If you want to learn more about the Korean cultural wave – Hallyu – that’s taking the world by storm, then head down to the Korea Festival 2015 this weekend at Abu Dhabi’s National Theatre.
“Korean cool” is being widely embraced in the UAE, which is home to about 14,000 Koreans – a three-fold increase from only five years ago. The UAE is enlisting Korean nuclear expertise to help to build the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in Abu Dhabi. The TV channel MBC 4 is now broadcasting Korean soap operas regularly, and K-pop songs are belted out regularly at Sura’s Karaoke, one of the five Korean restaurants in Abu Dhabi.
Plus, Korean language courses are now being taught at UAE University, Zayed University, and Khalifa University. So it is quite fitting that the festival opens with an opportunity to hear the Korean language being spoken by non-native language students, as part of a Korean Speech Contest. Twenty pre-selected finalists will be addressing the audience in the hopes of winning a round-trip flight to Korea.
At 7.30pm, following an Emirati traditional dance performance, internationally renowned performers Nanta will take the stage with their comic kitchen performance. Tasked with preparing a wedding banquet in just one hour, four “cooks” use knives and utensils as musical instruments. Since their first performance in 1997, almost nine million people around the world have seen the musical show, which echoes the traditional Korean instrumental performance Samulnori.
On Friday, Emiratis will compete in a quiz to show how much they know about the country, followed by a performance by Korean folk band Coreyah.
On Saturday, the last day of the festival, fans of Korean food can learn how to make kimchi from a master.
Other free-to-attend activities include Korean and Arabic styles of calligraphy, and games such as Yut, which uses sticks in place of dice; the marble game Gonggi; the shuttlecock game Jaegi; and Tuho, in which players try to throw sticks into a barrel.
Abu Dhabi resident Hyunjoo Seok, 34, who is from Korea’s port city of Busan, says her favourite game is Tuho: “It’s a really famous Korean cultural activity, and I do try to play it when I’m back in Korea.”
Korea Festival 2015 ends on Saturday with a screening of the celebrated film Ode to my Father, which tells the story of Korea's rapid modernisation through the eyes of Duksoo, who is forced to leave North Korea as a child when the country divides into two.
Korean ambassador to the UAE, Kwon Hae-ryong, explains why this movie was chosen: “The UAE and Korea have both achieved economic developments during the last several decades. Through this film, we would like to share with the UAE the modern history of Korea and the story of its economic development. We expect people here will enjoy the film.”
artslife@thenational.ae
