London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

1956 – The birth of the hallyu?

Not really. But there’s a nice story in the Korea Herald about what is believed to be the first ever single released by a Korean artist in the U S of A: Ok Doo-ok’s East of Make Believe – a 1956 English-language remake of Korean singer Hyeon In’s Gohyangmanri, which roughly translates as “Miles Away from Home.” Ok Doo-ok performed under the name Moon Kim.

Moon Kim East of Make Believe

Someone needs to rip this and put it online. As Mark Russell points out, though, someone has already done this in in relation to Ok’s 1957 song Oriental Hop:

Mark has also tracked down a video of Moon Kim / Ok Doo-ok on Korean TV in 1990, which you can find over on his website.

And here’s her 1958 single I’m Dingy Dongy over You:

A piece of Korean music history.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.