Again after 5 years: Puri Music Group in South Korea

Puri is a world music group which performs in South Korea in every 5 years time span enabling the audience to look back in the past to get some know-how of traditions and culture through music.

 The performance was held in National Theater of Korea, on Dongguk university station, Jung-gu, Seoul on Friday, 5th July, 2013.
The performance hall was quite spacious and beautiful having the capacity to encapsulate almost 800 people. The show was of 2 hours in total and was enjoyable enough. As this time, the group was celebrating its 20th anniversary, the performers were performing to their full capabilities and they were really good at music and at singing as well.

The Puri music basically is a mixture of traditional and modern music instruments which creates an unbelievable musical rhythms very pleasant for ears. I enjoyed the music as well as the audience's full support translated in claps. Although, the language was not understandable for a few of us, but even than the rhythms were very blunt and soothing. An interesting thing was that pansori; which is a traditional song performed by a woman, was performed by a man who gather a plenty of claps on the part of the audience.

Drum Cat Performance

I was invited to see Drum Cat performance in Gaon Hall theater, B3 floor in the Myungbo art hall at Chungmuro Station on 29th of June, 2013. It was by the courtesy  of KTO that I got a chance to see the performance.
I arrived the designated place at 4 pm and after getting my ticket, I made my way into the hall where the performance was already started.

Many performances by drum cats were lined up transforming the show into a mix of rhythm and fun. Drum cats is actually a group of female drummers performing to the best of their abilities to the world. I guess these cats has got the ability to stun the world by their rhythmic drum shots.

Drum cats has also won different awards so far. 2008 was landmark year for Drum Cat, as the group received both the ‘2008 Edinburgh Festival Herald Angel’ award and the ‘2008 Scotland Cavalcade Best Unit’ award, the first awards even won by a Korean team at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The performance of Drum Cat comprises of 5 themes: Sexy, Speedy, Funny, Powerful and Wild. A far cry from traditional drumming, the performance focuses on a modernization of rhythm: combining and reinventing rock, jazz, techno and Latin rhythms into a unique blend of sound.
It was a first show of its kind which I saw in Korea which gave me a good opportunity to enjoy the music played on drums.

Soul Walking Tour App; Helping you to Explore Heart of Korea

Recently, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), has developed a walking tour app of Soul City which is actually helping a lot foreigners who are not well aware of the city streets and addresses of most attractive places to visit. 

When I came to visit Korea, it was very hard for me to get to the desired places in Seoul as I was not aware of the language, culture and places but I learned all these things by the time. But it is more easier now at least for Seoul attractions if you are using the "Seoul Walking Tour App". You don't need to bother people by asking questions like where to go, how to go etc. All you have to do is to download this app on your android hand set and use it for your benefit. 

The app has divided the Seoul most desired places in 3 categories. The places which are added in the app are 20 in total which are all most important and interesting to see if you are planning to visit Seoul in future or if you have already arrived to explore it. 

 These areas are: 

1. Cheonggyecheon Stream includes: Cheonggye Plaza, Gwangtonggyo Bridge, Jeongjo, Neunghaeng Banchado, Supyogyo Bridge Site and, Ogansugyo Bridge

2.  Jongno includes: Bosingak Pavilion, Yukuijeon, Tapgol Park, Insa-dong, Jogyesa Temple, Postal Memorial Hall

3.   Gwanghwamun Plaza contains: Seoul City Hall, Gwanghwamun Plaza, National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, Seoul Museum of History, and Jeongdong-gils Cheon

 

The most interesting and desirable thing is the inclusion of audio files in the app which makes it really easy to understand about the detailed information regarding the attractions.

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The guideline in this app is available in different languages for the convenience of the user and there is also an helpline which provides 24/7 help to the users. You can just call on 1330 and you will get all the help required by the operator.

Rush Tickets

Rush tickets available for the following performances on upto 60% discount:

What are you waiting for???

Come to see:

JUMP
FANTASTICK
Action Drawing HERO
Ballerina who loves B-boy
Original Drawing Show
Drumcat
B-boy KUNG
SACHOOM
MI-SO
BIBAP
MISUDA
World Beat VINARI
Babbling perfordian show

 

Ultra Korea Music Festival

Ultra Korea Music Festival was held on 14th and 15th of June in Seoul Olympic Complex near Jamsil station. It is a huge music festival of its kind in Korea which is held once a year with lots of people, excitement and energy.

As a representative supporter of KTO, I managed to visit this festival on its first day, 14th of june, in the evening around 6 pm. When I reached the Jamsil station and found my way to Olympic stadium, I saw a huge number of people gathered around Olympic stadium with colorful dresses and smiles on their faces.                                 After getting the ticket, and waiting for my fellow supporters, along with the KTO staff, I entered the Olympic stadium. The whole stadium was almost full of people. Although, the festival was not started officially yet but the people were already dancing and enjoying. First we did a volunteer activity and then went to the main stadium ground for the ceremony.

Different DJs were rocking the floor and the people were just crazily dancing on the high beats of music. First we watched it just an observers and afterwards, we made our way into the conglomeration of people. Going in the mid of the gathering, we started dancing along with the other people. There was a lot of symmetry and energy in dance moves of the people and music beats making it a memorable and highly enjoyable event. We enjoyed the music and liveliness. 

 At the end, the best DJ in world AVICII was invited to the stage who was awaited for long. He really rocked the stage and the audience with his great selection of music beats.                                                                                                                                                           

Visit to Three Royal Tombs, Paju Samneung

Visit to Three Royal Tombs (Samneung Paju)

As ambassadors of Invest Korea, we visited Three Royal Tombs in Samneung, Paju city. Amid rain and high spirits, we walked through the area which was quite nice in first impression. The place was managed quite well with a nice tour guide. The place consists of three tombs namely Gongneung, Sulleung, and Yeongneung.

Gongneung is the tomb of Queen Jangsun (1445-1461), 1^st consort to King Yejong, the 8^th monarch of Joseon Dynasty. She was third daughter of a politician Han Myeong-hoe. She became crown princess in 1460 and gave birth to Prince Inseong.

Sulleung is the tomb of Queen Gonghye who was 1^st consort to King Seongjong, the 9^th monarch of Joseon Dynasty. She was the younger sister of queen Jangsun. She married to the King Seongjong( who was not a king that time but a prince) in 1467 at the age of 12. She died at the age of 19 without leaving any child behind.

Yeongneung is the tomb of posthumous King Jinjong and Queen Hyosun. Crown prince Hyojang was conferred the posthumous title of King Jinjong. Queen Hyosun(1715-1751) fr from the Jo family was invested as crown princess in 1727. After her husband died, she lived alone until her death at the age of 37. She had no children.

These tombs of Joseon Dynasty are included in the UNESCO world heritage list. The interesting thing of these tombs is their symbolism. Around every tomb, some sculptures have been made standing which symbolizes different things. These also denote the ancestral worship of the Joseon Dynasty. Around tombs, there were a few statues of animals such as tigers and sheep which denoted the safeguard of the tomb. There were also some human statues symbolizing the ministers of the spirits lying in the tomb. Overall tour was very interesting. Although, the rain started heavily during our visit but we enjoyed being there.

B Boys Competition

on fifth of May,2013, the event of B Boys competition was held in Seoul in KTO headquarter where there were a plenty of people to see and enjoy the free style dancing. As Korea is on its boom to develop tourism industry rather it has gained a bundle of fame and success so far, many of the organizations are working and supporting to create interesting and worth seeing activities/performances to attract as many people as possible throughout the world. KTO is one of the organizations supporting K-Pop and presenting to the world its essence of competitiveness and success.

The competition started with full zeal and the performers were well prepared and quite well versed in their dances. A few teams were knocked out in the beginning but all the others gave each other a tough time for competition and many matches ended with a tie and decided on a second try. The most interesting thing was a girl b boy dancer who was equally equipped with the dancing capabilities as compared to the boys dances being one of the few girls dancers in this field.

The final decision was really very very tough as the competitions were ended two times in tie and after a third try, a team was considered winner. The last match was really an excitement. I liked the waves of energy and liveliness present in the performers to win the competition. The interaction of the performers with the audience was also remarkable.





At the end, a celebrity Jay Park showed up on the stage. The level of excitement at that time was worth seeing. He shared a few words with the team and with the audiences and was presented with souvenirs. Overall the show was great and was a good source of enjoyment and was a proof of Korean B boys professionalism.