EXO to hold showcases in Korea & China, announces April debut
SM Entertainment’s fresh new faces EXO will hold showcases in both Korea and China. Fans are quite anxious in anticipation as the group has released many teasers but have yet to debut. The agency officially announced the event via their official website and through SNS portals.
Big Bang Will Carry out Promotional Activities in Japan and Korea Concurrently
On the morning of March 13th,a staff member of YGE made a phone call with OSEN news. They stated “When Big Bang makes their comeback in Japan on the 28th, they will promote in Japan and Korea at the same time. Big Bang will start their Japanese promotions in the following week, but they will also continue to carry out their promotional activities in Japan, Korea and several other countries at the same time.”
Big Bang will be releasing a Japanese album which consists of 9 songs (those from the “ALIVE” album as well as 2 new ones). All of the lyrics and melodies were composed by G-Dragon.
DSP Media to simultaneously debut new girl group ‘DSP Girls’ in Korea & Japan
Via tokyohive:
DSP Media, the home to hit girl groups KARA and Rainbow, has announced that they will be debuting their next girl group simultaneously in Korea and Japan!
The five member girl group is temporarily nicknamed ‘DSP Girls‘ and will be making their debut through an animation series titled, ‘Pretty Rhythm, Dear My Future‘. They’ll be attending the production conference in Tokyo on January 31st, and this will mark the first girl group debut through an animation show in both Korea and Japan.
The group is comprised of Haein (18), Shiyoon, Chaekyung, Somin (all 16), and Jae Eun (14). Despite still being in the debut preparation stage, they have been receiving CF casting offers from Nintendo and Whisper. At the production conference, the ladies will be performing their own cover of KARA’s “Pretty Girl“.
‘Pretty Rhythm’ is an animation and comic series detailing the debut process of girl group trainees. The members will be unveiled one by one before their debut, and their debut single itself will be released within the animation show.
European youths surveyed about South Korea & K-pop
The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) recently conducted a survey on the brand image of South Korea among young people in Europe. They surveyed 1208 youths, aged 18-30 years old, in five major European cities — London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Budapest.
What were the most watched TV shows of 2011?
On December 19th, AGB Nielsen Media released the rankings for the most watched dramas and variety shows of 2011!
FT Island’s ‘MEMORY IN FTISLAND 2011 IN SEOUL’ a hit success
FT Island recently held a sold-out ‘MEMORY IN FTISLAND 2011 IN SEOUL‘ concert at Blue Square in Seoul on November 26th and 27th, proving that they’re one of Hallyu’s top music bands.
The boys who have received much love and support for their recently released, re-made album ‘MEMORY IN FTISLAND‘, kicked off the concert with a live performance of their hit song, “I Hope“, followed by “Hello Hello“, “I’ll Have You“, “Love Love Love” and more, to which their fans responded with explosive cheers and applause.
The members pleased both their Japanese and Korean fans by combining the Korean and Japanese versions of “Revolution“, “I Want“, “Let It Go“, and “Flower Rock“, as well as performing “That Person at Shinsadong“, and “Will Love All“, the songs with which FT Island came out on top on KBS Immortal Song 2.
The concert garnered international attention as fans not only from Korea and Japan, but from China, Thailand, other regions of Asia as well as from North America were in attendance.
YG Family 15th Anniversary Concert in Korea and Japan Details
From YG Family Official Concert Website (Korea):
Concert Name: 2011 YG FAMILY CONCERT 15th Anniversary
Artists: GUMMY, SE7EN, BIGBANG, 2NE1, PSY, TABLO
Dates:
December 03, 2011 (Saturday) at 6:00 PM
December 04, 2011 (Sunday) at 8:00 PM
December 04, 2011 (Sunday) at 3:00 PM
Location: Olympic Gymnasium No. 1, located at Olympic Park (Chejo Gyoung-gi-jang)
Tickets: 88,000 won (including tax)
Organizer: YG ENTERTAINMENT
Sponsors: Gmarket, GScaltex, Look Korea, Copyright Research and Info Center, Sunny10, NikonTicket Information:
Advance ticket sale open: October 27, 2011 (Thu) at 8PM
Advance ticket sale site: Gmarket only (www.gmarket.co.kr)
Contact: 1566-5702
Hallyu stars Supernova, The Boss, and more receive more attention abroad than at home
New groups and artists pop up every single day in Korea, and try to find their way to stardom. But with so many groups debuting every day, many Korean groups have been receiving more love outside of their country. While they’re Hallyu stars in Japan, they’re being unnoticed in their home country.
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Se7en to simultaneously release full length album in Japan and South Korea
Se7en is set to simultaneously release a full length album in South Korea and Japan in January next year. Previously announcing his plans for a Japanese comeback following the activities of GD&TOP, 2NE1 and Gummy, YG Entertainment finally confirms the result of their discussions.
On October 4th, YG Entertainment revealed that Se7en will be releasing a full length album at the beginning of next year in both Japan and South Korea. They also added that Se7en will release a digital single first in Japan by November.
They further explained that “Although we had planned to release a digital single in Korea and Japan at the same time in November, in order to meet fans with a more complete album, it has been decided that we will be releasing a full length album next year in both countries at the same time instead.”
By the end of their message, YG Entertainment revealed that the work on his upcoming Japanese release is currently taking place in South Korea.
Source: Osen and CeciliaSe7en
by ohgelie @ koreaboo.com
B1A4 making plans to debut in Japan?
It’s been revealed that rookie group B1A4 has been preparing for their Japanese debut. Korean/Japanese agency Pony Canyon revealed this through their official Twitter account earlier today.
A fan of the group had apparently found some picture of B1A4 releasing a single as soon as next month and tweeted it to the company to ask them about it. Instead of denying, the company acknowledged the fan’s question, and simply remarked that the group was indeed preparing for a Japanese debut.
Whether or not the debut will happen as soon as October, just as the picture says, has not revealed yet. But seeing as the picture links to the official website, and the website doesn’t hold any information to the release, we can most likely regard the picture as just a fan’s work.
“Preparing to debut in Japan ^^ RT @aoba1430: B1A4 is scheduled to debut in Japan????? This….really?? http://twitpic.com/6smfr7”
Final round of ‘K-POP Cover Dance Festival’ to be held in Korea on October 3rd
After touring the world and witnessing some great acts from many international fans, the ‘K-POP Cover Dance Festival’ will be holding its final round on October 3rd at the Gyeongju Indoor Stadium.
The show kicked off in June with 1,700 applicants from 64 countries during the 1st preliminary online round. Starting from September 6th, the second round was held all over the world with idol stars flying out to different countries to act as guest judges. SHINee travelled to Russia, MBLAQ went to Brazil, and f(x) and miss A flew over to L.A. Meanwhile, KARA and T-ara stepped into Japan, 2PM went to Thailand, and Spain got a visit from B2ST. Overall, the idols help picked 66 contestants from 10 different countries to compete in the final round in Korea.
The final contestants from the second round were invited to Korea on September 28th for a 7-night, 8-day trip that included seats to a Korean Cultural Performance, a meeting with Hallyu stars, a tour of Korea’s historical landmarks in Gyeongju, and for the final winner of the show – the chance to perform at the Hallyu Dream Concert.
“Kimchi Bus” heading out on a global tour
The “Kimchi Bus” project is designed to improve the awareness of kimchi throughout the world. During the 400-day period, three young Korean cooks are planning to take global bus tour traversing almost all the northern hemisphere as long as 52,000 km, and introducing Korean kimchi foods to local people, one day in a small town and the other day by holding a huge festival.
Ryu Si-hyeong, the leader of the project, says, “I know that Kimchi has already well known among foreigners, but it’s also true that there are scanty opportunities for them to taste the Korean food. I’ve felt genuinely sorry about the situation. That’s why I designed this project in an attempt to spread the unique flavor and health benefits across the world by adopting Kimchi as an ingredient, not a side dish, not main dish, into local foods of each western region.”
Staring from the World Kimchi Culture Festival to hold in Gwangju in October 15 to 19, the three cooks will set on a 400-day global tour largely covering from Russia to Europe, to the US.
In addition, the young cooks have created 30 to 40 pieces of new kimchi recipes to captivate the taste buds of people from across the world by using kimchi directly airlifted from Korea.
Popularity of Hallyu wave increases sales and exports of Korea’s creative content
Thanks to the popularity of the Hallyu wave, the contents production industry has seen a sharp increase in sales and exports this year.
On September 22nd, the Ministry of Culture and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) released an overview for the second half of 2011 and found that the total sales made by the entire contents industry amounted to around $27.5 billion USD, a 15.6% (or around $4 billion USD) increase compared to last year’s record.
Exports have also seen a 27.2% increase compared to last year, recording a total of around $2 billion USD. Such results were seen across the board, as business profits increased by 18.2%, broadcasting by 95.9%, and advertising by 104.3%.
“Let’s Rock Festival” reveals line-up for September 24th and 25th concerts
Next weekend on September 24th and 25th, another big rock festival will be taking place in Korea and will feature most of the well-known Korean rock bands including Pia, YB, 015B and more. Performances for both days will begin around half past 11 and will end around half past 9.
The 2-day tickets for the festival are already sold out, but 1-day tickets for each individual days are still available. Children born after 2004 will receive free entrance to the festival.
Saturday’s line-up includes lakinrad, J rabbit, The Moonshiners, Setrips, DayBreak, Urban Zakapa, Go Go Star, Guckkasten, YB, The KOXX, Transfixion, 015B, and more.
Sunday’s line-up on the other hand is filled with bands as Pia, Bye Bye Sea, Schizo, Boohwal, Munni, TOXIC, Vanilla Unit, No Brain, Romantic Punch, Dear Cloud, and many others.
Be sure to check out the full line-up and timetable on the Festival’s website.
Source: Let’s Rock
by TwistedInsanity @ koreaboo.com
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