A K-pop event doing regional rounds comes as a relief during these testing times. As the world reels under the COVID-19 pandemic, the Patna unit of King Sejong Institute is going to hold the much-awaited K-pop event of the year online.
Originally from South Korea, K-pop is now a popular genre which has experimental, rock, jazz, hip hop and electronic undertones.
The King Sejong Institute, which promotes educational and cultural relationship between India and South Korea under MoU with many educational institutions in Patna including Hajipur Women's College and others, this year is going virtual with their K-pop event.
Not letting the pandemic affect them, the event is being organised with 18 regional rounds in 18 cities.
Talking to The New Indian Express, Grace Lee, faculty of The King Sejong Institute in Patna said, "We won't allow COVID-19 to rain on our parade and so here we are introducing the contest through the online mode for the first time."
She added that K-POP 2020 will be focused encouraging people to look at the brighter sides in a crisis.
It had started with around 1,344 online participants with 18 regional rounds, held first in Aizawal on July 15, Dehradun on July 19 and Imphal on July 25.
"Patna round of K-POP is to be held on July 25 which would be followed by Lucknow and Arunachal rounds on July 26, Kohima round on July 27 and Delhi round on July 31. It would be held in Kolkata on August 1, Nagpur on August 2,Guntur on 3, Chennai on August 7, Pune on August 8, Mumbai and Bangalore on August 9, Gujarat on August 14, Bhopal on August 15, Hyderabad on August 16 with total 458 contestants in the regional rounds," Grace Lee said.
On July 25, the Patna round of K-POP is being sponsored by the Korean culture Centre India.
She said that Kim Kum Pyoung, the director of Korean culture Centre India is going to be the chief guest of the K-POP Patna round on July 25 besides others prominent personalities of India and South Korea.
"In Patna round of K-POP, there are 19 contestants in the song category and 11 in the dance category from across Bihar, neighbouring states Jharkhand and Assam," Grace Lee said, adding that winners will be announced on July 28 through the facebook account of The King Sejong Institute and other virtual modes of communication.
Quoting Keith Richards, she said that music is a language that does not speak in particular words. "It speaks in emotions and if it's in the bones, its in the bones," she said.