Johannesburg - K-Pop fever has caught on and is spreading across the globe, including in South Africa, which is currently the top market for this unique and fun genre of music on the continent.
This was according to a Spotify report from last year which also revealed that streams of K-Pop, which is short for Korean popular music, have seen a whopping 93% year-on-year increase in South Africa in 2022.
In a bid to celebrate K-Pop in the country, a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture, scores of South Africans gathered at the Korean Cultural Centre in Pretoria last Friday night.
“The event was organised by the Korean Cultural Centre in South Africa (KCCSA) with an aim to provide a space for K-pop fans in South Africa to gather and enjoy K-pop together,” Jaeil Lee, the senior press and media officer at the Korean Cultural Centre told The Saturday Star this week.
“More than a hundred people participated in the event, highlighting the rapidly growing popularity of K-pop and Korean culture in the country.”
During the dance event, Lee explained that attendees enjoyed a special K-pop dance performance along with recently released K-pop music videos.
“The event was followed by a K-pop dance session, where participants were invited on stage to perform their favourite K-pop choreographies to K-pop music.”
Among those in attendance were Kat and Jiyaad, a K-pop dance duo that prepared a special performance for the night.
“It is such a great honour to be able to perform at the Korean Cultural Centre, but, more importantly, we are so thrilled that we got to meet other K-poppers here and share our interests and simply just spend the fun time together,” the duo said.
Another attendee, Janine Campbell, added that she enjoyed sharing her passion for K-Pop with like-minded individuals.
“I’ve enjoyed K-pop, watching music videos alone at home, but meeting and talking with so many friends made it even more fun, and I have learned even more about K-pop today.”
Lee is thrilled with the success of the K-Pop dance night.
He added that while K-Pop is increasingly popular across the globe, this too is the case in South Africa, which gives the music genre its own unique twist.
These sentiments were shared by Lindsay Setlema, a professional K-pop dancer and a Korean Cultural Centre K-Pop Academy instructor.
“South African K-pop fans are much more active and engaged compared to others that I have met,” said Setlema, who also won the People’s Choice Awards at the K-Pop World Festival in South Korea in 2018 representing South Africa.
“When instructing students at the academy, it’s quite noticeable that the students always try to apply their own African rhythms and moves into choreographies.”
Meanwhile, Lee added that despite the rapidly growing popularity of K-pop in South Africa, there are quite limited spaces and opportunities for K-pop fans to enjoy.
“Many participants of the event expressed their gratitude that they were finally given a space to enjoy K-pop, and, more importantly, an opportunity to meet others who ‘speak the same language’.”
Lee also explained that the popularity of K-Pop music in the country is despite the low population numbers of Koreans in South Africa, something that makes the rise of the genre in the country even more impressive.
“According to data published by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in South Africa, the number of South Korean citizens who are residing in South Africa as of 2021 is 3,357— most of them reside in Gauteng (2,200) and in Western Cape (1,030),” he said.
“Unfortunately, since the pandemic, the number has been quite drastically decreasing.”
Despite this, an appreciation and love for K-Pop in South Africa remains alive and well.
But this is also the case across the globe, where K-Pop continues to grow. This is evident in the rise of South Korean boy band BTS, who continue to dominate the worldwide music charts and have reported to bring in an eye-popping $3.9 billion to their country's economy.
“The popularity of K-pop can also be better understood in the context of rising popularity of South Korean popular culture,” Lee explained.
“The so-called Hallyu, or Korean Wave, as a newly coined term has been widely circulated both in academia and mass media as it has been quite notably observed since as early as the 1990s.”
“In addition to this contextual background, some analysts suggest that the reason behind the recent growing popularity of K-pop, in particular, can be understood as they provide friendly American-styled sounds yet with an alternative aesthetic to the dominant USA/Western pop music market.
Lee also believes that globalisation and digitalisation also plays a vital role in K-Pop’s growing popularity across the world.
“It appears that as we enter into the globalised era in a truer sense, cultural consumers are now rejecting and discarding the obsolete idea that the cultural landscape is single-pillared, and actively choosing what they want and need to their liking and values.”
This is one of the reasons for The Korean Cultural Centre in South Africa, which Lee explained, is “missioned to promote the richness and diversity of Korean culture to the South African audience.”
“Through a wide range of programmes and cultural exchanges, the centre hopes to strengthen cultural ties between South Korea and South Africa, fostering mutual understanding and appreciation.”
The centre offers exhibitions, concerts, films, and other cultural events, as well as regular courses and workshops.
This includes Korean language courses, Taekwondo, which is Korean martial arts, traditional craft workshops, Korean food cooking classes, and the K-Pop Academy.
Meanwhile, this August, the centre will launch a new exhibition presenting renowned Korean woodcut artist Lee Chul Soo as well as Young South Korean tenor Kyungho Kim with a recital at the Baxter Concert Hall in Cape Town.
Other festivities at the The Korean Cultural Centre in South Africa hosting pianist Yeon-Min Park’s SA tour, a World Food Festival, K-Lifestyle in Africa event, K-Movie Nights, and traditional knot and cloth exhibitions.
The centre is also set to host various other events for K-pop fans, including special workshops and quiz events in the upcoming months.