I have just discovered ‘trot music’ a fabulous new (for me!) Korean music genre
The first episode of Korean drama Divorce Attorney Shin set up the series for some superb Korean music I have never heard before.
And you likely haven’t either.
After all, not only did we get treated to that fabulous trot song ‘It’s Me‘, as Attorney Shin is singing alone in his car, but later in the episode after he arrives home and cranks that fabulous sound system, we also heard a song by another trot singer Na Hoon-A.
A song that I had never heard before and one that was, yet again, rudely interrupted.
This time when Attorney Shin’s neighbor rings his doorbell about the music, asking “Do you know what time it is? I can’t sleep because of you”.
No worries, though, as there are a couple of ways to hear Na Hoon-A’s ‘테스형!’ (aka ‘Tes Hyeong‘) — a title that translates to ‘Brother Tes‘ or ‘Brother Socrates‘ in English — right to the end.
A song that is the singer asking the Greek philosopher Socrates (‘Tes’), “Why is life so hard?”
And now, do you get the feeling Attorney Shin Sung Han is a massive trot music fan?
All you need to know about Na Hoon-A’s ‘테스형!’ (‘Brother Tes’)
‘Brother Tes‘ by Na Hoon-A, who is apparently known as the Emperor of Trot in South Korea, was released as one of nine tracks on the singer’s album ‘A Tale of Nine Stories‘.
It came out in 2020, with the song shooting the then-72-year-old Na Hoon-A to the top of the Korean YouTube charts with the music video for ‘Brother Tes‘ soon after (watch below).
So popular was the song’s music video it beat out superstar acts like BTS and Blackpink for video views that week, and currently has more than 25 millions views since its release on the video platform.
That song, now being introduced to international audiences via Divorce Attorney Shin, is a helluva’n addictive song — even if you don’t understand the lyrics, or know anything about trot music — as its instrumental introduction (the one Attorney Shin was rocking out to in his living room) is massively powerful, and Na Hoon-A’s vocals are brilliant.
Listen to Na Hoon-A’s ‘Brother Tes‘ on his album A Tale of Nine Stories below, and in the song’s official music video. A video that begins with that massive guitar solo, and just gets better from there.
You can also listen to Na Hoon-A’s A Tale of Nine Stories album in full below that. If you are becoming as interested in trot music as I now am.