[INFO] 51st Japan Record Awards announced

On Tuesday, most of the winners of the 51st Japan Record Awards were announced. On December 30, when the awards show is broadcast live, one of the 11 Best Song winners will be given the grand prize (the Japan Record Award) and one of the four New Artist Award winners will be named Best New Artist.

Best Song:

* "Aki no Miyajima" - Kaori Mizumori
* "Infinity" - GIRL NEXT DOOR
* "YELL" - Ikimono Gakari
* "Omae wo Tsurete" - Daisuke Kitagawa
* "Someday" - EXILE
* "Stand by U" - TVXQ
* "Tegami ~Shinai Naru Kodomotachi e~" - Ryoichi Higuchi
* "Tokimeki no Rumba" - Kiyoshi Hikawa
* "Mata Kimi ni Koi Shiteru" - Fuyumi Sakamoto
* "Lick me" - Kumi Koda
* "Rain Is Fallin'" - w-inds. x G-DRAGON (BIG BANG)

New Artist:

* Maya Sakura
* SCANDAL
* BIG BANG
* Hilchryme

Album Award:

* "Ainowa" - Hanaregumi
* "Sayuri IV" - Sayuri Ishikawa
* "Shio, Kosho" - GReeeeN
* "Box Emotions" - Superfly
* "my Classics!" - Ayaka Hirahara

Best Album:

* "Shio, Kosho" - GReeeeN

Best Singer:

* Hiroshi Itsuki

Special Awards:

* Alice
* AKB48 / Yasushi Akimoto
* Nobuyuki Tsujii

source: Tokyograph (via Sankei Sports)
shared by: aramatheydidn't + DBSKnights + DBSKcafe

[NEWS] 091125 Mozart to be Portrayed as Modern Rock Star

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a fascinating figure whose life has been covered in various films and theater arts. Now the beloved musician will be recreated in the Korean rendition of the Austrian musical “Mozart!” which will be presented by EMK Musical Company in Seoul early next year.

This time, the genius musician will once again be the center of the work, but, besides classical music, he’ll also be accompanied by rock ‘n’ roll. The muscial’s Grammy Award-winning composer, Sylvester Levay, said that he decided to write a musical about Mozart’s life rather than his music with his writing partner Michael Kunze.


Grammy Award-winning composer Sylvester Levay,
who wrote the musical “Mozart!,” talks to The Korea Times
about recreating the musician into a modernday rock star.
/ Courtesy of EMK
Musical Company

“We decided to use his music only at some certain points but most of the time, the rest of the music is our works. We also put rock ‘n’ roll parts in it. So we can represent a nowadays Mozart. I think maybe when he was alive he could have been one of the rock ‘n’ roll stars in the world,” Levay said in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times.

In the musical, Mozart will dress like a rock star, a distinct contrast from the other characters, who are clad in 18th-century costumes.

The Hungarian composer collaborated with Kunze on other musicals, including “Elizabeth” and “Rebecca,” which were well received in Europe and Japan.

From there, they sat down and mulled over how to dissect a famous person’s life. They wanted to create a similar musical to “Elizabeth,” which focused on the main character’s life rather than her successful career. “That touched the audience and was a success. Like this, ‘Mozart!’ was also made about his life. He is very well known as a genius composer but he was also a human. The scene where he has a conflict with his father shows that Michael Kunze and I focused on the life of the person, and a human Mozart,” he said.

To better immerse himself in Mozart’s world, Levay tried to get a sense of how the Austrian composer felt by looking at his body of work. Levay visited where Mozart used to live and read many books on him.

“Also, I tried not to work continuously but also rest for several weeks and come back to the studio and listen to the work I had done. Once I felt this was the right music, then I used it, but if not, I just said ‘no’ to the music,” the composer said.

Levay said that Mozart also had a good sense of humor and was open-minded.
“I looked at more than a thousand of his works and read thousands of books about him. This actually made me connect with him a little bit closer. Also, I tried to feel the emotion he had while he wrote his songs,” he said.

The 64-year-old composer said that telling about his life through his music was the most pleasurable thing. “But the most difficult aspect was thinking, ‘What if I tell his musical life in the wrong way?’ It was a very challenging work to do,” said Levay.

Localizing foreign musicals is another difficult task due to the language difference, the composer said. Levay said that he constantly tells cast members from certain countries to feel the lyrics rather than reading them.

“I have felt that the quality of the Korean artists is very high. They are the best cast members I have seen so far. Also, the EMK production is well organized so I think the Korean version of ‘Mozart!’ will be of high quality, too,” he said.

Levay lived in Hollywood and concentrated on composing music for films from 1980 to 2000. His most famous and popular work was written for the mid-1980s U.S. TV action series “Airwolf” (1984-1986). Since the 1990s, Levay has dedicated himself to musicals.


Poster for musical “Mozart!,” which will go on stage from

Jan. 20 to Feb. 21 at Sejong Center for the Performing

Arts in downtown Seoul.

For the Korean rendition, musical heartthrobs Im Tae-kyung, Park Gun-hyung and Jo Sung-mo will alternate playing Mozart.

The musical will be staged from Jan. 20 to Feb. 21 at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets cost from 30,000 to 130,000 won. For more information, call (02) 6391-6333 or visit www.musicalmozart.co.kr.

chungay@koreatimes.co.kr

=====

And just for reference, to see what he means by looking like a rockstar, here's the link to a part of the Hungarian performance, you can check out how Junsu would look as Mozart.

Source: The Korea Times
Shared by: vik720 @ LJ + OneTVXQ.com

[VIDEO]Bigeastation 140 "Korean Corner"- Rude Changmin

Credits: whisperpuppies

[NEWS] 090901 The Secret Backstage of ShinKi, reveal on a japan reporter's blog

Interview took place 2 hours before their performance.
JeJung laughed and said, “long time no see~!”
In reality, I had an interview with them at July, but during that time they look exhausted…
This time round they were all high in spirit.
During the interview, YunHo and JaeJoong spoke the most. Our conversation lasted for around 20 minutes, they had mentioned a lot from the bottom of their heart, especially for YunHo.

On the first day, YunHo walked around in the resting room uncomfortable, his legs must be in pain.
Expectedly, he injured his right leg.
However he insisted on performing after acupunture.
He smiled and said, “I’m feeling better as compare to yesterday, it’s alright~”
During interview, he also showed his capability as a leader in controlling the members. (Balancing individual, making sure everyone had a chance to speak)

JeJung was in good spirits, keeping a conversation with us excitedly.
When talking about his own charisma [smile…], the rest of them look at him hilariously, which leave a strong impression on me.

ChangMin looks like an adult, very COOL.
While the rest of the members were talking, he always listens joyfully.
He said that his charisma is [sweat], which I’m a little shocked at, but people who is frank is suitable for anything.

As for JunSu, he was more or less steady.
But he starts to get excited half way through the interview. (T/N meaning he is out of control? XD)

After the interview, other than group photo taking, YuChun and JeJung also had their photo taken together for their new single, which was going to release on September. During shooting, their poses were very intimated, looks like they had a close relationship.

What did YuChun said? Ah~ he mentioned that he was there as a “joker”~
He must say something that makes everyone laugh.
He looks very calm before the actual performance… that I admire.
Which means, when JeJung said [wanting to show something new…], YuChun have to cut in with [noodle? Noodle? It’s important that it’s springy~]. (T/N making joke with Japanese words?! I guess]
Then, he have to make eyes contact with others randomly, making many different funny expressions to entertain the audience.

They went on stage, gave a performance that was way beyond standard.
Singing and dancing, were all excellent.
Their strong existence and team spirit were spectacular.
For a moment they manage to bring 5 million audiences into [The World of TOHOSHINKI].

During last year A-nation, JeJung mentioned that he kept looking out for TOHOSHINKI towel.
However, this year round, almost the whole audience was filled with TOHOSHINKI green towel.
JeJung was overwhelmed with thousand emotions, “I saw many of them. This year is the best!”

Almost 5 years after they debuted in Japan, they had successfully become Japan top artist.
Where would they head towards after this?
<> (Japan Magazine) will continue to follow them and report their movement.
Please look forward!

Source: goo.ne.jp
Translation: sshutingg @ OneTVXQ.com
Credits: OneTVXQ.com { One World. One Red Ocean. One TVXQ! }
Shared by: sharingyoochun@wordpress + DBSKnights
Feel free to repost, but please leave the full credits intact. Thanks!

[PHOTOS] YUNHO Attended the Movie Premiere of "Actresses (여배우들)"

On the 30th in afternoon, U-Know Yunho was reported to attend the VIP Premiere of “Actresses (여배우들)” movie at COEX theatre, Seoul

source: My Daily

trans: sharingyoochun@wordpress

Credits: NAVER + DNBN

[WALLPAPER] December Lotte Calendar Korea

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Credits: Lotte Korea

[INFO] TVXQ is number one on HMV Japan

On Japan's largest online music portal and album store, HMV, boy group TVXQ / DBSK / TohoshinkiBest of 2009 HMV Online Ranking Japanese Pops. HMV used the sales numbers from January up to November, and TVXQ's 4th album, The Secret Code came in at first place.

The Secret Code was released on March 25th, 2009 and was a hit on the Oricon Charts. About the album, HMV stated, "The album included many hits and quality songs such as Doushite - Why Have I fallen for you?, Beautiful You, and Mirotic. The album showcases the talents of TVXQ. The album also included a special PV of Kiss The Baby Sky, and a DVD."

TVXQ beat out many of J-pop top artists such as Arashi, Unicorn, and Perfume, so this is pretty noteworthy for them. was ranked number one for having the most sales in 2009 on HMV's website. HMV posted an article on November 20th titled

Credits: ALLKPOP