KOREAN entertainment is facing several storms right now, but in true show business fashion, the show must go on.
Last week the 70th anniversary celebration of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and South Korea kicked off with a free concert at the Mall of Asia Arena headlined by three K-pop groups together with Filipino rock band Silent Sanctuary. The diplomatic community, government officials, guests and fans marked the milestone at the 2019 K-pop Friendship Concert in Manila held on March 7 at the Arena.
Among the guests were Korean Ambassador to the Philippines Han Dong-man, First Vice Minister Kim Yong-sam of Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), Ambassador-designate Vasin Ruangprateepsaeng of Thailand, Ambassador Giorgio Guglielmino of Italy, Ambassador Mohammad Tanhaei of Iran, Bangko Sentral Governor Benjamin E. Diokno, and National Commision for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Commissioner Victorino Manalo.
This year has been designated Korea-Philippines Year of Mutual Exchange, and the concert is the kick-off. Other events that will be held this year are the Korean Film Festival and Taekwondo Culture Festival.
That night, it was all about the music with the hashtag #2019KPOPFCMNL trending on Twitter.
The concert was hosted by Ryan Bang and Kring Elizano Kim.
Silent Sanctuary opened the concert to warm applause as most of the Gen Z’ers in the audience that night grew up to their music.
It was the first Philippine visit for six-member girl group APRIL, composed of Yena, Rachel, Jinsol, Chaekyung, Chaewon and Naeun. “It’s such a great honor to perform here in the Philippines, and this is actually our first time to be here so it’s kind of nervous but we’ll try our best,” Rachel said. The group, which debuted in August 2015, performed “April Story,” “Tinkerbell” and “Oh! My Mistake.”
APRIL released its sixth mini-album The Ruby last October. It was the second Manila visit for NOIR, composed of Yeonkuk, Junyong, Seunghoon, Yunsung, Siheon, Hoyeon, Daewon, Siha and Minhyuk. The group was here in December for a fan meet.
“We are honored to be here as a participant in the K-pop Friendship Concert in Manila,” said Seunghoon. NOIR, whose official fandom name is Lumiere (which means “light” in French), made its debut in April 2018. In January, they announced that Lumiere will be their fandom name. During the concert, NOIR performed “Gangsta”, “Gift”, “Airplane Mode” and a cover of BTS’s “Boys in Love.”
For the last act, NCT Dream’s Renjun, Jeno, Jaemin, Jisung and Chenle performed “Go”, “My First and Last”, “We Go Up” and “Chewing Gum.”
“First of all, we are very thankful and honored to participate in this event. We will show you a great performance,” said Jeno during a press conference before the show. NCT Dream made its debut in August 2016 with the track “Chewing Gum.” Jeno revealed they want to be daring with their future comeback. “We performed cute [concept]. But now we want to show our sexy performance.”
The 2019 Kpop Friendship Concert in Manila was organized by MCST, together with the NCCA, Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Philippines, and the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines, and produced by Pulp Live World.
Image credits: Gianna Maniego