ChoiBaekho 50th Anniversary Debut 'Immortal Songs' Special... Juniors' Respect and Warm Stage Impressions

KBS 2TV’s ’Immortal Songs’ aired on August 22nd as a special episode dedicated to the romantic balladeer ChoiBaekho, celebrating his 50th anniversary since debut. The show introduced the respect and various stories from junior singers toward ChoiBaekho. During the broadcast, Lee Chan-won mentioned that ChoiBaekho marked his 50th debut anniversary this year and asked about not only his status as a musician but also his personal side. Crying Nut shared that ChoiBaekho shows polite manners, such as using honorific language even with juniors. Lee Chan-won also revealed that before the recording, when he went to greet ChoiBaekho, he felt embarrassed because ChoiBaekho bowed at a 90-degree angle and spoke respectfully. Crying Nut recalled that at the indie band event Gyeongnokjeol, ChoiBaekho voluntarily visited and took care of juniors by singing ″About Romance″ for free. Son Tae-jin shared his past experience of performing a duet with ChoiBaekho on the radio and told a story about Choi serenading him one-on-one in the studio. Lee Ji-hoon said that after singing ChoiBaekho’s song as the final song of ″Our Ballad,″ he received a handwritten autograph on a business card in a private setting. Son Tae-jin added that ChoiBaekho travels without a manager, making his business cards precious. Kim Joon-hyun shared his experience of traveling together in a car driven by ChoiBaekho during his appearance on KBS2’s ’The Condition of Humans.’ On the show, Shin Dong-yup described ChoiBaekho’s voice as ″a voice that gently soothes our youth, loneliness, and wandering like whiskey that deepens with the passage of time.″ After the stage, he praised, ″Just the three syllables of the name ChoiBaekho make this stage feel fully complete.″ ChoiBaekho, reflecting on his 50th anniversary appearance on ’Immortal Songs,’ said, ″As I get older, opportunities to perform on good stages decrease,″ and added, ″I sincerely thank you for not forgetting and inviting me.″ Meanwhile, Ailee performed on stage as the vocalist of Ailee Band rather than as a solo singer. Ailee Band is a five-member group formed through an audition planned by Ailee herself, aiming to provide debut opportunities to musicians with little stage experience. Leader Ok Sung-min shared a humorous story about not informing his family about the appearance, only for a banner reading ″Vice Chairman’s Grandson Ailee Band Drummer Accepted″ to be hung by the village head association. Supporters in the studio expressed hopes for a winning banner to be displayed.