K-pop gets Mumbai grooving
K-pop (Korean pop) took centre-stage in Mumbai, enthralling the audience with groovy music from the land of Korea. An initiative by the Korean Consulate in Mumbai, the K-pop competition saw Indians performing on popular Korean songs. It was a Korean night throughout with the popular K-pop band LUCENTE judging the musical event.
Out of 15 performances, there were nine dance performances and six singing showcases. But the unique part of this competition was that even the singers were singing in Korean. Adding Indian touch to the competition was the host of the show Dong-uk-kim (from Korea!) who surprised the audience with his Hindi vocabulary.
Priscilla Darngawn was declared a winner in the singing category and the Meraki crew was the winner in the dance category. The winners from the Mumbai regional rounds will compete with winners from 11 cities across India at the grand finale on July 29, 2017 in New Delhi. The winning team at the grand finale will be nominated for the 2017 K-pop World Festival and get a complimentary trip to Korea.
Speaking about their experience of judging the contest, one of the members from LUCENTE said, “We went through a tough time as all of them were very good. Also seeing these contestant we reminisced the time when we were starting out.”
The band also talked about their experience with Indian culture. “It was really nice, the people here are very kind. The food is very different and was difficult to adjust to it initially but we loved the Biriyani. The language was a barrier but music breaks all this. Since, we are debuting in India it was a wonderful energy from the fans,” said all the LUCENTE band member in unison.