By NATASHA IMAN
alltherage@thestar.com.my

4minute

JUST a few years ago, if you had stopped any K-Pop fan in their tracks and asked where their favourite idol groups were, a simple reply of “Korea” or another Asian country was probably what you’d get.

But in more recent times, answers along the lines of the United States, Europe and Australia are not too uncommon as Korean entertainment companies have begun recognising just how powerful K-Pop culture is in the West.

From the advancement of girl groups like the Wonder Girls and Girls Generation into the US market and streams of Korean concerts pouring into Europe and beyond, it’s becoming more and more difficult to say that K-Pop is just a hype and that it will never sell beyond Asia.

Within the last year itself countless South Korean artistes have ventured out of the Asian entertainment scene, creating Western fans who fluently converse in Korean and claim “ramyun” to be their favourite late-night snack.

Feeding off the immense success of K-Pop overseas, more companies seem to be staging concerts outside of South Korea, emptying the pockets of fans worldwide who travel great distances to see their favourite artistes in person.

Paris rendezvous

Kicking the K-Pop invasion into full swing, South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment held a two-day concert in Le Zenith de Paris in June as part of its SM Town Live World Tour ’11 (the company also held a similar show in New York last month).

European fans of groups such as Super Junior, Girls Generation, SHINee, f(x) and many others snapped up the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of seeing their favourite stars perform. Tickets for the show were all snapped up mere 15 minutes after they went on sale.

Those who didn’t manage to get their hands on tickets staged a protest of sorts – by holding a flash mob at the doorsteps of the famed Louvre museum! These diehard fans finally got their way when the company caved and added one more concert date.

Language was definitely not a barrier as the European SMTown fans fluently chanted along prepared “fan chants” in Korean and holding up posters with the nicknames of their favourite artistes and slogans of support for the groups.

Frontwoman of girl group f(x), Victoria, however, did experience a slight language mishap when she attempted to understand a poster that a French fan had made for her.

The original sign that she held up throughout the concert spelt out “Fat Victoria” as the fan had made an error in the spelling of a Korean word!
Nevertheless, the concert concluded on a high note with fans pleading for the return of their favourite artistes in the future.

Concrete jungle

Elsewhere, Cube Entertainment brought the Korean spirit to New York City by presenting the United Cube Live in New York for their adoring American fans last month.

The concert, no different from the DiGi Kpop Live Party in Malaysia earlier this year, brought together South Korean groups B2ST, 4minute and solo artiste G.NA – these artistes are collectively known as the United Cube.

The artistes performed at MTV Channel’s famed Times Square studio in New York, to a group of audience who went crazy as soon as their idols took to the stage.

This marked the first time that the artistes had performed in the US.

The mini concert brought together many fans from all over the country who have since been demanding a full United Cube Live concert in the US.

As such, Cube Entertainment has confirmed that a concert will be held in London and has even shown interest in bringing their artistes to the Brazillian pop scene as well.

Fun Down Under

The first ever K-Pop concert in Australia was held earlier this year in conjunction with Australia’s 50th Diplomatic Anniversary with South Korea.

Among the performers who dropped by the event were SHINee, Shin Seung-Hun and Son Ho-Young.

This month, Sydney will host the 2011 K-Pop Fest at the ANZ Stadium. The concert, scheduled on Nov 12, will feature popular South Korean groups such as TVXQ, Girls Generation, SHINee and Kara.

With South Korean entertainment companies setting their sights on the West as a brand new market to conquer, it’s not surprising to see an increasing amount of pressure for concert organisers to host many “first ever” live concerts.

Hosting large-scale concerts puts a spotlight on the Korean pop music industry and increases the awareness of the K-Pop presence throughout the world.

Those who were not previously aware of the Korean music scene have at some point witnessed excited fan girls (and boys!) on TV welcoming their favourite artistes at the airport or tirelessly shouting “saranghaeyo” into video cameras before concerts.

From watching the passion of fans, many non-Kpoppers end up falling in love with the music, too, while still trying to figure out why people were so infatuated with K-Pop in the first place.

Soon enough, as the Korean music industry grows, we can only anticipate more adoring fans demanding concerts overseas, far and beyond South Korea.

*** Natasha wants everyone else to discover the joy K-Pop brings her, so once a month she will be writing about all things K-Pop!