During these strange months partly spent at home because of our age (over 70 ), which makes us illness-prone when facing the too famous virus, we have stopped going around.
My horizon is my small garden. When I need a farther view I 'climb' to the attic room where I can enjoy a larger landscape with Sainte -Victoire nose sticking through chimney-stacks plus the back of the hills around Aix -en -Provence.
I miss sunsets on the sea like I had the opportunity to watch either in Marseille Nice La ciotat or like last trip we did last autumn to Istanbul and Izmir :
I am nostalgic of the sea of course. It is the longest period in my life without having been able to make a trip to Marrseille.
I miss the sea. I miss live music of all sorts. I miss being part of an audience. I miss our trips to Paris to visit grandchildren. I miss breathing freely unmasked !!! but still I understand the necessity of protection for others and me.
As Willym wrote in one of his recent posts, it is time to count my blessings !
first blessing: I am not alone and we share:
sing along session
' it takes place almost every day, in the evening ! ( no more TV and Radio because they have no good vibes at all, we prefer to read on line and to get informed at sources we can choose. At least it is still a way to be free).
The nearer to live performances: mainly a revival of English and American pop songs and sometimes French tunes and their amazing story lines with my beloved Leo Férré and Georges Brassens, Edith Piaf , Barbara , Jean Ferrat (there are some songs on my blog ).
The Beatles are our favourite: we know the tunes by heart and almost know when the songs appeared in our youth. I laugh and jump with 'Good day Sun shine'! and some lines of 'Help' are always on my mind
especially these days! In1965 on a TV show they were bouncing and full of talent !
In Autumn 65 I left Provence and settled in my new job in Swansea, discovered the tide on the seashore down Sketty road. I had a room near Cwundonkin Park where Dylan Thomas wrote 'the hunchback in the park'. the view of Swansea Bay fromt there was dazzling days and nights! ( but I had no decent camera to keep souvenirs at that time !)'
Help' is a pep song with lots of second thoughts!
Then there are the story lines ones like: "she's leaving home' and 'the explosive Lucy in the sky ' contrasting with 'hey Jude' .With the Beatles there is a tune for every mood, feeling and thoughts. The melodies are matching the lyrics with timing and rhythm in a perfect way. When they crossed their Indian phase I loved them then. Same thing happened when they tackled topsy turvy songs like 'I'm the walrus' and its famous 'goo goo g ..'
Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun
If the sun don't come
You get a tan from standing in the English rain
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
I am the walrus, goo goo g' joob goo goo goo g' joob
"As for Semolina pilchard climbing the Eiffel Tower and Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna"
I am still trying hard to visualise and I love it!!
John had a sarcastic mind when all these images came, but the result after all these years is still mesmerising. It was included in the album for Christmas 1967 'The magical Mystery Tour'' which was my present from my better half that year !
Then there are jewels, songs for ever, with meaning and not only Pop, the ones we always have in mind and heart when needed like 'Imagine'. John Lennon was the real central brain in a way.
second blessing : Netflix and Korean series take my worries away !
Last Christmas (non pandemic period still) my grandchildren shared their Netflix acount with me and I was swallowed quite rapidly in the world of romantic sagas with Turkish series and I was hooked historical one with a beautiful orchestral background and a very dramatic love story at a time of war during the collapse of the Russian Empire and the effects on the Ottoman Empire when aristocrat soldiers from Crimea were serving in the Russian army. Based mainly in Istanbul, St pertersburg and Crimea. (Seyit and Shura)
From there I easily switched to Asia with another type of less violent and non historical series mainly Korean where the actors were younger and often had normal jobs in Seoul ( sometimes Busan but very often in the capital). I became addicted to the atmosphere of these series where we can see wonderful cooking display with all the names of dishes and of course the jars of Kimchi which can be seen on terrases everywhere in Seoul ( I stayed in Seoul for two weeks in April 2011k, and noticed these beautiful jars with tops and I thought they were preserving olives like we do here in Provence ; I did not ask our university friends about those jars and did not see olive trees in the surrounding landscape; then after two or three meals I was introduced to 'kimchi' which is an art in itself as each family has its own kimchi recipe and preserves shredded cabbage for all year round and all members of the family ! When taking photos, instead of "cheese' every body " it is 'Kimchy' .... So these rather joyful series like 'Pasta' and 'Coffee Prince ' took my mind away from the dreary atmosphere of our TV news and I stopped reading novels as often as I used to like to also (must be a side effect on my mind I read less than usual because I cannot be bothered by the story. ) I am becoming lazy lately watching my Ipad sometimes non-stop...
These series which are easy to follow have common sense and lively young actors with also older ones in real urban environement. We can see Seoul and the way people live in this city. I can compare the memories from our stay in Korea and being involved in this Korean atmosphere now I would like to take another trip because I know more on their way of life and I woud like to travel to Busan -coast to see the women fishers and see also all the seafood. In 'Pasta' The Chef' is a young man coming from a post in a restaurant in Florence he is a tyrant in his kitchen firing half of the brigade on his first day! I loved it ! the young team and their 'Chef' trained threee years in Florence to learn how to cook pasta. I was not expecting Korean people to be fond of Italian pasta ! they seem to be these days ! (I did not see the trendy things to do as we stayed in university circles and were taken to very good traditional korean cuisine of course!). I discovered No Min Woo there playing one of the three cooks trained in Florence. He has a support role and is handsome under his toque blanche. He does not show his character much he has no intrigue with the restaurant owner's rich sister. She would have liked to, but only shares drinks with him, He rides a huge motorbike in splendid attire but apart from that nice looking image and lovely smiles his character is not that fascinating.
Some dramas are dealing with class clashes ( I am not very fond of these because they follow the same pattern of money minded super wealthy ones having to marry their son or daughter in the same league )
I do not see the point in those as I cannot identify with any of the characters.
Then there are endless ones based on Hospital life. These remind me ours TV ones and I am not very keen either. They seem to like endless scenes in the operation wards with close-up which I do not really appreciate. Often the story line is better than the money-minded ones and I watched some good ones like 'Hospital ship' and 'Doctors'.
Then there are the ones for teen-agers and younger audience which is not my case but I must say I took real pleasure in the stories about singers and bands in the entertainingd and TV world.
What I like is to see the young people dancing and singing as it is always a very good rendition and the young actors are relly performing at top level. I felt much younger and shared some dicussions about the characters with my younger granddaughter!
It is in a series about TV world that I came across my third blessing :
Third blessing : No Min Woo
I discovered this young actor in the series Love and marriage.
This time he had a main role not at all a role based on the seductive power of his good looks.
His tall slim figure rather haughty for the purpose of the story as he is the only son of a Chaebol could have put me off. In fact from the start he made me laugh as he is selfish childish and rather off putting compared to the woman he fell in love at first sight, the TV news anchor woman who is challenged by her men colleagues. What he does as a culinary specialised journalist is fascinating there are really fantastic pictures of food display and some funny outdoors scenes. It is impossible not to be seduced by his off putting character and his kind of utterly selfish love for this young woman to a point we could hate him. The other man is more stereotyped and predictable. For once it is not a soapy love story, there is much more in it. I wished he took an interest in the baby boy who is his, only nearly at the very end he is saving both mother and son but we cannot say it is a complete 'happy end' still they are reunited for the last picture each parent holding the hand of their little boy... It is not possible to forget the way he played this selfish character which changes during the drama to a better person.
I moved to a lighter drama based on the life of a boys' band and their disgusting manager plus a fantastic young girl who is a stylist for one of the two lead-vocalists. She is also the main feminine role and a Martial Art teacher in her Grandfather Donjo.
here's the summary from Rakuten
"
full House 2,” a remake of a widely popular South Korean drama from 2004,
revisits the concept of an adult longing to regain a childhood home
that holds special memories. Lee Tae Ik (No Min Woo) lost his parents at
an early age and was driven out of the home that he shared with them.
He grows up to achieve success as half of a K-pop duo called TAKE ONE
with his singing partner Won Kang Hwi (Park Ki Woong). As he grows in
popularity as an idol star, Tae Ik’s main goal is to reclaim his
childhood home, known as Full House. But things get complicated when he
meets Jang Man Ok (Hwang Jung Eum), a former martial arts instructor who
is forced to take a job as the duo’s stylist to repay a debt. A love
triangle ensues between Man Ok, the perfectionists Tae Ik and the
free-spirited Kang Hwi.
“Full House Take 2” is a sequel to the popular 2004 drama series “Full
House,” starring Jung Ji Hoon and Song Hye Kyo, which was based on a
manhwa by writer Won Soo Yeon."
What they do not say here is that the songs and music during these series were composed by No Min Woo this in the other side of his personality : musician, pianist, composer who ean deal with music and lyrics as well. This drama in 32 episodes of 30 minutes was issued in 2012 in Japan. MinWoo was educated in Japan because his mother was in Japan to learn Enka form of singing when he was born . He stayed with his grandmother and started learning music very early. . What is known is that he started in the intertainment world as a drummer named Rose. He went back to Korea with his mother. His career started first as a boysband player then guitar player and vocalist : whenever he plays the piano with his lovely tomi -dog asleep next to him It is hard not to fall under his spell.
I would not say that all his songs are perfection to my ears but most of them have a pleasanrt pop sound of the 80's, sustained beat and good melodic intros. The ones I like best are his love songs when he starts gently on the piano before getting into the Rock beats and explosive vocal parts. He has a nice soft voice clear tops rather high -pitched he is very handsome and gives a lot of genuine feelings. I think that the role of Tae Ik when he is on stage is what he is in real life. It is quite an achievement.
Photo taken from Instagram Minue
He is talking to some of his fans through Facetime or some other device and sharing this with the rest of the world. (I guessed so because he does videos on his composing process almost every week and explains his songs; Here is is sampling the song 'Drifter' on the opening which he created on the piano' when I close my eyes' He is composing a rather large album on line (no materialisation so far for what I gathered) the music of "When I close My eyes is catching " ! so his is voice ! The lyrics in English is ather catching and melancholic, "when I close my eyes I see you... when I open my eyes I miss you'" the melodic tone here is so good too. (it stays in your memory easily which is sign of a good song indeed)
The Midnight Romance.
He created his band not long ago (he came back from miltary service at Summer time two years ago( I think) he had to start again and with the pandemic I do not think they perform live, although we all know Korea had fast testing of the population right at the beginning). It seems that he is composing a lot and creating which is great for him and his on line audience. (Asian fans from Korea Japan China Indonisia Thaïland... a lot of young people are taking part either on instagram or on his youtube channel MINUE )
Having
a close look at his picture his long curly hair his light mauve sweater
which looks too large for his thin body, his pale girlish face and
rather soft and almost sad look, like he was sharing his loneliness
with ours and giving heartedly away to all viewers all his talents
through music, I then thought 'what a strange world spinning round
where few minutes of what looks like intimate time is shared throughout
the world in a wink of an eye ... Is it reality ? And what am I doing
here myself still on line watching Minue? Then I felt grateful to
Minue, his voice and sincerity through music and style of living.
Wishing him to be happy in his dreams completely happy soon in his life
and to keep safe on the side of the road he has chosen to walk because
he has got such a generous and gifted nature !
This is the making of Minue's videos could well diisappear ... still it is most enjoyable it also made be go back to my old piano so out of tune and now I am looking for the scores of Dreamer .
Here is a song he created Just before the release of NIGHTMARE which is dead on time for Halloween. The young musician is for me a source of pleasure energy and fun ! it is amazing to see these young people sending him nice warm feelings and him almost answering every post with the new emeticon signs, the heart being by far the winner !!
It is a complaint about lost love on a quiet sad mood, with always hope to go back to the happy days ,when Love was shared through simple gestures like a hug, a tight hold, something real !
(I tried to understand reading two followers quite at ease with English who translated from Korean and from Japanese into English. So I matched the tenses and looked for phrasing which sounded English' ( I am not in the best position for that sort of job, still I can try ...) it can also be poetic somehow! The title could be :
Healing ...
Tonight the stars are sparkling bright
I'd like to light your way
Like the stars whirling in the sky.
If hard times hurt you
I'll be there to shelter you
I'll be there for you.
I feel like I am being left alone
And this feeling is drying up the way you go.
Even when Spring goes
And Winter comes
I 'll hug you tight.
Even if your efforts faded away
I 'll walk in your steps
And the day there will be no more regrets and regrets
Let's hug tightly and close our eyes
I'll hug you tight.
Another very sweet rendition of an oldish hit belonging to the Carpenters, Close to you' Minue sings it in a whisper... almost like a lullaby ... which will close the discovery of my third Blessing : a young singer composer and actor from Korean and Japan ... so gifted .Notice he's sipping his red wine , could it be French wine?
Will he tour Europe with his band one day ? Let's hope ! dream ... As Minue is a dreamer and he is not the only one... !
'regrets upon regrets ' be better perhaps .
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