All the kids might be listening to K-Pop, but there’s a more traditional form of Korean music that we often catch a glimpse of. It’s called ‘Trot’ and is basically folk music – and is listened to by everyone over 40 in Korea.
There are whole TV channels devoted to it and concerts filled with ajumas waving their arms around nearly everu weekend. Luckily, it all sounds exactly the same. So this song will give you an excellent insight into it:
As I mentioned before, Korean music is a little behind the times! Although things seem to be catching up a little on the electro front, the most popular music is straight out of the 90s. Think pretty-boy boy bands, girls in cheerleading outfits doing a synchronised dance, ballads in front of a wind machine… But this has become so popular that it has its own genre; K-POP, or (surprisingly) Korean Pop.
Here’s a little taste… any of the background melodies sound familiar by the way? They seem to be unashamedly ripping off groups we remember.
From T-Ara – this is constantly being played on the radio around town.
‘G-Dragon’ (not a stage name…?) from the most popular group, Big Bang.
And the cheerleading outfits I promised…
In terms of nightlife and music, Korea isn’t really up to scratch! It’s the only thing we miss about London really – the variety of music and gigs, and the underground electro scene… The music they love is K-pop: think English music from the 90s and far too many Spice Girl or Boyzone wannabe outfits.
But in the midst of this musical wasteland, we stumbled across a big international event happening in Seoul called The World DJ Festival. Artists flew in from Europe, Asia and America and put on a pretty decent show! As electro music is only just taking off here, some of the DJs were a bit average and bordering on house or tech-house which is always a little dull.
There were two awesome sets though:
Dirty Disco Youth (teenager from Berlin with a great Aha/Mick Hucknell inspired hair cut). Here’s a sample:
And French Kinckerz (Brit and French dubstep outfit, very modern) – download and enjoy!!
Ali in Wonderland (aka South Korea) 