Korean pop has Delhizens grooving

After two hours of attending the event, most of the audience exited the Siri Fort Auditorium with numb ears. The reason being an enthusiastic and energised crowd of 2000 people that turned up at the venue to witness the Grand Finale of K-Pop India 2014!

Though just another competition of song and dance, the event became an unforgettable event, thanks to the massive turnout of fans of K-Pop or Korean pop. 

In just its third edition of starting in India, the festival has not only gained a foothold but is making waves. Its connection with the young generation is one factor while the other is the absence of sufficient pop music in India, especially from other parts of the world. 

Even an Indian band, such as Indian Ocean or Parikrama, performs in the auditorium, does not draw a crowd as was garnered by K-Pop band N-Sonic that had been especially flown down to India for the Grand Finale. Some audience members even confes­sed that they had come only to see N-Sonic’s performance.

Though the star attraction was present throughout, the main event was a competition of dance and music between contestants from various parts of India. The evening started on an unusual note with performances by last year’s winners of K-Pop India in the song and dance category.

It was later that the emcee took charge and welcomed all to the event. Among the gathering, were present some VIPs along with judges. The panel of judges included dignitaries from Korean Tourism and Korean Cultural Centre along with Nitin Malik, the lead vocalist of rock band Parikrama.

This proved that the event was not only about promoting Korean culture in India but to also create a bond with Indian artistes.  Joon-gyu Lee, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, kept his speech short yet mentioned to the audience that “As you enjoy the Korean music and dance performances, Korean youngsters in Korea are increasingly getting acquainted with Indian culture.”

Soon after this were staged the 13 performances by Indian youth who sang Korean songs and danced to the tune of Korean pop. Youngsters from as far as Guwahati, Mumbai and Chennai were part of this line-up. 

Singers like Jeet Dasgupta from Delhi not just learnt and recited a Korean song but also translated its last two sentences in Hindi. Dressed in traditional dhoti-kurta, his endeavour to create a melodious fusion of Indian and Korean culture made him the Bronze prize winner.

For the Gold , there was a tough fight between Aarcha S Kumar (from Chennai) and Sparsh Bajpai (from Delhi). While the former had astounding intonation of voice, the latter performed like a star and walked away with the first prize.

Unlike the song category, the dance category included some interesting performances. While Dancing Devils Crew (Arunachal Pradesh) impressed with the backflips in their choreography, JB’s Inside Stuff Crew (Chennai) made their act quite hi-tech with use of neon lights. However, they could only get the second and third prize for the Gold Prize went to Urban Age Crew (Delhi) who will represent India at the K-Pop World Festival in Incheon, South Korea.   

The best was saved for the last. As N-Sonic performed on three back to back numbers on audience request, they demonstrated the true spirit of K-Pop while appeasing their Indian fans. Outside the auditorium, the band members got mobbed even in the presence of security. Such was the craze for Korean pop.  So are we ready for K-Pop concerts now?