Oh Ahmi, 25, the first crossover cello soloist in Korea, breaks conventions by adding dance moves to the still-standing cello performance. “I am inspired by Vanessa Mae’s passionate playing and Beyonce’s strong stage presence,” she said in a recent Korea Times interview in Seoul. / Courtesy of Oh Ahmi


By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Crossover music is now a well-established genre that continues to grow with innovative new ideas, but the thought of an electronic cello going solo was inconceivable for many in Korea. For crossover cellist Oh Ahmi, it took a single album to show the cello can take center stage ― with hip music and sexy dance moves.

``I take pride in the fact that this is a relatively unexplored field. There are electronic cellists, of course, but there aren't too many who have made a solo debut like this,'' the 25-year-old told The Korea Times in a recent interview. Indeed, she is the first electronic cello soloist in Korea.

Violinists Vanessa Mae and Eugene Park have paved the way for electronic classical instruments, adding a modern flair to the classical genre with exciting moves and a strong stage presence. While the violin, be it classical or electronic, allows room for improvisation with its prolific sound and compact size, for the cello, it's a different story. Even in classical music, it took pioneering artists like Yo-Yo Ma to prove that the cello can be a soloist.

Born in Seoul, Oh started playing the cello when she was 11, after ``falling in love'' with a performance by celebrated artist Mischa Maisky. While walking the conventional path of a classical cellist, she saw a music video with Vanessa Mae.

``It was a huge shock. What she did was so passionate and exciting. It was different from wearing a long evening dress onstage, offering music to a quiet crowd and receiving applause. I wanted to do something fun, exciting and easy to listen to, but not shallow. I want to create music that is not simply aural but visual as well,'' she said.

``When I suggested doing crossover music for the cello like Vanessa Mae, my professors and colleagues said it was a bad idea, and dissuaded me. They said that while it could be possible for the violin, it would be difficult for the cello,'' she said, and had given up on the idea ― for the time being.

Oh went on to earn a bachelor's and master's degree from Ecole Nationale de Musique de Gennevillier in France, graduating at the top of her class. But she was unable to forget the Vanessa Mae music video. ``People were telling me, why take the pains to do this when you have this background in classical music? You should join an orchestra or teach,'' she said.

During a visit home one summer, an acquaintance suggested that the 1.75-meter beauty try out for the Miss Korea pageant. She was crowned 2007 Miss Korea Gyeonggi Province. ``I learned about how I should present myself and appear in front of others. That's when I decided to give my dream a shot. I told my mother and she gave me her full support,'' she said.

Her mother herself is a past Miss Korea finalist with a flair for fashion, and helped create looks inspired by Beyonce. ``I'm inspired by Vanessa Mae's passionate playing and Beyonce's strong stage presence,'' said Oh.

Fortunately, there are those willing to explore the unknown. Oh met composer Kim Sang-tae, a specialist in classical music who writes scores for movies and TV dramas. He became intrigued by the electronic cello and gave her songs, and her single album ``Tiara'' was born.

The cellist said she worked for almost a year on the album. ``You could say it's a joint project of just three people, the composer, my mother and myself. We worked quietly because everyone else opposed the idea,'' she said.

The single album includes five songs, all fast-paced dance tracks. Two were inspired by well-known Chopin and Dvorak music. ``(The composer and I) discussed our work a lot. I wanted to reinterpret the music and make them exciting and rhythmic, with strong beats, that people can listen to with ease,'' she said. ``The Unexpected Rain,'' for example, is an eclectic mix of soulful melodies and fast-paced dance music.

But the electronic cello, while allowing more freedom in terms of her artistic expression, is more technically exigent than the classical one. ``It's a machine, so there tend to be little gaps between notes. It's more difficult to make the right sound and pitch so I need to focus more,'' said Oh.

And yet, the cellist adds dance moves, which is another aspect that makes her debut groundbreaking. ``Because the pin of the instrument must be planted on the floor at all times, people said it was impossible to do fancy moves onstage,'' she said.

``It's really demanding, so I just have to practice that much more,'' she said. Though not a trained dancer, Oh enjoys dancing and worked with a choreographer to create moves. In her first showcase performance at Seongnam Art Center tonight, her cello will be her dance partner as she waltzes to ``Chopin's Party of Dupin,'' which was inspired by the Waltze (Op. 64 No. 2).

Now that Oh has proved the potential of the electronic cello, more musicians and composers have become involved, such as pop group SG Wannabe. With about five more tracks, her first album is slated for release at the end of April.

In the future, she said she hopes to not only reinterpret conventional classics, but also collaborate with different artists and singers and even incorporate gugak or traditional Korean music.

``As a pioneer, I'm free to do what I want, but at the same time it feels like being lost in the desert because there are no preceding examples,'' she said. ``It's a road not taken, and sometimes I'm afraid: what if I mess up? But for now, I just want to follow my heart,'' said Oh.

hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr