Via Gwangju Blog's readers comes news of an open audition with media juggernaut S.M. Entertainment in several South Korean cities next February. They're coming to Gwangju on February 27th. Be the next World Star like Rain and BoA! The poster says the "Audition is open without any distinction of age, gender, or nationality," but the information page says that it's open only to Asians.
So even if your dreams of becoming a 31-year-old Caucasian K-pop star who can't sing in Korean or Japanese are now thwarted, it still might be fun to check out the auditions. The location hasn't been posted yet for the auditions in Gwangju or other cities, so check the information page later for details.
Abhishek Joshi of Program REACH recently wrote to tell me about an upcoming battle of the bands at Club FF in Hongdae, with all proceeds going to two local charities. It starts at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 26th, takes a two-hour timeout for the World Cup match between South Korea and Paraguay---shown on screens throughout the club---and picks up again at 1 a.m. on the 27th. Plenty more information available through the event's Facebook page.
Joshi writes in his email that he has helped through Connect Korea
coordinate a music event to raise funds, recruit volunteers and raise awareness in an effort to serve two non-profits, 꿈을 키우는 집 (http://www.dream-up.co.kr/index.php), an orphanage in Suwon, and 우리집 (http://ww.w3ip.com/), a North Korean children' refugee center in Ansan.
Connect Korea plans to start a program similar to Program REACH at Ansan. Also, we want to raise awareness about these two organizations and want to recruit volunteers that can come and teach at Suwon and Ansan.
"Your donations," according to the Facebook event page,
will purchase computers, projectors, and books. We are seeking to build a sustainable volunteer program that incorporates long-distance ESL teaching, allowing volunteers to teach students at the orphanages via Skype.
Like Korea’s beloved food bibimbap (비빔밥), from which the event gets its name, the festival is a mixture of everybody’s favorites! It celebrates some of the most beloved ‘old’ and the ‘new’ aspects of Korean culture by showcasing trendy and modern genres of music (think clubs in Hongik University area) in the setting of the tradition Hanok Village in Jeonju, a historical jewel.
That's a really shitty name, though, Christ. If somebody at the KTO had paid me a few bucks I would have told them to just call it "전주비빔밤," with it written out in English so people don't think it's a typo. 밤, meaning night, is more clever 사운드 (sound), and a better fit next to 비빔, if they insist on keeping the reference to the city's representative food.
The lineup includes TV Yellow, Ynot?, I&I Jangdan, and Kingston Rudieska, among others and some DJs. There's a 10,000 won cover charge, with performances at the Confucian academy (전주향교)---in the vicinity of the Hanok Village---and Nambu Market. A little more information available via the KTO article and the event's Korean-language Naver cafe.
The Korea Timestells us about Hur Jin (허진), one of twelve finalists for the international "Voice of McDonald's" competition.
McDonald's Korea said Thursday that Hur Jin will represent the nation in the singing contest where a dozen finalists will compete on April 20 in Orlando.
Around 10,000 McDonald's restaurant employees from 119 countries across the world participated in the preliminary rounds and only 12, including Hur, clinched the tickets to Orlando. The finalists were picked via online votes and in-house judges' evaluations.
Hur plans to sing famous pop singer Alicia Keys' ``No One.'' The champion of the competition will receive $25,000 as well as have the opportunity to perform at various McDonald's events to be held around the world for a full year.
``I had to compete with many people to advance in this contest so I will win the championship and show Koreans' competence to the whole world,'' said Hur, a staff trainer. ``I want to become a vocal trainer and help students who have a dream of performing music like me.''
I got a job at McDonald's in 10th grade, became a crew trainer at 16, and a manager at 17, so I'll probably always feel a soft spot for the place and its activities, even if I don't care for the menu much anymore. You can read more about Hur on her Voice of McDonald's profile; an excerpt:
I am a crew trainer for McDonald's and I sing with my McDonald's crew – we have a band and book a studio once a week to play together. I don’t think I could leave because I love the people I work with. I hope I get to go to Florida to make music and beautiful memories with other McDonald’s crew from around the world.
You can also see her singing part of "Suddenly I See" by K. T. Tunstall, and pictures of her getting the good news. Unlike other Koreans who have become famous for singing American pop songs on YouTube, Hur is actually good.
She's a little marble-mouthed, like when singing "Why the hell it means so much to me," but it's a very good effort. YouTube has videos from other Korean entrants. Four of the thirty semi-finalists were from Korea.
The other eleven Global Finalists this year are from China, Costa Rica, France, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, Peru, Philippines, Spain, and two from the US, and they all have profiles on the VOM site. Jin compares well to the other finalists, and her English at least is better than the other non-native speakers, excepting Ms. Portillo from Costa Rica and maybe Ms. Cepello from Spain. Let's see if she can bring the Voice of McDonald's title to Korea, where it belongs. *cough*
The Gwangju Spring Flower Expo (광주봄꽃박람회) will run from Friday, March 26th, through April 4th at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center. It's billed as the "Earliest flower Show in Korea". Both the website and the online brochure (.pdf file) are generally unhelpful with specifics, though it does look like there will be topiaries, various gardens, and yodeling from the Gwangju Berner Oberland Yodel Club (광주오버란드요델클럽). Their message board says they'll perform on the 3rd at 4:00 pm and the 4th at 1:00 pm.
The convention center is accessible via the subway stop of the same name, tickets cost 5,000 won for adults, and the expo will run from 10:00 am through 6:00 pm those ten days. You'll find photos of years past via a Naver search.
The Korea Times has sort of a write-up about group No Brain, but the writer spends most of the time talking about other things, such as how the group works without a contract:
No Brain works under the label Rock Star Music. But the group says it has never signed a contract with the label. Yes, the band that has risen to superstar status in the past 10 years has never signed a contract concerning labor conditions or distribution. This would be impossible for a small- or medium-sized label, let alone a major record label. How did this happen? This is when we began thinking of the culture of the Korean sentiment, ``jeong.''
Out of all the Asian countries that use Chinese characters, only Korea and Japan use ``jeong'' as an independent word. It's a difficult concept to explain to a foreigner. Koreans unconsciously define and remember relationships through ``jeong.''
This cultural practice could be difficult to understand in the Western world, where contracts are crucial, and from a Chinese perspective. But in Korea, the close connections of a ``jeong'' culture positively influenced certain areas of rapid economic development. The culture of ``jeong'' can also be found in a cultural world growing as fast as the economy. The reason No Brain was able to work without a contract can be found in Korea's ``jeong'' culture.
We asked the band how it was possible for them to work without a contract. Vocalist Lee Sung-woo replied, ``Having a contract just makes us nervous, and I think we work harder because we don't have one.''
It is clear that the relationship between No Brain and their label comes from Korea's culture of trust and ``jeong.'' But there's more to it. We might have understood this relationship through Korea's unique culture of ``jeong,'' but in 21st century Korea, that couldn't be the only reason.
The author of The Joshing Gnome had an interesting series in 2008 called "What is Jung and How Can We Kill It?" and each time I read about how unique Korea's jeong is, I think about this passage from part three:
Koreans claim that jung is an untranslatable Korean concept. The reason that Koreans have a difficult time translating jung is that it is, in fact, an alien concept to them. Korean culture draws that ten foot trench between those you care about and those for whom you feel nothing. To feel some affinity for someone on the other side of that trench is jung. And it’s totally outside of the basic bounds of the culture. That’s why jung is such a hard thing for Koreans to explain to you. Because you already feel it all the time. It would be like you explaining buoyancy to a fish. You’s be at such a loss to express the concept that fish would merely nod in wonder when you told them ‘I guess buoyancy is a human concept that you just wouldn’t get.’
The Wonder Girls, one of South Korea's top girl groups, has been active in the United States and recently became the first Korean singers to enter the top 100 of the main Billboard chart.
``Nobody,'' which was unveiled in the United States in June, ranked 76th on the October Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Park Jin-young.
Yesterday Pop Seoul said, keeping up their tradition of never citing sources, that the song "Nobody" was ranked #107.
Looking up their "chart history" on Billboard.com gives you this, though:
This artist hasn't charted yet, but keep checking Billboard for the latest updates.
And you won't find the song on the Hot 100 or the Billboard 200, recent of the week of October 31st, though it does show up at #76 on this page. And only three months after the single's debut!
If you want to go to Hongdae on Monday, see Korea's "American Idol," see Lee Hyori, and are either black, white, or half-Asian, then here's the party for you, as Mnet will be filming an episode of "Super Star K" (슈퍼스타K) in front of foreign-looking people.
SORRY THIS EVENT IS ONLY FOR NON-ASIANS DUE TO THEIR PROGRAMMING CONCEPT OF WHITES & BLACKS & HALF ASIANS ONLY...
. . .
IMPORTANT: This event is ONLY for caucasians, blacks, and half Koraens due to their programming concept of having non-Korean audiences. This is due to their programming concept of how Non-Koreans react to the performances by the singers.
The Facebook event page says it will be at Hongdae's Oversound and will have free drinks. Presumably free admission as well. One can also expect unlimited servings of "sangyu sangyu," "hey yo wassup man," and "pacha hanjup!" as producers and viewers at home marvel at Westerners listening to Western music in a Western television show format. Thanks to a reader for the tip.
The Wonder Girls were in Pennsylvania last week, doing two shows in Philadelphia and one in Pittsburgh. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettereview of the Jonas Brothers' July 25th concert:
From the Jonas Brothers?
A bit grown up, but other than that, moms and daughters got a lively and very wholesome night of entertainment from these Jersey boys, not to mention Sparks, South Korean girl group Wonder Girls (for one song) and the harder-rocking quartet Honor Society.
One song? That's the only mention I found of them in the Pittsburgh media, and I found only one mention in the paper of their trip to Philly:
The Jonases even have their own farm team - the Jonas Group, which squeezes acts such as openers Honor Society into the Jonas mold, although the postcoital imagery of "See U in the Dark" doesn't exactly fit their mentors' squeaky-clean image. They also put the spotlight, briefly, on the South Asian girl group Wonder Girls, whose one-song performance failed to make much of an impression.
South Asian, South Korean, same-same. Well, they seem to really be hitting "Nobody" hard. From manager JYP's twitter page
Come learn the Nobody dance by the girls! Verizon Bus-Pittsburgh,Mellon Arena @ 4:30 C u there(No tickets required!might cancel if it rains)
. . .
11:27 AM Jul 25th from web Learn the Nobody dance by the Wonder Girls! Verizon Bus -Wachovia Center(Philadelphia)@4:30 (No tickets required!might cancel if it rains)
. . .
10:26 AM Jul 24th from web Come learn the Nobody dance by the Wonder Girls! Verizon Bus -Wachovia Center(Philadelphia) @ 4:30 C u all there!(no tickets required!)
One of those sessions was uploaded to Youtube.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
While we might be surprised that a Korean knows about UNKLE, we shouldn't be surprised that MC Mong ripped off one of their videos.
As reported on GFN's "City of Light" this morning, there will be a concert in Gwangju Thursday night to mark 99 days remaining until the Photonics Expo. It will be at the Kim Daejung Convention Center from 8:30 to 10:30, and the line-up includes SG Wannabe, Davichi, Chae-yeon, V.O.S., 4minute, and others. Tickets are 6,000 won. I got that information here, though I don't see it on the official Expo site. The co-host on the GFN program said some people are upset that Gwangju spends so much money on these concerts all the time, but my thing is---and maybe I feel this way because I don't live in Gwangju---there's hardly any advance notice. Same with the big one last month, with Rain, After School, Jewelry, Leessang, 등.
According to the Korea Herald, the two youngest Wonder Girls have dropped out of high school to pursue their music careers and gear up for their North American debut this summer. They will be opening up for the Jonas Brothers this summer, and will release an album in the fall. Here's a snippet of "Nobody" in English, in case you're interested.
I hate getting scooped by the radio station. Via Michael Simning and the "City of Light" program on GFN comes news of a huge concert tomorrow night in Gwangju to celebrate the winning bid for the 2015 Summer Universiade, also known as the World University Games. Because I spent a little time writing up the 2003 Games in Daegu and the North Korean cheerleaders, and poked a little fun last year at Gwangju, its losing bid, and it's crying citizens, I wanted to devote at least an equal amount of space to the city's celebrations. However, the news broke the same day as President Roh's suicide, and I assume the celebration planned for City Hall late on the 23rd had a different tone than expected. There has been little coverage of the announcement, so far as I can tell, though I'm sure I'll have plenty of material to work with after this concert.
It will run tomorrow night from 8:00 to 9:30 downtown in front of the old Provincial Hall at the World Cup Stadium, though it was originally scheduled for the World Cup Stadium. Those scheduled to appear include Rain, Jewelry, After School, Hwayobi, Jun Jin, and hip-hop acts Bobby Kim, Buga Kings, and Leessang. As far as I can tell there's no website set up for it; I heard it on GFN, saw it in a few articles today, and stole the poster up there from the Gwangju official site.
