The last flame of the ‘Gahwang’ (Emperor of Songs) was hotter than ever.

Singer Na Hoon-a (78), who left a strong presence in the history of Korean popular music and is the only singer to hold the epithet ‘Gahwang’ (Emperor of Songs), has finally left the stage.

He announced his retirement in February of last year and finished the nationwide tour ‘2024 Na Hoon-a Thank You - Last Concert’ on the 12th, walking down the back alleys of history on his own after 58 years.

Na Hoon-a held five concerts at the KSPO Dome in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul from the 10th to the 12th, meeting with 70,000 fans for the last time.

He started the stage with his representative song ‘Hometown Station’ and passionately sang 21 songs including ‘Ship to Hometown’, ‘The Watermill Turns’, ‘18-Year-Old Sooni’, ‘Love’, ‘Forever’. He also filled the setlist with his latest songs like ‘Change’, ‘Gijang Seagull’, as well as cover songs like Imja‘s ‘Cry, Fever’, and Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’.

The ‘Na Hoon-a Concert’‘s trademark shone through in the last performance as well. Representative examples include the ‘Hwanbok Show’ where they change costumes while leaning on a screen on stage, the witty remarks like “We’re talking, okay?“ where they control the audience, and the sophisticated stage effects using lasers and a giant curtain.

Na Hoon-a, who usually criticized society on stage, did not stop criticizing the political world even on his way there.

At the performance on the 11th, he criticized the recent chaotic political situation by saying, “Using fairness, both sides are telling two stories with the same logic. One side keeps saying they did something wrong, but did you do something right? I sent them to collect votes and do politics, so I want to ask if they are working for the people and the country,” receiving enthusiastic applause from the audience.

The stages that he chose as “the most memorable performances of my life” on this day also became an opportunity to look back on Na Hoon-a‘s identity as a singer. The stage where he shouted “Dokdo is our land” at the Osaka Castle Hall in Japan in 1996 showed his passion for his country and people, and the stage where he performed while embracing a leprosy patient on Sorok Island in the 1997 SBS ‘Na Hoon-a and the Spring of Sorok Island’ showed his belief that everyone can become one through music.

Na Hoon-a, who filled the 2 hours and 30 minutes with just his voice, revealed the reason for his retirement to the regretful audience, saying, “Are you sad? That’s why I‘m going. He said that he had been thinking about retirement for 5~6 years and “How pitiful it would be to turn away if I told him I could go. (My decision to retire) is my last pride.”

He then said, “I’ve been living on the clouds. It was hard because I’m human,” and after retiring, he said, “I want to eat bindaetteok with makgeolli on a market day,” and smiled. It was a smile that shook off the sadness of not being able to enjoy an ordinary life while reigning as a top star his entire life.

The song that resonated through the concert hall at the last moment was “Man.” He had said, “I won’t cry until the end,” but he ended up shedding tears as he tied the microphone, which was “my alter ego,” to a drone and handed it over to the audience, bowed deeply.

As he turned around, putting an end to his 58-year career as a singer, his back looked confident and relieved, just like the lyrics of the last song of the concert, “Man,” “I have no regrets, I have no regrets.”


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com