MN Musician Tours S. Korea Seeking Musical & Familial Connection
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- A St. Paul woman is traveling to the other side of the world, to share her passion for music, and find answers about her past.
Mayda Miller is going on tour in South Korea and hopes to make a special connection while she's there.
She started playing piano at age 5, and by fifth grade she knew music made her soul come alive.
"And I said, 'Oh, Mom I don't want to play piano anymore -- I want to play Nirvana and I want to play the Beatles,'" she recalled.
Knowing she was adopted, Miller wondered if her gift for music may have may have been passed down from her biological parents.
"I don't know where that comes from, because no one in my adoptive family is very artistic," she said.
Last year she decided it was time to start looking for that -- and for other answers. So she set out to find her roots.
"I figured, 'What is the next step? What do I do with my life now?'" she said.
So far she's been able to find a few details about her birth parents.
"My parents were in their later 40s and 50s, and they were married," Miller said.
She also knows she has six older sisters, something she's kind of glad she wasn't part of her childhood.
"I have a younger brother right now, and I can barely handle that," she said.
This month she'll embark on a three-week concert tour in her native South Korea. She's toured there before.
"This time will be not only playing and touring, but I'll be searching for something bigger in my life," she said.
Mayda knows she may not find her family, and even if she does, it might not be as glorious a reunion as she'd like.
But she says she has to try, because she has a message she's waited 28 years to give them.
"I would say that I love them," Miller said.
Miller said she'll visit orphanages and have DNA testing done while in Korea, as she's had friends who've done the same with good results.
