Various presses, both local and foreign, showing great interests in Korean vs. Japanese girl group competition
Following the announcement of the 2nd lineup of 2010 Asian Song Festival, various presses, both local and foreign, are showing growing interests in the competition between 'Kara', the Korean girl group currently doing great in Japan, and 'AKB48', representative of Japanese girl groups.
Major Japanese media including Nihon TV and Mainichi shimbun simultaneously reported that both Kara and AKB48 would appear on the same stage at 2010 Asian Song Festival, to be held on coming 23rd at Seoul Olympics main stadium.
They introduced this festival as an "A match" in the music industry and reported that girl groups representative of both countries would compete fiercely with each other on stage, drawing attention to another round of Korea vs. Japan match following the recent one at the U17 women's world cup.
AKB48 (or Akiba48) is a girl group founded in 2005 under the motto of 'Idol you can meet everyday once you go a theatre", located in Akihabara, "The Heart of Tokyo's Electronics", as can be guessed from its name, consisting of over 40 members.
Its members are fluctuating and it sometimes does unit promotions in A,K, and B units. They are performing daily live sessions at their exclusive theatre AKB48 in Akihabara, Tokyo, and they have released over 350 original songs so far, including their recent single ‘ポニ─テ─ルとシュシ ュ’ released on last June, which ranked at the top spot of Oricon weekly chart.
They sold more than 500 thousands of its album in the first week, a first in 10 years since Morning Musme and their competences are all but proven by receiving the special award at the 51st Japanese Record Grandprix, as well as the 'Asian Recommendation' award at Mnet Asian Music Award, both in 2009.
They also proved recently that their popularity are as high as their members' numbers by successfully finishing their Saitama Aria tour.
And they are also famous for their unique way of choosing their 16 select members who will sing their new singles. Those members that sang their recent 17th single were picked by the fans' public vote, and the proceeding 'Vote Guidebook' with the profiles of all members enjoyed the first spot in the bestseller ranking in its first week of sale.
In particular, those members who will sing their 19th single due this December were picked by a 'rock scissors paper' competition, an unparalleled one of its kind held at Nipoon Budokan with 11 thousand fans watching and relay-broadcasted on 42 screens in 29 movie theatres in all around Japan that generated a lot of buzz then.
16 members of AKB48 are scheduled to participate in 2010 Asaian Song Festival, one of whom is Sashihara Rino(指原莉乃, 17) that won the rock scissors paper match with Oshima Yuko(大島優子, 21) who won the first place at the 2nd member selection competition.
Meanwhile, the popularity of Kara, its rival at the competition, was also proven by an incident on Aug 11, the day of their debut, where their 'guerilla concert' on Shibuya Tokya, which wasn't pre-announced, was cancelled in just three minutes due to more than 3,000 fans gathering at once.
That incident resulted in police being dispatched to keep accidents from happening and became the talk of the town at the time, and were finally reported in various Korean and Japanes news shows, as well as featured in various Japanese entertainment shows.
This and other successes of Korean singers in Japan, and the increased interests in 2010 Asaian Song Festival, naturally resulted in the growing interests in the competition between the singers from both countries at the festival.
But the 'Foundation for Exchanges Of Korean Cultural Industries' (hearafter the foundation) announced that the festival, greatest in scale in Asia, would be a uniting, rather than a competitive one where they'll form a cultural sympathy of 'One Asia' based on cultural exchanges and cooperations between Asian nations which will donate all of its income to help the children affected by the Pakistan flood.
Meanwhile, the theme song of 2010 Asian Song Festival, an Asian version of 'We are the World', is gathering expectations, being composed by the renowned composer Cho young Soo. He is one of the best composers in Korea, who has composed 52 songs in 6 years, including 'I was wise to love' by SG Wannabe, 'This horrible love' by Lee Soo Young, and 'Stories untold yet' by Lee Seung Gi and is already approved world-wide, as well as domestically.
In particular, he recently debuted successfully to the Japanese pop music market by composing the title track ‘Precious~you are the only place I can return to(Precious~君だけが僕の歸る場 所)’ in the third Japanese single of SG wannabe, a popular Korean ballad group, which was placed on the Oricon chart on the day it released and is still enjoying its continued popularity so far.
The theme song of the festival, composed by Cho Young Soo, is an easy to sing along and cheerful one with his trademarked light feel in it.
Its main theme is that songs can spread the dream and hope to the whole world and it will be sung as the finale by all the best singers of the Asia.
2010 Asian Song Festival is co-hosted by the Foundation for Exchanges Of Korean Cultural Industries and the City of Seoul, under the support of Korean Ministry of Culture, Athletics, and Tourism and Korean Tour Corporation to help the cultural exchanges between Asian countries.
It began in 2004 with 9 teams from 7 Asian countries and are becoming the best pop music festival and the event for the cultural exchanges, and 14 best singers from 9 countries gathered and performed splendidly in 2009.
In this year, it well be held on Oct 23 at the Seoul Jamsil Olympics main stadium with top singers from Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia, as well as from Korea.
Translated by lvalue@Karaholic
Source : Deajon City Journal
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