By Honorary Reporter Nourhan M. Eldemrdash from Egypt
Photos= Angy Mohamed

I am an Egyptian fan of traditional Korean arts and music. My interest began more than eight years ago, and I started learning about it online about three years ago. Though I started with "Arirang," the most famous Korean folk song, I found more examples of such music on YouTube.

What attracted me the most, however, was a video of the folk story "The Tale of Shim Chung" that included a most beautiful song. I still remember how I felt when I first heard the song and learned about the story. Though I'd been interested in Korean culture for eight years, I'd never been as moved as I was when seeing that video. So I asked myself how could I find more related videos?

Through YouTube, I discovered the Korean band Vidan, which introduces traditional Korean culture through traditional Korean instruments. The band's many videos and traditional stories are all accompanied by amazing songs. Moreover, all of the videos and stories are available in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. I saw all of the group's videos in one day and became a huge fan of Vidan.

Over the three years since I discovered the band, its songs are on my favorite playlist. I even won a Korean speech contest last year through a presentation on the stories I learned from their videos. My dream was to see Vidan perform in Egypt, but never did I expect to see the group in Korea and sit in the first row of the theater. Funday Korea Networks held a year-end event by inviting 100 foreign nationals in Korea to attend a Vidan performance at Gwanghwamun Art Hall in Seoul.

No words could describe my feelings when I saw the group, and I couldn't hold back tears when I saw the members step on stage. I had to remind myself that I wasn't watching a YouTube video. I was also one of the lucky few to get a signed CD from Vidan. The extreme happiness I felt that day made it the best day of my life. I urge everyone to check out the group's channel, enjoy its music, learn a lot from its videos and see a live performance as I did.

chaey0726@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean