K-Pop kraze
2 Cebu dance groups closer to joining K-Pop World Festival
By Patricia May P. Catan
Photos: Contributed
THE Hallyu or Korean wave has continuously been on the rise and has reached global exposure mainly for its entertainment industry and culture. You might as well be considered as someone living under a rock if you haven’t engrossed in everything and anything South Korean pop culture. The Queen City of the South in particular is no stranger to the Korean fever with hundreds and thousands of Cebuano residents showing great appreciation for Korean dramas and Korean pop music or more commonly known as K-Pop.
You see and hear songs of K-Pop idols almost everywhere in Cebu, which says a lot of the interest Cebuanos has for this type of music. This interest is then translated by doing dance and song covers of some of their favorite Korean artists. Providing a platform for these Cebuano fans to showcase their talents and giving them the chance to make their idol dreams come true is the Cebu Korean Association with the Korean Consulate Office in Cebu through the Cebu K-Pop Star (CKS) 2018 Live Auditions.
The first phase of the CKS Auditions held last July 21 at Icon Club gathered 80 performers out of the 140 applicants. The 80 K-pop star hopefuls were judged based on coordination, energy, voice quality, confidence, projection, costume, and audience impact. Chief Consular Officer Joseph Shin, Director of Club Four Seasons Andy Kim, President of CIEC School Bruce Shin, and Binibining Cebu 2017 Apriel Smith were all given the hardest role of the auditions as judges but did an excellent job choosing eight awardees out of the 80 performers.
RABB7E who covered “Mic Drop” MAMA Remix by BTS took the top spot as champion and won P20,000 cash. SOLSTICE who performed “Cherry Bomb” by NCT 127 won first runner-up and P20,000 cash as well. SUBZERO placed second runner-up and won P10,000 cash with their cover of “Wolf” by EXO.
Five cover groups also took home P5,000 cash each as consolation prizes. They are A-1 who covered BLACKPINK’S “DDU-DU DDU-DU”, YOUNG BLOOD who performed “Feeling” by UNB, XOXO Chemical Edition who did EXO’s “MAMA”, M16X who covered “Fly” by GOT7, and BaDass who performed “DDU-DU DDU-DU” by BLACKPINK.
Not only did RABB7E and SOLSTICE go home with P20,000 cash but as champion and first runner-up respectively of the CKS Auditions, they also earned a recommendation from the Korean Consulate in Cebu to participate in this year’s Changwon K-Pop World Festival in South Korea. Organized by South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and hosted by the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the K-Pop World Festival on its eighth year is accepting applicants from 91 areas throughout 74 countries and will be choosing 14 participants from the global auditions to compete during the final round on October 5 at Changwon, South Korea.
According to Consul General of the Korean Consulate in Cebu Oh Sung Yong, K-Pop is one of the beneficial factors that bind Filipinos and Koreans together and create an avenue for the young generation to build teamwork and camaraderie through music and dance. “It will boost mutual cultural exchange that makes our two countries continue to consistently connect and develop our established, growing and long-running friendship,” Oh added.
The mutual interest for K-Pop has indeed built strong and lasting relationships among Koreans and Cebuanos, which go beyond the love of music. It provides both countries the opportunity to learn and immerse in each other’s culture that makes for a peaceful and united friendship.