By Honorary Reporter Ghada Mohamed Ali from Egypt
Photos = KOCIS
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of ties between Korea and Central American countries, the Korean Culture and Information Service from Aug. 18-30 ran the touring event "Hola Caravana K-Culture" with the cooperation of Korean broadcast network MBC and Korea National University of Arts (K-arts).
Featuring street busking performances of music, singing and dancing with old and new rhythms to promote Korean culture and art, the program was held in four Central American countries that have no Korean Culture Centers: Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras.
The performers were students and graduates from K-arts selected through auditions. While most of the performances were of traditional genres like pansori (lyrical opera) and gilnori (traditional parade featuring a mask dance drama), others had a modern touch like music from K-dramas. All of the performances were streamed on Korea.net's YouTube channel.
A performing troupe poses with the audience at the caravan's first stop of Panama on Aug. 18.
The following are interviews via social media with artists who performed in the caravan on their impressions of the event: piri (traditional flute) player Kwak Sang-jun (Aug. 25); vocalist Jeong Geon-woo (Aug. 29); theatrical performer Kim Min-Kyung (Sept. 1); and Cuban singer-songwriter Jadis Camila (Sept. 3).
Kwak Sang-jun
This musician grew interested in the piri in elementary school and later attended a performing arts high school and K-arts, where he is studying for a master's degree. The flute is made of bamboo and drawings of it are found in cave paintings dating back to the ancient Goguryeo Kingdom as early as 37 B.C.
Piri player Kwak Sang-jun (left) performs with a pansori singer in Honduras on Aug. 28.
On what he hopes the audience learns or reacts to his performance, he said, "I hope the audience just enjoys my music and feel whatever they want. I was very grateful when people at the end of my performance expressed curiosity over my instrument."
Jeong Geon-woo
This baritone vocalist studies opera at K-arts. He said it was great to show traditional Korean culture in a variety of ways.
"It was a good experience for the audience in that they got to hear almost all leading forms of our traditional performing arts in one performance. The synergy effect was great and we created a wonderful show by performing with various artists," he added.
Vocalist Jeong Geon-woo takes photos with spectators in Panama on Aug. 18.
"The vision of our program is to show that Korea has a variety of arts and culture. K-pop is famous across the globe, but I wanted to show other diverse and interesting cultural content from Korea. The reactions of the audience differed by country. As I traveled around the four countries, Panama was so enthusiastic and Costa Rica so responsive. And in El Salvador and Honduras, the audience said our performance was so exciting and that they enjoyed it."
Kim Min-kyung
This theatrical performer is pursuing a master's in children and youth theater at K-arts. She said she was worried over how to share Korean culture through plays and get Central American audiences to empathize through art.
Theatrical performer Kim Min-kyung does her act in Costa Rica on Aug. 22.
"The reactions of the Central American audience were so touching. Their passionate energy kept me and my art alive. When in dialogue with the audience, Korean culture becomes a real, moving and living thing," she said.
Jadis Camila
This Cuban singer and songwriter graduated from K-arts last month with a master's in musicology. For the caravan, she sang a matchup of Lee Hi's "No One" and Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" as a symbolic collaboration between K-pop and Latin pop. She also teamed up with Kim, whom she bonded with since their hometowns are both islands.
Jadis Camila performs in El Salvador on Aug. 28.
On the audience's reaction to her performances, Camila said, "I think they learned about Korea's traditional performances and instruments and the methods of participation as part of the public in pansori. As for my performance, I wanted to show that beautiful results can come from mixing our cultures. The reactions were amazing as they clapped, sang along when we asked them to and even danced with us."
"Once the performance was over, a lot of people asked to take pictures with us, give feedback on what they loved most and thank us for bringing Korean culture to their country."
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.