"Lost Jazz Roots Leading to R&B Birth? Complete Nonsense"… Seol Min-seok Strikes Again

Published 25 Dec.2020 11:54(KST)

Seol Min-seok has recently been embroiled in a controversy over music distortion. / Photo by O tvN 'Unexpected Adults' capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Han-ah Na] History star lecturer Seol Min-seok recently admitted and apologized for distorting history in a program conducted under his name. Now, he is embroiled in a controversy over distorting music history.

On the 15th, Seol Min-seok introduced jazz as "another 20th-century labor song of the industrial era following the blues" in his lecture titled 'Why does Queen Seondeok appear in labor songs?' uploaded on his YouTube channel.

He said, "After Frank Sinatra, white people sang black music," adding, "(Black people) lost their original intention. That is why a renaissance exclusive to black people began," and stated, "Return, retro, let's go back to the blues. That is Rhythm and Blues (R&B)."

A jazz expert who saw this video commented, "I've never heard that 'R&B was born because jazz lost its original intention,'" and corrected, "Rhythm and Blues is a genre that was born as blues spread beyond black bars in the southern United States to more people across the country."

On the 24th, Bae Soon-tak (music critic), a writer for MBC Radio's 'Bae Cheol-soo's Music Camp,' also posted on his Instagram, "The idea that jazz regressed and turned into rhythm and blues is complete nonsense."

He added, "It is clear that (Seol Min-seok) has never read even one original book covering the history of jazz blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues, and early rock and roll. At this point, it is tantamount to spreading false information," criticizing him.

Bae explained, "Rhythm and Blues is a genre that emerged when (Delta) blues from the southern United States traveled by the Illinois Central Railroad to northern big cities (specifically Chicago) and became 'electric.' Therefore, it is also called electric blues, and this later became rock and roll."