Yamagata Tweakster is an entertainer for people composed ofinter-dependence musician HAHN Vad and a MacBook Air. His performances breathewith people in any place, whether it is a concert hall or a street.

Interview

Q. Not only HAHN Vad’s different stage names (“AmateurAmplifier” and “Yamagata Tweakster’) but also his project names ("GrooveGuruma" and "Manri-dong Missing You") sound impressive. Have suchdifferent names changed HAHN Vad’s music as well? What does such naming mean toHAHN Vad?

HAHN Vad: I’mcurrently performing in the name of “Yamagata Tweakster”and “Amateur Amplifier” is my previous name. Bothare the musician HAHN Vad’s stage names. They aredifferent. Amateur Amplifier mostly played folk music. He calmly sang songsabout a man’s daily life, playing the guitar. Actually, the music wasn’t thatcalm because it was closer to funk than folk music. “Yamagata Tweakster”focuses on dance and electronic music. What clearly differentiates him is thathe tells other people’s stories through his songs, rather than telling his ownstories. While performing, he cheerfully sings and dances. A visibleperformance is particularly important for him.

Once I come up with a name, it is followed by a characteror an act matching the name. For “Amateur Amplifier,” a man’s inner fantasy inhis daily life seemed to be amplified vigorously. When it comes to “YamagataTweakster,” “yama” comes from a Korean slang meaning “crazy.” This charactercheerfully interprets the anger we feel in daily life by performing to a beat,just like relieving stress. In this way, a name helps me specify a character’sdetails. “Groove Guruma” also seems to have exerted his power by combiningpersonal sensibility and a concrete and physical objet’s act in this world.

HAHN Vad: Forlisteners, there may not be any big difference. But once a concept is made, anew meaning comes from it. This also generates new power. Previously, I used toconsider myself a small musician in the indie scene. But I came to think thatit would no longer be meaningful to have my music consumed in the small localscene of the Hongdae area in Seoul and to form relationships with listenersthat way. So I went through a period of losing my direction. Thinking about howto go beyond the music scene in Hongdae without heading to the mass media, Icame up with the concept of “inter-dependence music.” This may look fundamentalist.“Indie music” means “independent” but it is not actually independent from thecapitalist market. It seemed that the music was trying to suit some listeners’taste. I wanted to get out of that. Without relying on capital, I wanted totell my story on my own and meet those who could be empowered by my music.Q. How has the concept of “inter-dependence music” changed from the past?Does inter-dependence music also have a scene?

HAHN Vad:“Inter-dependence music” doesn’t seem to have a fixed meaning. Within myself aswell, the meaning of inter-dependence music has changed through differentexperiences. Ten years ago, I criticized the situation in which my music wasn’tgetting out of the boundaries of the indie scene in the Hondgae area. Theconcept of inter-dependence music has expanded. So right now, “inter-dependencemusic” stands in contrast to “music as merchandise” and “music consumed in themarket.” Instead, it literally refers to the music that raises up those whohave fallen down and myself who look at them. In short, it is the music thatsaves people.

A scene for inter-dependence music was almostformed but it went nowhere. Now, it doesn’t exist. Ten years ago, I shared mydefinition of inter-dependence music with collaborators at the restaurantDuriban2 which was about to be demolished. We joined forces to makea scene for inter-dependence music and we also established a cooperative. Andwe tried to stabilize several concrete systems. But the cooperative hadinternal problems. In addition, its members didn’t pursue any power orauthority so the organization was fragile. The cooperative began to weakenthree or four years ago and currently, it isn’t doing any activity as acooperative. Instead, some of its members have led some trends to carry outactivities after those of the inter-dependence music production cooperative.

HAHN Vad: Beforeperforming as “Amateur Amplifier,” I was in Daegu City. During that period,people often told me that I had great enthusiasm but that I lacked basics. Itcould be called “enthusiasm without roots.” Later on, in 2003, I made my debutas “Amateur Amplifier” in Hondae. In that area, the Free Market (a marketplacefor artists organized by Mr. Kim Young-deung leading Club Bread) was takingplace in a playground. While performing there, I felt the spirt of street arts.At that time, the atmosphere was quite different from that of today. Whatever Iperformed, a certain group of people looked at me attentively and seriously,just as they were thinking, “This crazy guy is incredible!” Even if I screamedand broke the guitar, they accepted it. I then immersed myself in street arts.That same was true for the performance at Seoul Fringe Festival. In that era,on the streets in Hongdae, whatever artists performed, people didn’t hate orstop it even if it was shocking. Instead, passers-by looked at them seriouslyand cheered for them. That was the culture at that time. This seems to haveformed a basis for my current aesthetics of street arts. I believe that thefree atmosphere in Hondae has nurtured many street artists. In those days, Iexperienced avant-garde performances and a variety of artistic movements inHondae. That experience became a great asset to me. Thanks to this experience,I have been able to continue interesting performances for rallies and protests.Such a style may have been shocking to union members. Nevertheless, myenthusiasm finally brought me partial success in meeting them. It could be saidthat an avant-garde artist in Hongdae has been transformed into an avant-guide(?) artist in rallies.

HAHN Vad: YamagataTweakster’s music doesn’t tell my own stories. Instead, he tells stories ofthose on the spot. I receive stories from them and make sings to empower theirmovements. When I performed as Amateur Amplifier, a small group of peoplecertainly empathized with my music and they were comforted by it. I got a cluefrom their reaction. I started singing songs of those on the spot when I wentto Jongchon-ri which is a small village located in Jochiwon in Korea. Thevillage has become Sejong City. As the city was formed in that area, localresidents left their village and scattered. There was a party comforting thoseleaving the village and Amateur Amplifier was invited on that occasion. I sangreally badly so people would have wondered if I’m a singer. I actually startedsinging in a high tone. The video of that performance shows a kid moving hisfinger, just like saying, “That guy is crazy!” I wanted to give up but Ifinished the song. Those who were looking at me dumbfoundedly finally startedapplauding with empathy and support. I believe that we were comforting eachother at that moment. I was giving them a certain comforting message in asincere way. The song allowed me to have an experience of sharing what was inour hearts. And this experience made me decide to perform for those in need. Itled me to make cheerful songs out of on-site messages to encourage people withmy performances.

HAHN Vad: Thefirst thing that comes to my mind is a hunger strike at Ki-Ryung Electronics& Energy.3 For me, it was a transition period from AmateurAmplifier to Yamagata Tweakster. Playing the guitar, I was singing as AmateurAmplifier. But suddenly, I stood up with my laptop computer and started singingand dancing as Yamagata Tweakster. My dance during the hunger strike caused astir. But soon after, some people began to dance with me. The “Desperate GuitarMan,” who performed with me during that hunger strike, contacted me later.Saying that a performance was taking place every Friday near the statue of JeonTae-il, he invited me. After that, I encountered the incident at the restaurantDuriban.

HAHN Vad: Therestaurant Duriban used to make a traditional type of noodles. It wasdemolished so it didn’t have any tableware left. I wanted to cook something inthe restaurant so I prepared Chapagetti while singing. Everyone there liked it.After finishing preparing the instant noodles, we ate it together. I alsoremember myself rolling over fields and rice paddies in Miryang where peoplewere resisting the construction of a transmission tower4. I alsoperformed in front of the Statue of King Sejong to encourage the KoreanNational Association Preventing Discrimination against Persons withDisabilities. At that time, the protesters of the association were confrontingthe police. I hadn’t imagined that I would perform on such an occasion. I hadto sing while everyone was fighting around me. I kept thinking, “Do I have toperform or not?” And someone in a wheelchair told me to keep singing, sayingthat my performance was encouraging them. So I sang till the end.

HAHN Vad:Yamagata Tweakster used to perform alone. But preparing the performance"Manri-dong Missing You", I formed a group called “New Seoul Proper Ghandi.” Thisis a sort of propaganda group. I moved into a residence for artists in theManri-dong area five years ago and I came to live with artists of manydifferent genres. So I naturally wanted to work with them. I also met up withlocal residents of Manri-dong who had scattered after redevelopment andinterviewed them a lot. During the interviews, they mentioned Jeon Tae-il andtailors. So I made a performance in which the Manri-dong area is the maincharacter who misses those who lived there before redevelopment. Here, the word“missing” also implies “mishin,” Japanese pronunciation of “machine” whichrefers to a sewing machine in a textile factory. It was my first collaborationwith many artists and it was also very hard.

HAHN Vad: With "GrooveGuruma", I actively rolled in the Hongdae area for about three years. Theexperiences I had in those days were practical ones headed to inter-dependence.I want to share the records of that time with many people. I began to write "A Study about East Asian Inter-DependenceMusic" thanks to the research support from Seoul Foundation for Arts andCulture. It was really difficult to write it. Moreover, thescope has widened to East Asia which has different languages and cultures. Soit was really challenging to communicate and to understand contexts. Publishingthe book, I came to think about inter-dependence music again. And what came tomy mind is that inter-dependence music is about going to die. I thought of theimage of a dead-end alley. I also thought of a sentence from Yi Sang’s poemwhich says, “Thirteen children run toward a dead-end alley.” A dead-end alleylooks like a closed space. But we keep running even though we know that it is adead-end alley. We then see a glimmer of light in that place, which looked likea dead-end alley from afar. Therefore, we must run till the end.

1. Inter-dependence Music: HAHN Vad replaces the existing term “indie” with “inter-dependence.” Healso suggests the multilingual analysis of this term: “in” (“person” accordingto the Korean pronunciation of the Chinse word), “ter” (meaning “place” inKorean) and “dependence.” As this analysis implies, “inter-dependence music”refers to the music that a person (in) keeps generating in a place (ter) inorder to depend on each other and to form solidarity and wavelengths. Finally,not a scene of capitalism but a scene of “thanks to you” is gradually created.This is what inter-dependence music is about and it is the direction to bepursued by music in general. (Theword “interdependence” was suggested by Shinichi, a Japanese culturalanthropologist and environmental activist, to mean “thanks to you.” It impliesthat people, things and situations get together to support one’s existence now,here.) - Source: "A Studyabout East Asian Inter-Dependence Music", HAHN Vad.

2. Duriban (strife at the restaurant Durianin the Hondae area): The restaurant Duiban was demolished by force on ChristmasEve in 2009. The developer of the zone gave the restaurant 3 million won as acost for moving out. But that amount wasn’t sufficient for their survival, letalone moving out. They couldn’t leave the place that way. The following day,Ms. Ahn, the restaurant’s owner, came into the restaurant and started a protestwith her husband Mr. Yu Chae-rim (51 years old). Soon after, the smallrestaurant was full of people. Its gray walls had mural paintings and peopleplayed musical instruments. Every day, different events took turns to takeplace: concert, screening of movies and candlelight worship service. Underthese circumstances, the restaurant Duriban became a cultural symbol in theHongdae area. In July last year, 200 days after the beginning of the protest,the restaurant’s electricity was cut off. Korea Electric Power Corporation hadstopped its electric supply, requested by the developer. The heat from thearea’s asphalted road was reaching those in the restaurant. Nevertheless, thenumber of those protecting the restaurant increased. Amid their solidarity,Duriban finally kept its space intact. Ms. Ahn said on the 8th, “Allover the local area, there are still so many people whose places have been demolishedand who are desperately asking for help. In such a situation, Duriban achieveda ‘great’ victory.” She regarded Duriban’s victory as “everyone’s victory.” Shesaid, “This is a victory brought by everyone who has been with Duriban.” “Myindescribable thanks go to so many people.” – Source: “Duriban in Hongdae Winsa Victory in 531 Days of the Protest.” (article from Korean newspaper SegyeIlbo, June 10, 2011)

3. Hunger Strike at Ki-Ryung Electronics& Energy: The hunger strike at Ki-Ryung Electronics & Energy started inJuly 2005. At that time, the company’s dispatched temporary workers formed aunion and after that, the company laid off its temporary employees. In responseto this, the union went on astay-in strike and in October of that year, the Korean Ministry of Labor toldthe company that it had dispatched its employees illegally. The company thenhanded its production line over to a subcontractor. At this, the union members carried out a series of protests by shavingtheir head, fasting and staying in a high place. In this way, they keptrequesting the company to employ them as regular workers. Under thesecircumstances, the labor and management have repeated dozens of negotiationsand ruptures. At last, the two sides dramatically reached an agreement in 1895days. Mr. Kim, representative of the union, said, “It doesn’t mean that all theproblems we have raised were solved so it feels bittersweet.” “We have beenable to hold out for the past six years thanks to the solidarity of so manypeople including those in the arts and culture scene and religious people inaddition to the union members.” – Source: “Strike at Ki-Ryung Electronics &Energy: Dramatic Agreement in 1895 Days” (article from Korean newspaper KyunghyangShinmun, November 1, 2010)

4. Transmission Tower Site in Miryang: KoreaElectric Power Corporation constructed transmission lines of 765㎸ in Miryang (South Gyeongsang Province), Danjang, Sanoe, Sangdong,Bubuk and Cheongdo as well as transmission lines of 345 ㎸ in Punggak and Gakbuk (in Cheongdo in North Gyeongsang Province).This project’s goal was to transfer the electricity produced at the nuclearpower plant of Singori (units 3 and 4) located in Ulju toward the substation inthe north of South Gyeongsang Province, which was in Changnyeong in theprovince. Residents of Miryang and Cheongdo formed the Task Force against theTransmission Tower of 765 ㎸ in Miryang and the Task Force against the Transmission Tower 345 kvin Cheongdo respectively. Since 2011, they have fought against the constructionof the towers in their own protest zone on the construction site. As those onthe site tried to demolish their protest zone, a resident self-immolated onJanuary 16, 2012 and Ms. Yu Han-suk poisoned herself to death on December 6,2013. – Source: “The Police Exert Unjust Authority to Construct TransmissionTowers in Miryang and Cheongdo.” (article from Yonhap, June 13, 2019)

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*Photo Credit: ⒸHahn Vad