By Honorary Reporter George Barker from U.K. 

The event "Korea Day" was held on July 17 at York St. John University in York, the U.K.
Also dubbed "Yor-K," the festival celebrated traditional and modern Korean culture and brought together communities and people from a host of backgrounds and ethnicities. This event was organized and held by the university, the Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) and the Korean Embassy in London. The students who participated experienced Korean cultural activities such as handicrafts, calligraphy, food and a music concert. 

York St. John University

Yeji Han, a lecturer of Korean and linguistics at the university, said, "The Yor-K festival gave visitors the chance to experience firsthand both new and old elements of Korean culture. We were delighted to be part of this exciting program of events, especially since interest in and demand for places in our Korean-language course at York St. John has grown rapidly over the past few years."

 
University vice chancellor Karen Bryan added, "It was a pleasure to partner with the Korean Cultural Centre UK for Korea Day and welcome the center's director, Dr. Jungwoo Lee, to our university. Sharing the fascinating aspects of Korean culture, alongside showcasing the talent of our students and staff across our School of Education, Language and Psychology and School of the Arts made the day a very special occasion on our cultural calendar."

Yor-K: Korean Music Night (York St. John University)

The university presented "Yor-K: Korean Music Night" in association with the KCC featuring dynamic performances by the Shilla Ensemble and the String Trio. This eclectic showcase of traditional and contemporary Korean music and dance featured the reinterpretation of traditional Korean music with Western instruments. One of the most exciting performances there was that by the group U8Kandy and its song "Strawberry Soda," which won the KCC's K-pop lyric writing competition.

U8Kandy is a project group that entered this year's K-pop Contest in the UK.

U8Kandy is a project group that entered this year's K-pop Contest in the UK while "Strawberry Soda" was its debut single. The following are excerpts from an interview with the group.

How did it feel to win the K-pop contest in the U.K.?
U8Kandy began as a group project rather than an entry in a competition. Lyrics written by one of our members, Amber Summersgill, won a national competition. We're so proud of Amber for her hard work and creativity, and as an original piece by one of our own, the song really brings a sense of "this is our song."

Please tell more about U8Kandy.
We're a fun-loving and friendly group of people from many backgrounds. Our group was formed through a mutual interest in Korean culture and K-pop. Having the opportunity to showcase a part of Korean culture to others was an amazing experience for all of us.
Our member Abigail "Abi" McKeown came up with the name "U8Kandy." She used the number eight to represent the number of members, the letters "U" and "K" to show that we're from the U.K. but also the "K" to stand for K-pop, and then made a play on words, as our name sounds like "You ate candy." We felt that this name was sweet and cute, just like we are, and fits in perfectly with our debut song.

Give a bit of background on your members.
We're a mixture of language students from YSJ (York St. John), some learning Korean and some Japanese. We all come from a musical background and that has brought us together.
Our eight members are Summersgill from Cheltenham, McKeown (Leicester), Alice Peterson and Sophie "Soph" Holdsworth (Leeds), Julia Morning (Glasgow), Ella McCann (Ripon), Jennifer Marillat (Wales) and Sammi "Shrimpy" Yeo (Malaysia).

What should we know about "Strawberry Soda?"
We hope "Strawberry Soda" can be a lighthearted song to make people feel happy and offer an escape from the trials of and tribulations of today. With everyone going through so much over the past couple of years, we felt that we should do our part to bring people together and make them smile, regardless of where they are in the world.

Who is your favorite K-pop singer or group?
There is a huge range of genres in K-pop, so narrowing it down just to an artist may not do it justice, especially since we all have our own personal favorites. Twice, Gfriend and Iz*one were all big inspirations for the lyrics as they are among masters of the concepts we chose to focus on. Amber listened to so many of their songs for inspiration during the writing process. She also felt that having such a lighthearted song was a highly enjoyable change of pace in our situation, and we hope to lift people's spirits through this.

What are your group's plans?
This started as a one-off project just for fun, but we've found so much joy in the experience and been so inspired by each other that we're discussing the possibility of creating more music together. We hope to explore more concepts and ideas, as well as have a great time doing so.

enny0611@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.