Music News from New York and Beyond


Artist Profile: Sungha Jung

Posted on January 31, 2008

sungha.jpgAkshay referred me to Sungha Jung's YouTube page, claiming he had stumbled on a child prodigy. The young musician has an arsenal of guitar videos in which he simultaneously plays both the vocal and guitar melodies of rock classics. Impressed by the playing, I looked for more information on the mini-Asian. Here's what I found out about Jung from his myspace page:

Hi, I'm Sungha Jung from South Korea. My dream is to become a professional acoustic fingerstyle guitarist. I had been watching my dad play the guitar for awhile before I finally jumped on it myself two years ago. I just turned eleven in September, 2007.

Eleven?!?! He's lying. I refuse to believe that this guitar playing is the work of a child. My cynicism led me to two theories. Theory #1: He's lip, er, finger-syncing Theory #2: Remember that movie Jack? He's the opposite - - a 44 year old man trapped in a little body. Head over to YouTube, and check out Jung's performances of songs from The Beatles, Van Halen and Bob Marley.

Comments

  • E.J. Wolborsky
    E.J. Wolborsky posted on Jan 31 - 2008 04:55:24 PM

    there's no effing way that kid is for real!

  • john ellison
    john ellison posted on Mar 11 - 2008 10:03:31 AM

    I have been struggling to play classical guitar for well over 30 years. I just discovered Sungha on Utube and I am blown off this planet. This boy has got to be a reincarnate of the spirit of such players in the category of Django Reinhardt etc He is truly inspiring and I feel honoured to have lived to see and hear him play. Keep with it Sungha you have more than what it takes.

  • terri
    terri posted on May 10 - 2008 01:45:26 PM

    sungha is just short of amazing

  • Eduardo
    Eduardo posted on May 17 - 2008 01:40:12 PM

    What's the point of "finger-syncing" if he has to do it exactly the same way, that wouldn't make any sense ¬¬ ... You have to consider that the songs he plays are arranged by other people, he only practices and plays them, even though he has only composed 2 songs by himself...that's just to clear the idea of him arranging all of those songs...but at the end, he's freeking awesome at playing, no matter how old he is

  • mincy
    mincy posted on Jun 21 - 2008 05:44:57 PM

    you're just jealous u know :p

  • Jeff
    Jeff posted on Jul 23 - 2008 04:26:26 PM

    Tommy Emmanuel is not likely to take part in a hoax. The kid is for real.....