K-Pop uplifts the music spirit in SXSW

On Wednesday morning (local time), the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama appeared on the 3rd floor ballroom in Austin Convention Center, Texas. She was there to give a keynote speech at South by Southwest (SXSW), the world largest music, film and interactive festival. Following the SXSW Interactive Festival on March 11 where President Barack Obama made a keynote speech, the SXSW successfully invited yet another very important person.

The SXSW is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Beginning as Indie music festival where some 50 music teams took part, the SXSW has come a long way to the point where it could invite the president couple to the venue thanks to its openness to new pop culture and state-of-the-art technology.

Mrs. Michelle was on the stage to promote her advocacy project, “Let Girls Learn,” which was launched in the White House, urging expanded opportunities for girls. Four successful women including the presenter of the show Queen Latifah, rapper Missy Elliott, the songwriter Diane Warren and actress Sophia Bush took part in the session to support the First Lady.

The SXSW and the story Mrs. Michelle told seemed to be the rhetoric for “K-Pop Night Out” held in the Belmont Austin on the same night. Enjoying its 4th participation in the SXSW, the K-Pop Night Out boasted its scale, which is twice the size three years ago. At the 1200-seat venue, Korean musicians such as Bye Bye Badman, Victim Mentality, Love X Stereo, Mamamoo, Haihm, Dean, Zion T gave explosive yet stable performance, heating the atmosphere near to the boiling point.

“The growth of K-Pop in SXSW is explosive. There’s no need to explain the performance competitiveness that K-Pop has with its uniqueness, hard work and visual factors,” said James Minor, general manager of SXSW.

Outside the Belmont, the queue of local people began to form from 8 o’clock in the morning, some 11 hours prior to the opening of K-Pop Night Out. In the afternoon, the entire block was filled with K-Pop admirers.

The enthusiasm of local K-Pop lovers who chose K-Pop out of 100 other performances was evenly shared with all the Korean musicians ranging from a heavy metal group Vitim Mentality to a girl group Mamamoo. “K-Pop music and its performance always surprise us as the growth of local festival SXSW did. It doesn’t matter who will perform at K-Pop Night Out next year. I will be here,” David Linden (aged 32) from Texas who waited for the show from early afternoon said.

오스틴=임희윤기자 imi@donga.com