For the love of Korean (fashion, food, music)

As Korean television serials and boy bands made all things Korean popular among the youths in Nepal, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea is all set to host a festival to promote it even more.

So, on May 25, 2018, Heritage Garden in Sanepa, Lalitpur will host the ‘K-Pop Cover Concert’. The event also aims to promote cultural understanding between Korea and Nepal.  “What makes this event different from those we have been organizing in the past is that it has something for people of all generations. The teens can enjoy K-Pop performances, students can be a part of the educational fair and adults can get involved in other activities such as cooking, free movies, markets, and exhibitions,” says Kwon Jin Sun, third secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea adding that the entry is free and 700 people will be accommodated. 

The Week’s Ashma Chhetri provides you a glimpse into the event. Here are some highlights of the event as well as a roundup of the performers so that you are all set to rediscover the essence of Korea when it’s finally time for the ‘K-Pop Cover Concert’.

Events

Food exhibition 
This year, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea will be hosting a food exhibition of traditional Korean recipes back from the Joseon Era. They will be exhibiting the food items that were served to the royal families of ancient Korea and each food has an interesting story behind it. The stories will be explained in detail during the exhibition, which will be a major part of the opening ceremony. However, you might not get to taste the food as they are for exhibition purposes only.

Korean market
There will be a market similar to Jang Bazaar. Here you will find various stalls put up by the Korean community of Nepal and you can buy Korean cosmetics, packaged food items, accessories, and many more Korean products. The objective of the market is to bridge the gap between the buyers and sellers of Korean products.

Cooking class
Hurry up and register for a Korean cooking class by 6 pm on May 23 because only the first 30 applicants can be a part of this one of a kind culinary experience. To register, send an email to konepemb@mofa.go.kr with your name, age, occupation, contact details, and purpose of participating in the class. You will be taught how to make popular Korean dishes such as Korean noodles, pancakes, and Kimchi. 

Speech contest
Five junior members and five seniors members will be competing at the speech contest during the ‘K-Pop Cover Concert 2018’. These members were selected from the preliminary round conducted on May 6. The participants will be given topics related to Korea such as its entertainment industry or politics on which they need to deliver a speech in Korean. Different members of the embassy and Korean language instructors from the Campus of International Languages, Nepal, will be judging the contest. 

Film festival 
In the second part of the event, to be organized from May 26 – 29, five Korean movies will be screened at QFX Cinemas at Labim Mall, Pulchowk. Check out the QFX website or download their application for further information about the movies. 

Performers

K-Hoppers

The initial of their name stands for Korean and hoppers refers to people who can dance (similar to hip-hoppers). True to its name, K-Hoppers is an eight-member boy group known for their covers of Korean dance choreographies. What makes this group unique is that each one of them specializes in multiple dance forms such as ballet, break dance, and many more. 

John Tamang, one of the members of the group, mentions that the journey of K-hoppers started two years back because of their team leader, Suman Gurung. He was the one who got them all together and finalized a group of eight. So far, the team has bagged many trophies at different competitions such as the Korean World Festival Nepal 2017, K-pop Championship Nepal, and K-Pop Dance Cover Contest, to name a few.

This year, at the ‘K-Pop Cover Concert’, the group will be performing to three different Korean numbers of boy groups Got7, Seventeen, and Exo. Tamang further adds that they have included short sessions of self-choreographed fillers in between and they are quite eager to experiment with that as well. 

Celestial 

A year back, each of the four members of Celestial promoted themselves individually through separate accounts. However, in 2017, they decided to come together as a team and formed a Nepali girl group. Lately, Celestial is known for their K-Pop cover videos, music video reactions, public dance challenge, and Vlogs.

From foods, lifestyle to makeup and fashion, the girls mention that they love everything about the Korean culture. They especially follow groups such as BTS, Exo, Red Velvet and Seventeen and prefer to cover their choreographies. By performing to these numbers, the group has also been featured in many K-Pop related programs and made their way to the finals. This year, at the ‘K-Pop Cover Concert’, they will be dancing to four different Korean songs. And they will also be performing with other dance groups as well. 

Boys Meet K-Pop

Boys meet K-Pop or, in short, BMK, is the brainchild of Nikhil Gurung who is now the team leader of the group. It is an eight-member boy group of random strangers who are passionate about K-Pop and dance. The youngest member of the group is 16 years old and the oldest is 24. The team bagged the third place at the K-Pop Cover Dance Contest and has performed at numerous other K-Pop competitions as well. 

Gurung states that the group has its own ways of selecting specific songs while making the covers. First, the members pick their individual favorites and discuss it with the group. Each member will then go through the suggested songs and vote if they are fine covering the choreography. For this upcoming event, BMK promises power packed and aggressive performances in songs of NCT 127, NCT U and Monsta X.

Struk Pop

Struk Pop, apparently one of the Nepali groups to visit Korea will also be performing at the upcoming event. The boy group of eight led by Suresh Moktan has been actively promoting Korean culture in Nepal for about three years now through their live performances, Vlogs, cover songs, and reaction videos. Not just Korean, but the group has also been featured in numerous Nepali music videos as the dance crew.   
Moktan shares that the group is highly influenced by BTS. Due to this, even this time they will be performing to BTS followed by compositions of Stray Kids and Pentagon. He further adds that, rather than learning the dance steps, managing the costumes and props has been the hardest part of the preparation. But Struk Pop members are confident that they will put up a good show despite all the challenges.

Crimson Yeoja 

Unlike other performers at the event, Crimson Yeoja has decided to present songs with strong concepts from the history of K-Pop such as debuts song of Girls Generation, EXO’s Growl, and many more. The girl group of eight members has been practicing for a couple of months now and is looking forward to a great event.  

Kripa Rai, one of the members of the group, explains that the reason behind choosing this specific name was to represent girls and Nepal together. Crimson is our national color and Yeoja means girls in Korean. Though the group initially came together to perform at the Korean World Festival 2016, they are still together and plan to start their own dancing studio in the future. So far, they have been honored with the best performance award at the K-Pop Reception 2016, and held the first runner-up position at the K-Pop World Festival 2017 and K-Pop Dance Cover Contest 2017. 

 
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• craze