By Kim Eun-young and Kim Young Shin

Kyoto is hosting the Trilateral Arts Festival 2017 on Aug. 25.

The festival has been held since 2014 and boosts friendly relations among Korea, Japan and China and helps to forge cultural empathy among the three.

This year, the festival opens on Aug. 25, the first day of a two-day conference among cultural ministers from Korea, Japan and China. At the festival, traditional and modern music and dance performances will be staged by artists from all three countries.

The opening program will feature a student string ensemble from the Kyoto City University of Arts and the Osaka College of Music. They will play the Korean folksong "Arirang" (아리랑), the Japanese children's song "Furusato" (ふるさと, 고향), which means "hometown," and "Mo Li Hua" (茉莉花, 모리화), a popular Chinese folk song.

Korean artists will perform traditional Korean folk songs and dances using traditional musical instruments, as well as modern dances and some break dancing, under the theme of “Dynamic Korea.”

The Chinese team will present traditional and modern Chinese dance. Japan will continue with traditional Japanese music and some modern dance.

“This year, the harmony of traditional and modern art will be presented by applying traditional art from Korea, Japan and China to modern dance,” said an official from the festival organizer.

eykim86@korea.kr