The Korean Wave 2006 - Korean Cultural Service

The New York Times, sunday, august 27, 2006
ar1&28
Web Guitar Wizard
Revealed at Last
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN
Eight months ago a mysterious image showed up on
YouTube, the video-sharing site that now shows
more than 100 million videos a day. A sinewy figure
in a swimming-pool-blue T-shirt, his eyes obscured
by a beige baseball cap, was playing electric guitar. Sun
poured through the window behind him; he played in a
yellow haze. The video was called simply “guitar.” A blackand-white
title card gave the performer’s name as funtwo.
The piece that funtwo played with mounting dexterity
was an exceedingly difficult rock arrangement of
Pachelbel’s Canon, the composition from the turn of the
63
Funtwo’s video captivated millions. Who was he?
18th century known for its solemn chord progressions
and its overexposure at weddings. But this arrangement,
attributed on another title card to JerryC, was anything
but plodding: it required high-level mastery of a singularly
demanding maneuver called sweep-picking.
Over and over the guitarist’s left hand articulated strings
with barely perceptible movements, sounding and muting
notes almost simultaneously, and playing complete
arpeggios through a single stroke with his right hand.
Funtwo’s accuracy and velocity seemed record-breaking,
but his mouth and jawline – to the extent that they were
visible – looked impassive, with none of the exaggerated
grimaces of heavy metal guitar heroes. The contrast between
the soaring bravado of the undertaking and the
reticence of the guitarist gave the 5-minute, 20-second
video a gorgeous solemnity.