FILE UNDER...
Pump up the volumes
The bookish catalogue of a Korean band of brothers.
By Jim Irvin.
Seoul power: Sanullim’s (left) Kim Chang-wan and brother Chang-hoon bring the fuzzy psych in the late ’70s.
KOREAN STUDENT Kim Chang-wan was 17 and on his way to college in Seoul when he made an impulsive, lifechanging decision. Near his bus stop, a music shop had a classical guitar in the window that caught his eye. He walked in and bought it for the equivalent of a month’s wages from his part-time job. He didn’t know how to hold it, tune it or anything, so he also purchased a pitch pipe and a guitar tutor. Back home, he sat strumming D for hours, transfixed by the sound. He started practising every day.