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K-Wave Festival in Bengaluru brings fans of Korean pop culture under one roof
In its first edition, K-Wave Festival brought in a large crowd for Korean food, music and fashion
The first edition of the K-Wave Festival that took place at Jayamahal Palace Grounds on Saturday welcomed over 2,200 K-pop fans from all around the Garden City of India.
Anmol Kukreja, organiser of the show, shares, “K-pop is huge in India now which is why this festival was organised. This is also the 50-year-celebration of diplomatic relations between India and South Korea. Bengaluru as an audience in itself is great in terms of live music, so, this was the apt place to hold the festival. We wanted to do something for the younger audience, hence the K-Wave Festival.” Various food stalls were present at the festival, serving authentic Korean food, from corn dogs to kimchi. A barbecue stall was present, too. Traditional Korean clothing could also be bought along with K-pop groups’ merchandise.
Deepali Harish, an artist selling hand-painted keychains, shares, “Business is going really well. I’m doing live paintings so customers can choose customised pieces for themselves.”
Max and Prit, fans from the US, who are currently based out of Bengaluru, tell us, “We are living here to be closer to South Korea! We’ve been following the culture for a while now and a festival like this is great to get the whole community under one roof.”
Engineering students and fans for almost a decade Esha Rachel and Disha Pattnaik were on cloud nine at the event. Dressed aptly for the occasion, Rachel says, “We were so excited to learn that Kim Woojin will perform. I’ve been a fan of K-pop for about nine years now!” adding to which, Pattnaik shares, “I’m a huge fan too and it’s great that a festival, in honour of the Korean culture, is taking place here.”
The evening featured workshops, live performances and children performing Taekwondo. The cherry on top were the performances by the headliners Kim Woojin and X:in, who shared the stage together briefly and won the hearts of the audiences. Indian songs like Kaala Chashma (Baar Baar Dekho, 2016) and Challeya (Jawan) also featured in the performances, which struck a chord with the fans.
