Yong Ho-seong (59), former Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who has been presenting music using artificial intelligence (AI), released his first full-length album under the stage name ‘Doctor Dragon’ on the 10th.
The agency, Dr. Dragon Studio, announced that the first volume of Shakespeare's sonnets, 'Fragile Beauty', which interprets 15 of Shakespeare's sonnets (a 14-line formal poem) into chamber folk music, has been released.
Dr. Dragon Studio introduced, “We have gone beyond simple recitations or literal translations and sublimated the beauty and agony of life contained in the original work 400 years ago into modern poetic vocabulary and original musical grammar.”
Doctor Dragon wrote lyrics based on Shakespeare's sonnets and used AI for composition. The singing was also done by AI vocalist Nikki D, giving off a warm feeling reminiscent of a vintage LP from the late 1960s.
The album contains 15 songs, including the title song of the same name, 'FRAGILE BEAUTY', as well as 'LIQUID PRISONER', 'TICK TOCK', 'PHANTOM', and 'TOO DEAR'.
‘Frazzle Beauty’ is a modern reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 65. Through guitar arpeggios and sad cello melodies, the beauty and love of humans, as fragile as a single flower, miraculously survive in the face of the harsh passage of time that destroys brass, stone, and even the mighty sea.
Dr. Dragon Studio explained, “We have implemented chamber folk and avant-garde jazz sounds that are delicately intertwined with nylon guitar and contrabass, cello, viola, flute, harmonium, and clarinet.”
This album was produced as part of the 'DiVerse' project, which reinterprets Shakespeare's 154 sonnets through music.
Dr. Dragon plans to promote collaborative projects by sharing the results of this musical work with Shakespeare-related organizations, associations, and academic societies in the UK and the US.
Dr. Dragon said, "Humans are finite in the face of the flow of time, but the true memories and songs created in their lives do not disappear even after hundreds of years. I wanted to revive the eternal vitality of classics and approach today's public with a familiar musical language. Through this, I want to convey a time of deep thought and comfort to listeners."
Following this album, he plans to release a monthly series of sonnet albums reinterpreted in various music genres such as jazz, blues, hip-hop, rap metal, and K-pop.
In addition to the sonnet series, we are also pursuing a project to reinterpret Shakespeare's four great tragedies, such as 'Hamlet' and 'Macbeth', and other major plays as progressive rock operas.
In addition, we plan to continue the work of revisiting Eastern and Western literature in the language of modern popular music, such as carrying out the 'Lee Mae-chang Project', which revives the Chinese poems of Lee Mae-chang, a female poet from Buan, Jeollabuk-do, in the mid-Joseon Dynasty through folk and blues music.
Dr. Dragon (former Vice Minister Yong Ho-seong) won the monthly 'Audience' music criticism contest in 1993 after passing the civil service examination and participated in criticism activities, and also participated in jazz and rock bands as a drummer.
After leaving office, he took on the challenge of making music using AI and won the final prize at the AI jazz contest 'AI Love Jazz' held in Montreux, Switzerland in July this year.
