K-Pop World Festival lands in Sydney’s Darling Harbour in April, but Sydney Korean Festival organisers say come for more than that

Australians will probably have heard of “Gangnam Style”, but there is more to Korean culture and entertainment than Psy’s viral video. This is the key message driving the Sydney Korean Festival, which will be held on Saturday, April 2, and whose organisers are hoping will give Australians a better understanding of Korean history, culture and tradition.

“This is our fifth year now . . . Our mission is to make the Sydney Korean Festival one of the major festivals held in Sydney. And for that reason, we’re working very hard towards creating an educational, innovative and highly entertaining festival on a yearly basis,” festival organiser Derrick Kim told International Business Times Australia.

The free event, which will run from 11am-9pm at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, is expected to see 50, 000+ people in attendance and will offer festival-goers a chance to appreciate traditional Korean music and dance, taste a diverse range of delicious food, and watch a number of cultural performances and activities.

The Korean Festival initially began with the Sydney Korean Festival committee looking for ways to help raise awareness about Korean culture and to celebrate the presence of the Korean community in Australia. David Park, manager of the Korean Cultural Centre told IBTimes Australia that the first few years saw the festival on Pitt Street, Sydney’s Koreatown and a bustling hotspot in the CBD.

“An outdoor stage started the row of festival installations including exhibition spaces and stalls,” he said.

Korea was ranked among the world’s poorest countries in the 1950s, according to the Korean Cultural Centre. However, its economy has grown to become the 13-14th largest today, with the country seeing accelerated progress through the years, from when the government of the Republic of Korea was first established in 1948, to having its first female president in 2012.

Recently in late 2014, the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) entered into force.

“Events such as the Sydney Korean Festival help to promote a different culture in Australia. It diversifies our community and helps people get a better understanding of that culture,” Rowena Leung, assistant at the Korean Cultural Centre, said.

The presence of Korean immigrants in Australia has grown steadily over many decades. There was evidence of a small number in the country in as early as 1920, and the relaxation of immigration restrictions in the late 1960s saw larger numbers enter Australia. However, there were just 468 Korea-born immigrants recorded as living in Australia at the time of the 1971 Census.

Forty years later, this figure has risen to 74,538 Republic of (South) Korea-born people in Australia, an increase of 41.3 per cent from the 2006 Census. The 2011 Census recorded New South Wales as having the largest number at 41,819, followed by Queensland (12,552), Victoria (10,192) and Western Australia (4,098).

These figures do not take into account the number of Australian-born Koreans, but nonetheless signify the wealth of opportunities for Australian communities to learn more about their Korean counterparts.

One of the biggest ways Koreans have left their mark in Australian cities is through their food, which Kim says is “imaginative, plentiful, diverse and rich in flavour”.

“You can say that there are three main themes to Korean food. They include street food, traditional dishes, and modern (fusion) Korean,” explained Kim.

“Hansik (Korean food) is very unique and it’s food that places a lot of focus on health and longevity. Of course, we’re well known for spicy (Hot Rice Cakes – Tteokbokki) and savoury (Korean marinated beef – Bulgogi) dishes,” adds Park. “Attendees who have never tried Korean dishes before are in for a treat as Hansik is easy to get acquainted with and there are going to be many entry-level dishes at our stalls.”

These include Korean street food like fried chicken, and Tteokbokki, which are Korean chilli rice cakes -- the type of food that can be easily held and eaten while walking.

And of course, no Korean event will be without the country’s biggest cultural export -- Korean Pop or K-Pop -- with a K-Pop World festival, which will showcase music and dance numbers, to run from 6-8.30pm at the Sydney Korean Festival.

K-Pop has taken the world by storm with its catchy tunes and synchronised dance moves, and is produced to appeal to global audiences. Different K-Pop groups take on different genres such as rap, rock and pop, as well as members from different countries like China or America.

“Korean culture and entertainment stems from one of the longest histories in the world, many which have been recognised by UNESCO as world heritages. Our current culture and popular entertainment has taken many western influences and one of the most representative by-product of this is K-Pop,” Park explains.

“K-Pop is globally popular because it melds popular western influences into Asian culture. There is a growing global interest toward Asia and Asian culture and Korean entertainment seems to be fitting the bill for what global audiences want to see. Korean entertainment, namely K-Pop is unique and is presented in a very flashy medium that is both eye-catching and appealing. With the advance in online streaming methods, this content is now much easier to access, which only helps add to the reasons.”

However, Leung is quick to add that in terms of Korean entertainment, it really is larger than just K-Pop.

“Korean culture and entertainment is pretty large and expanding rapidly. I guess that’s why there’s a Korean festival,” she said.

The icing on the cake for this year’s festival is therefore, the team notes, a Korean tightrope performance that will be a real eye opener for all ages. Kim noted that this year, Korean tight-rope entertainer Mr Dae-Gyun Kim from Korea will perform. The tightrope dance has 1,300 years of history and has been recognised by UNESCO as the official Korean performing art.

“I think events like these allow people to interact with the Korean culture and experience what the Korean culture is really like. It is unique in its own way,” Gabrielle Chan, an events worker from the Korean Cultural Centre, concluded.

The Sydney Korean Festival will take place on Saturday, April 2, from 11am-9pm at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour. For more information please visit http://sydneykoreanfestival.com.au/.