Hahoe Festival, where Korean tradition meets modernity

A scene from Hahoe Festival 2024 in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province / Courtesy of Hahoe Festival

By Daniela P. Solano

• Published Jun 1, 2025 10:10 AM KST

Can traditions be lost when they collide with modernity? Should we resist change, or, as social media and new technologies increasingly shape our lives, should we use the tools of modernity to help our traditions evolve and thrive? A good example of achieving this seemingly utopian balance is Hahoe Festival.

Originating from Busan in Korea’s southeastern region, a unique music project now celebrating its sixth anniversary is hosting its annual electronic music festival on June 7 and 8 at Andong’s Korean Culture Theme Park. Here, they celebrate what, in their opinion, is the true essence of Korean culture: community.

Led by cultural director Choi Ji-won, known as DJ OENN in the electronic music scene, Hahoe Festival proudly celebrates Korean culture in a way no other modern music festival does. This rare fusion of global modern culture and Korean folk tradition offers an answer to two questions increasingly asked in Korean society: Who are we? And how can we celebrate being authentically “us”?

These aren't ungrounded assumptions but sentiments I´ve heard in heartfelt conversations with Koreans reflecting on identity in today´s fast-changing world. In the fragments of their stories — shared over chats, coffee or late-night drinks, I began to grasp, like pieces of a puzzle, the deep emotional legacy of Korea's past: from colonization and division to rapid growth.

“Even in my childhood during the 1990s, there was a strong sense of care and connection among neighbors,” Choi said. “For example, when someone moved to a new town, it was customary to share sirutteok — a traditional rice cake — with neighbors. However, much of this has disappeared with the rise of the social media era."

As Korea navigates political and cultural shifts, Choi’s voice rings louder than ever.

Celebrated in Andong, the festival promises to enhance the lives of local communities and create a culture that excites people from around the world and leads to future changes. Such a motto and outcomes caught the eyes of the Korean Heritage Foundation, which is now a loyal partner, offering the festival partial funding. While preparing for this year’s event, Choi was contacted by a representative from Andong's Hahoe Village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Such achievements mark a significant step toward modernity for traditionally conservative communities. As Choi explained, even “historically conservative cities have people with progressive ideas.” Andong, considered the center of Korean culture and folk traditions and the birthplace of the Hahoe masks, reflects this dynamic.

However, the project goes beyond addressing the issues of mixing modernity and tradition. Choi’s work reconnects with the lost principles and values once deeply embedded in electronic music culture.

With the rise in popularity of the electronic scene, originally rooted in marginalized communities in 1970s America and later reinterpreted in major European cities, Asian capitals have also joined the global festival trend.

The magic that lay in the united sentiments of hardship from Latino, Black and LGBTQ+ communities, and which gave birth to electronic music genres, was lost in a stream of modernity and fashion. House and techno music were once the visionary elements to unify communities. Today, ticket sales for massive electronic festivals can go as high as thousands of dollars. This raises the question, to whom is this music being catered for, and where did the initial progressive values of electronic dancefloors end?

It is here where Hahoe Festival, along with Choi and the organizing team, presents an interesting approach to restoring what has been lost, not only in dance culture but in a sense of Koreanness. And, in the view of this article’s author, what they are reviving goes beyond the “Korean” — it is a universal heritage.

Hahoe Festival is grounded in the pursuit of being a platform for local artists, creating bonding networks within different regions, maintaining accessible ticket prices and, especially this year, supporting natural disasters. For 2025, the team introduced the “Green Ticket” initiative, an affordable, low-cost ticket through which all proceeds will go toward helping survivors of the recent wildfires in the region, where many residents lost their homes. In the words of Kim Koo, who Choi quoted during an interview with The Korea Times, it is the quest for “a noble culture,” one grounded in cultural integrity, peace and moral leadership.

Hahoe incorporates and collaborates with local artists across various fields to create what they call “the most Korean festival.” A lineup of local DJs, carpenters, lighting and electrical experts and designers, alongside the use of traditional Korean objects such as lanterns (cheongsachorong), fabrics (nobangcheon) and historical or reconstructed sites, revives a sense of romanticism and nostalgia in Korean culture and aesthetics.

Perhaps most radical of all, Choi has promised to give all the funds raised from the fest, showing that Hahoe isn´t just a curated festival — it is reclaiming something the culture industry left behind: human kindness.

In addition to its humanitarian mission, Hahoe Festival also addresses pressing national concerns surrounding the preservation of traditional performing arts. The festival not only collaborates with local communities and incorporates ritual aesthetics but also showcases intangible cultural heritage — featuring artworks such as jangseung (village guardian totems), traditional Korean games and live performances of folk arts. This year´s program, for instance, will include a performance of samulnori, a dynamic Korean percussion ensemble rooted in farmers’ music traditions.

Yet the importance of these performances extends beyond the stage. Historically, the preservation of traditional arts has relied on an inherited rite of passage between practitioners and the next generation — a slow, bureaucratic process that is often economically unsustainable. In traditional performative arts, it is the skill itself that must be protected, requiring active trainees and regular performances. However, many of these art forms struggle to find a viable consumer market. By being included as part of the experiences of the festival, Choi is creating a new platform where performances can take place and where traditional arts can explore new development opportunities.

Change is inevitable. But in the hands of Choi and the Hahoe Festival team, it is being channeled with care — into a constellation where heritage and innovation coexist and where the past is not just preserved but reimagined for the future.

Visit linktr.ee/hahoekr for more information.

Daniela P. Solano is a cultural researcher and the founder of KoreanWave.Lab, a platform dedicated to promoting Korean underground subcultures. She hosts Korean Wave Radio, a monthly show broadcast in Mexico that highlights Korea’s independent music scene. Based in Seoul, she is also the Seoul correspondent for Mixmag Asia and works in marketing at Nyapi Seoul, an edgy underground music club. Her work explores the evolving identity of hallyu and challenges mainstream representations of Korean culture.