The Korean festival in 2019. This year’s event was virtually due to Covid-19. PHOTO/COURTESY
Koreans are mostly known for Taekwondo and TV dramas but their K-POP which stands for Korean Pop music doesn’t fall far from the two.
Today, everyone familiar with pop music knows the name BTS and BLACKPINK. They have been invited onto late-night talk shows, they’ve shattered records, they’ve sold out stadiums, and they have made it onto the big screen and the biggest virtual ticketed show of all time. These days, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t know who these guys were or hadn’t heard at least one of their songs.
The success of the Bangtan Boys is worldwide. Korean pop or K-pop is now a multi-billion-dollar industry. It’s with this pride that KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) , a leading Korean broadcaster, celebrates K-POP culture annually and globally through the Changwon K-POP World Festival with contestants from all over the world.
Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, K-POP Festival 2021 was held online and was open to both individuals and groups that are Ugandan.
Contestants recorded three-minute videos of themselves singing or dancing to K-POP songs of their choice and uploaded them to the Korean embassy’s social media accounts with the hashtags #2021KPOPUG and #KPOPCONTEST, and also tagged the Embassy’s social media accounts.
At the end of the day, Janepher Akello walked away victorious, impressing the judges with a cover version of Fate song by Lee Sun Hee. With her outstanding performance, she won a cash price of Shs1,000,000 while the second place prize of Shs500,000 went to five groups including Dance Theatre Uganda, Team Holy Ghost and M27 among others.
The popularity prize went to two groups; LJD (Let’s Jazz Dance after doing Stay with me by Chanyeol and Punch as well as Stuart Dominic Kiggundu who did As I live by SG. They won a cash prize of Shs500,000.
There were also other winners including Patricia Kansiime, who won a laptop after the speaking contest while Dominic Stuart Kiggundu, Mildred Nakagwe, Martha Kyokusiima, Robert Amutuhaire, Esther Mbeiza, Jean De Dieu Hungurimana and Peace Kaladi all won phones.
The Essay contest was won by Thierry Hosea and Steven Mugerwa who walked away with laptops, as did the quiz winners.
The Embassy also organised the 2021 Korean Ambassador’s Open Taekwondo Competition as an online Poomsae Challenge based on age and gender open to both individuals and groups that are Ugandan.
The winners received medals, laptops, phones and certificates for all participants. The Gold Medal was for first Place (For individual, Pair or Team), 2nd Place Silver Medal (For individual, Pair or Team) and 3rd Bronze Medal (For individual, Pair or Team)
The best participants and the best Taekwondo clubs were also given prizes.
issejjombwe@ug.nationmedia.com
