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DJ Koo: 'I Will Also Remix Old Classic Songs of Cecibon'

DJ Koo (42), who once was the most popular dance musician in the 1990s as a member of the group Clon, made a comeback as "DJ Koo", and released a remix album entitled "Come Back". He said, "I would like to become a representative DJs in Korea". DJ Koo held a performance entitled "Call Me DJ KOO" at a café located in Gangnam in 2006, and it was the beginning of his activities as a club DJ. He began to change his career from a dance musician to a DJ from the time when Kang Won-rae was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident in 2000. DJ Koo shared all the pain with Kang Won-rae and did not hold any activities until 2005 when Kang Won-rae and DJ Koo made a comeback together and presented a wheelchair dance performance, but their activities did not last long.

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DJ Koo agonized over his career with the thinking, "I want to continue to present dance and music even though I grow old", and he came up with the idea of becoming a DJ who plays music at a club and makes other people dance. He was completely attracted by electronic music that was made by the hand of the DJ. From that moment, he began to study music produced by the world's famous DJs in Europe and the USA through YouTube and started to produce his own music by having his own MIDI equipment. He also operated his own club to have more experience as a DJ. He competed with the world's popular DJs at the "Ultra Music Festival 2011", which was held in Miami last March, and made his first achievement after tallying five years of experience as a DJ. He produced a remix digital single album with the Clon's hit song in 1999 entitled "Come Back", which was featured by singer Park Mi Kyung, and he remixed the song into electronic house music. He personally arranged and produced the album.

He came to a café in Shinsadong for an interview, and talked about the album, saying, "I usually played foreign songs when I performed as a DJ, and I have always wanted to make people release their energy using my own music. I chose the song 'Come Back', which is very familiar to the audience, to make people feel friendly to the unfamiliar electronica sound". His album contains four versions of different remix songs of "Come back". A Korean DJ in England named Postino participated in arranging the song, and a mastering engineer Simon Davey, who had participated in producing the songs of popular musicians overseas such as Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, and Pet Shop Boys, participated in mastering. DJ Koo said, "I produced the original song into different versions of songs such as a stylish electronica sound song, a funky and old style song, and a minimal song with simple sound. As the beat of the sound sounds very similar to our heart beat, the music sounds very exciting. Davey, who worked in the mastering, told me that the song will work in England as well". He continued, "Remixing is a recreation of other people's songs. Those songs are not for listening, but for making people dance through DJing. A DJ needs to have an ability to interpret various songs and to react quickly to the atmosphere of the place. I know something about dance and dance music, and I am very suitable for this job". He smiled.

DJ Koo has recently attracted people's attention by arranging the song "HeeNaRi", which was sung by Kim Bum Soo in MBC's music program "I Am Singer", into electronic house music. Koo said, "People pay great attention to the music itself in 'I Am Singer'. I wanted to let people know that we also have this kind of music in Korea, so I tried to make people listen to the sound that is very similar to the popular electronic music in Europe, which is the birthplace of electronic music".

DJ Koo seems to have great ambition. He continued, "I will keep working on remixing the classical songs such as Cecibon's songs and recent idol group's songs. I will not simply play those songs as a DJ, and I will present various performances using my educational background of art instead. I want to expand the area of electronic music in Korea through this process. I will provide my own songs including 'Come Back' to overseas websites such as 'Juno Download', which provides music streaming services". He has lived a busy life by only concentrating on his work, and he did not have time for having a family. He said, "I still put more priority on my work. Once I marry, I have to concern myself about my wife and my children and I might have to focus on my work less. I feel very uncomfortable about the news report saying that I had once dated the sister of Lee Ji-ah when the big news about the divorce between Seo Taiji and Lee Ji-ah was brought about. I also hope that I can meet my soul mate someday".

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