Pinoy K-pop fans, listen up.
As part of the festivities for the Korean Week in the Philippines, the Korean Embassy is sponsoring a Korean Cultural Festival. Among its highlights is a free concert featuring the K-pop boyband Shinee, hip hop group Mighty Mouth and the jazz group Winterplay. The concert will be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on November 27 at 3 p.m., and yep, admission is free.
Finally, the Korean Embassy has responded to requests from K-pop lovers here to bring in more Korean artists. We’re pretty psyched about this.
For those who aren’t familiar with these groups, let me give you a brief background.
Shinee is a pop group composed of five members–Onew, Taemin, Jong-Hyun, Key and Min-Ho. Their song “Romeo” has already been getting a bit of airplay here. They also sang the song “Stand By Me” from the original soundtrack of the Korean drama hit Boys Over Flowers.
Meanwhile, Mighty Mouth is a hip hop group or should I say duet since it’s composed of two members, namely Sang Chu and Shorty J. Like Shinee, Mighty Mouth is a relatively new group but it has been well-known for collaborating with famous celebrities and K-pop stars like Yoon Eun Hye (Princess Hours, Coffee Prince), Son Dam-Bi (Dream) and Sun-ye of Wondergirls. Personally, I’ve only listened to their song “I Love You,” which featured Yoon Eun Hye.
Lastly, Winterplay is a Korean pop-jazz group composed of Lee Juhan, Hye Won, Soh Eun Gyu and Choi Woo Joon. This is the first time I’ve heard about this group but the pop-jazz fusion sounds interesting enough.
And if K-pop isn’t really your cup of tea, here are other events that might be worth checking out:
Taste Korea Food Festival (Nov. 19-23, Shangri-la Plaza)
– free food tasting and cooking demonstration. I personally want to see how they make their banchan (side dishes).
Dance of Chun Hyang (Nov. 25, 8 p.m., Cultural Center of the Philippines)
– featuring the National Dance Company of Korea.
Samulnori by Noreum-Machi (Nov. 26, 8 p.m., Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo, Cultural Center of the Philippines)
– a stage performance featuring traditional Korean instruments.
Cultural Parade (Nov. 27, 10:30 a.m.)
– The parade, which will feature Korean costumes and customs, will start at the Manila Hotel and end at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Admission is free for all the events.
Credits: Shinee’s official website, Mighty Mouth’s official website, Dramabeans