.


Female fan took leave to participate in Lee An’s tour
Several fans took part in the trip lead by Lee An this time around. One of such participants would be Miss Tan Lee Hua, a travel agency representative. She expressed deep admiration for Lee An’s vocal expressions despite the language barriers of the Koreans Ballets Lee An delivered. She commented on the original composition that he wrote which differentiates him but do note improvement can be made for his mandarin pronunciation. Participant also comment on the jokes that Lee An made at times, between ‘pai zhao’ and ‘pao cai’. He will ask “do you want to pao cai?”, which is really funny. Getting to know Lee An a period of time, reflects on his warm personality on appreciating his fans and supporters, he is really nice and all of us are like friends. As an artiste, it is not easy. Whenever he flew from Korea, he will send messages to the fans, letting them know he had safety arrived Singapore, just like his family.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least you can read some of it...I can't even read a single word. Except maybe the numbers...coz' they're not in Chinese characters! Haha.

Lee Hua will be translating it for us. She said she'll put it up on her Friendster. Yeay! ^^

Anonymous said...

Hi~
Juz back home ^^
Yes, I will try to translate by tonight and post up to share with everyone here.

Ooo... Lee An not bad ah, at least u know how to read some of the characters... li hai~ li hai~

thomtoh said...

Hehehe...

Boyi's name in HANJA is 河普伊, according to the U-Weekly article.

Oh, and yes, 泡菜 pao4 cai4 and 拍照 pai1 zao4 are definitely...different., though you can take pictures of pao cai! aha

thomas

Anonymous said...

ah... LA ssi.. a very sporty & adventurous person neh...

eh.. wat's the difference between 'pao cai' & 'pai zao'??

Anonymous said...

Hi Lee An,
How are you? Quite a long time didn't talk and see you.

My chinese is also not so good. So
i would like to thanks Lee Hua for the translate.. "xin ku ni le"

Anonymous said...

being a very sporty & adventurous person, is good ya ^^

Su... "pao cai" is actually kimchi and "pai zhao" is taking photo...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the translation Lee Hua! =)

At least I know what 'pao cai' is. Haha.

And one day, Lee An ssi, you have to play guitar & drums for ALL of us. Haha.

thomtoh said...

Hi LeeHua,

Thanks for the translation.. :)
It's certainly hardwork.

I think there are some slight errors...

1. Lee An expressed that despite him knowing how to play the guitar and drum, his composition is done via recordings given the mobility and convenience.

Lee An expressed that although he only knows how to play the guitar and drum, his style of composition is done using the recording pen, which he uses to
record melodies that he think of at any one time.

2. He has been to numerous countries including Bintan, Japan, Spain and London.
It should be Bali, not Bintan.

3. She expressed deep admiration for Lee An’s vocal expressions despite the language barriers of the Koreans Ballets Lee An delivered.
It should be Korean ballads.



Cheerios
Thomas

Anonymous said...

Lee Hua...thanks so much for the English translation of the article.

Anonymous said...

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for spotting my error... Hope you guys still can understand what I am writing... though it is not so good... I try ^^