With over 685 million views and about 1.85 million subscribers to his channel, YouTube sensation-turned K-pop star, Sungha Jung, has garnered many fans internationally in 7 short years.

The self-taught fingerstyle guitarist started his road to stardom when he began uploading acoustic covers of popular Korean and English songs by artistes like Big Bang, 2NE1, Jason Mraz and Maroon 5 on YouTube. Nearly 7 years down the road and with 4 albums released, 1 every year, the boy’s all grown up and has also gained credibility as a musician. His latest album Paint It Acoustic was released on Apr 15.

A little more than a month after that, on May 25, Jung was back in Singapore for his third performance. Kallang Theatre, which played host to Jung’s 2-hour-long performance was sold out. The concert saw more than just a showcase of Sungha Jung’s precocious talent, it also brought other guitarists together to share the stage.

Goh CiPing, winner of the Sungha Jung Guitar Competition organised by Cristofori Music School, The competition was held from May 1 to May 24, when the grand finals took place.

The crowd clapped along, all hyped up as the winner opened Jung’s concert with a familiar tune of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” before the star himself emerged from behind the red velvet stage curtains.

The mild-mannered 17-year-old Jung readied himself on the stool and naturally began  tuning his guitar. He said, “Thank you for coming tonight. I will do my best for this concert”.

The humble teen stole the audience’s hearts indeed as he proceeded to introduce the first song he was about to perform an original composition called “Felicity”.

Surely, a particular girl must have inspired the piece as a distinct romantic vibe resonated through the melody of the song. Even when there were no lyrics accompanying this piece, Sungha certainly delivered this song with energy, occasionally bobbing his head and swaying to the beat.

Jung performed “Nostalgia”, another original from his new album. As its title suggests, this piece is a sentimental one that gave him ample opportunity to display his meticulous fingerstyle techniques through the 5-minute ballad.

Jung, who is distinctly known for playing covers of popular songs, took the concert as an opportunity to rebrand himself as a guitarist, performing more originals than his own renditions of already popular music.

Having said that, the concert wouldn’t be complete without his adaptations of popular K-pop songs. As anticipated, he pleased the crowd with a cover of his favourite idol boy group Big Bang’s hit single, “Monster”. This was certainly the crowd favourite.

The concert hall harboured a slight sense of disappointment as he swiftly continued to promote more of his own material after just playing one cover. The audience were expecting more familiar tunes they could sing along to.

This did not dampen the spirit of the crowd as they went on to cheer forJung to show support for his catchy and upbeat original numbers like “Friends” and “Hot Chocolate”.

19-year-old K-Pop enthusiast, Aida Johan said, “I like how Sungha jung only did one cover and everything else he played were his originals. He proved that you can be just a YouTube star, but still be successful as an artiste on his own.”

Sungha Jung also shared the stage with special guest, Spanish guitar maestro Agustin Amigo. This passionate soloist is also a singer songwriter and has traveled around the world to showcase his work.

The concert ended on a high note when both of them collaborated on The Buggle’s “Video Killed The Radio Star”.

“Watching Sungha Jung was amazing! The fans have seen him grown from a talented amateur to a respected artise. Definitely one of the best guitarists I’ve ever heard live,” said Aida.

 

EVENT DETAILS

Sungha Jung Live in Singapore Featuring Agustin Amigo

Date: May 25, 2013
Time: 7 pm
Venue: Kallang Theatre

Ticket Prices
$48, $88