If you thought the only Korean music export to the world was Psy and his world famous Gangman Style song, you really haven’t heard much of Korean music. K Pop the popular music genre from South Korea, consisting dance-pop, pop ballad, electronic, rock, hip-hop, R&B, has churned out dozens of pop bands and with time, the number is only going to go larger.

The Korean Cultural Centre recently had its third edition of globally popular music phenomenon, K-POP 2014 festival in India and found three two singers and one dance group who will represent Mumbai at the finals in Delhi on 30^th August 2014. The first place was won by Namrata Kale who sang a song by Lee Hi – ‘1234’ while the second place was won by Jeet Dasgupta who sang a song by K.Will – ‘Please Don't’. Both singers sung in the Korean language with proper pronunciation and diction, which was truly remarkable.

Among the four dance groups who performed, Embody emerged winners and are on their way to Delhi. The first runners up was Juliate who did a Remix of Gangnam style, while Bandra school Durelo Convent High School, Bandra, danced to a song by the band Crayon Pop – ‘Bar, Bar, Bar’ and were adjudged second runners up.

The evening saw not only fans of Korean pop, but also those who did not make it to the final round. Chief Guest for the evening was Ms Manjistha Mukherjee Bhatt, Regional Director - Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

The Mumbai regional rounds would not have been possible without the support of the Consul General of Korea who has been the driving force behind promoting K-Pop.Seok-gu Jang, Consul General, Republic of Koreatook a personal interest in promoting modern Korean culture among Indian youth in Mumbai. 

Speaking to musicunplugged.in Seok-gu Jang stated. “It is the 3^rd time this event is being organized in India and the first time in Mumbai. This time it is happening on a much larger scale across many cities in India so we have regional rounds in Chennai, Dimapur and New Delhi with the finals in Delhi next month. The winner gets an all expenses paid trip to Korea and participates in the World K – Pop festival in Changwon.”

Orlinda Fernandes, who took the third place in the singing event in Mumbai, is Chairperson of the Korean Fan Club in Mumbai and helps promote Korean music in the Mumbai region with the help of other fans.

This time the all India figure stands at 43 entries (Singing and Dancing with almost 70 participants); from there Mumbai has sent 18 entries. “For the final round in Delhi, the organizers have announced N-sonic, an upcoming young K-Pop group from Korea, will judge the auditions” says Seok-gu Jang.

Winners – Singing

1)      Namrata Kale (Pune) sang a song by Lee Hi – ‘1234’

2)      Jeet Dasgupta (Mumbai) sang a song by K.Will – ‘Please Don't’

3)      Orlinda Fernandes (Goa)

Winners – Dance

1)      Embody

2)      Juliate

3)     Durelo Convent High School

Next K Pop dates to remember:

26^th July – Dimapur - IMC Hall, Dimapur

29^th July – Chennai - American International School, Chennai

2^nd August – New Delhi – Korea Cultural Centre

30th August - New Delhi - All India finals - Siri Fort Auditorium

n  By Verus Ferreira