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Crying Nut, one of Korea's most representative punk rock band, will take part in K-rock concert. |
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Avid fans are about to be treated to the biggest K-rock concert ever held in Seoul, featuring a total of 101 Korean rock bands gathering for a rock festival. The concert will run May 17-26.
Four hundred plus musicians, all Korean, will give all they have to the crowd eager to experience this historic event.
``There are various rock festivals inviting highly acclaimed foreign rock musicians. But it is the first time a rock festival of this kind will be hosted with a line-up of some 420 Korean rock musicians for 10 days,'' said Park Song-won, an official of the festival organization.
The festival is designed to promote the integrity of live rock music and show a wide variety of Korean rock genres. Following this year's launching, it is planned that the festival will be an annual event.
 The line-up includes Boohwal, Black Hole, Black Syndrome, The Rock Tigers, Crying Nut and Peter Pan Complex, which have a strong presence on the local rock scene.
Boohwal, an iconic rock band from the 1980s, will perform on May 17. Boohwal is famous as its former vocalist Lee Seung-chul is now a well-known veteran solo singer.
 Black Hole, a heavy metal old band, will create heavy and powerful sounds on May 19. Black Hole was formed in 1985 and has done more than 1,000 concerts over the past 22 years.
Crying Nut, a band representative of the local punk rock scene, is scheduled to hit the stage on May 23. The band is now 10 years old and toured 20 cities in the United States last year, showing potential of Korean rock music.
The Park Jung-a Band also will be at the festival. Park, a member of pop group Jewelry, is seeking to transform her career from that of a dancer-singer to a rock star in her first solo album.
Modern four-member rock band Peter Pan Complex will shake up its fans with its witty displays and rock performance on May 22.
The festival is hoped to lift the spirit of rock, while the local record markets are crashing and the chances of live performances are decreasing due to a steep rise in computer files and MP3 downloads.
Rock music had a strong presence on the mainstream music scene until 1980s, when dance music became popular, leaving just a small fan base for rock music maniacs.
However, rock music has sought experimentation with its creative attempts to widen the indie scene, which has enriched Korean popular music.
``Among others, the quality of sound is the top priority of rock music. I will focus on producing the best of sounds to revive the bands' originality at the performances,'' Park In-hoon, a musical director of the festival, said.
Ten rock groups will perform each night for the 10-day festival from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. from May 17-26.
The venue is the Seoul Fashion and Art Hall located in the middle of a fashion town of Dongdaemun, where is home to 400,000 visitors, including 30,000 foreign tourists.
Tickets cost 30,000 won. For more information, call (02) 3670-4567.
chungay@koreatimes.co.kr |
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