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| Lance Reegan-Diehl, founder and organizer of the biannual Hae Bang Chon festival, poses with his guitar. / Courtesy of Lance Reegan-Diehl |
By Lee Suh-yoon
The biannual Hae Bang Chon (HBC) Festival is back this Saturday, and so founder and organizer Lance Reegan-Diehl is busy preparing the venues. He expects around 1,200 participants this time.
"The festival has definitely evolved a lot since 2006, when there were a lot of upset neighbors and police complaints ― it's more official now," Reegan-Diehl said in an interview with The Korea Times at his studio in Haebangchon, Yongsan-gu, Thursday. "I can sort things out with the police over the phone now, but at the first festival we even had a policeman walk in on us at 5 p.m. and simply unplug a performer."
The live music event takes place in Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan, two neighborhoods with large foreign populations located on the southwestern slope of Mount Nam in Seoul. The festival is held at various restaurants and bars along the main roads.
A professional guitarist from Vancouver, Canada, Reegan-Diehl has lived in Haebangchon since 1999, when he came to Korea to work as a session guitarist for record companies here. He worked with famous K-pop singer BOA for several years, appearing in her hit music video "My Sweetie."
He now lives with his Korean partner in Huam-dong, around the corner from Haebangchon, but still comes to the area to work at his DEELEEBOB Music studio.
This year's second HBC Fest takes place from Friday to Saturday, with the highlights scheduled on the second day.
Reegan-Diehl says the idea for the festival came up in a discussion with another guitarist.
"We knew a lot of fellow musicians, a good group of expats and teachers who would play for a larger crowd," Reegan-Diehl said. "So we talked to the owners of three bars on the street ― there were only three in Haebangchon in 2006 ― and they said okay, and told us to pick a Saturday."
The festival now showcases an impressive range of blues, rock, jazz, and funky points between them from independent musicians, mostly expats. The small venues allow for an intimate up-close experience.
"In a broad sense, I call it a folk festival. I've also never segregated the performances in terms of style. You can have a performance led by a soft voice coupled with finger-picking and the next guy might come up to the stage half drunk and angry. I think that mixture lends itself to a folk festival," Reegan-Diehl said.
"The performers come from different countries and backgrounds including international school teachers and embassy workers. At the festival, though, everyone is under one flag of music."
The number of venues has also increased to 14 bars, and Reegan-Diehl maintains a good relationship with all their owners ― the reason he sometimes takes a detour away from Haebangchon to go to Gyeongnidan-gil for dinner with his wife.
"Because everyone on the street goes 'Hey Lance' and starts up a conversation, and we'll get held up and be late for dinner, again," he said with a chuckle.
Haebangchon too has evolved along with the festival and not entirely in a good way. Reegan-Diehl is a local participant of Haebangchon's regeneration project, attending town council meetings regularly.
"It no longer feels like a small town, and the residential areas are getting pushed further uphill, getting replaced by retail," he said. "I hope that could be held back, and let the area keep its historical context as the Freedom Village of Seoul."
Visit hbcfest.com for more information.
