K-pop has slowly been gaining ground across India for its catchy tunes and rhythmic beats. Abheet Gupta spends an evening among zealous fans to see where does the appeal lie
The words might be unintelligible to many but the hysteria that K-Pop ignites has to be witnessed to be believed. The 2018 Changwon K-Pop World Festival: India saw all of this and more. The event fulfilled the fantasies of those wanting to make a mark in the genre of Korean pop music and give them a stage where they could display their talents and make their dreams a reality.
The K-pop genre is slowly gaining popularity in India but given the language restriction, it has a niche fan base compared to Hindi and English pop music. K-Pop involves a variety of audio-visual elements and generally covers dance-pop, pop ballad, electronic, rock, hip-hop, R&B. The contest, across India by Vh1, acts like a medium to increase the genre’s popularity and search for talented musicians and dancers.
This year’s Delhi K-pop festival saw an increase in the number of participants as well as the audience. There were 14 participants in the vocal category and 11 participants in the dance category and all of them put on melodious and energetic performances that left the audience spellbound. The dance floor and catchy music that was being played in the auditorium prepped up the audience for the performances that were to follow.
One of the most memorable performances was by a participant Stella K. Zodinpuii who sang Gashina by Sunmi. By the time it drew to a close, the audience was grooving to the song and chanting her name. She eventually ended up winning the vocal category but more importantly she won the hearts of both the judges and the audience.
There were many memorable dance performances but the one by the group, We Are Family Crew, stood out and won the round.
The audience was in tune with the music on stage, which was evident from the way they danced and hooted for their favourite groups. The ardent fans among the audience sang along the lyrics. Another thing that stood out was that since Korean pop culture lays a great emphasis on being turned out stylishly, the fans too were equally well-dressed for this event.
“We thoroughly enjoyed our time here. The crowd enjoyed the performance of Bekham and Tarun which made the evening amazing. We enjoyed the performances by Stella, Colight and Kith&Kin the most and we are happy with the results,” said a fan at the event.
The winners, the top three in each of the two categories, will compete again with the winners from other regions at the India grand final round on July 9, at Siri Fort Auditorium and the winners of this round will get a chance to represent their talent on the world stage in Korea.
The genre has arrived.