KMK: Hi Seoul Festival Preview

The Hi Seoul Festival is a seasonal event that pops up for a couple of weeks in Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. Starting this week the Summer festivities kick into high gear.

You can check out their website HERE.

Events I will be checking out are the Birdman contest, the Hangang Fantasy show, and the Monster Ballet! Sounds great, right?

Most of these events are happening right down by the Han river near Yeouido park. In fact this seems to like such a big deal that I decided to post the highlights of whats going down this weekend. So drum roll please….

Hangang Canoe Festival
August 9 to 17
10am-6pm
Yeouido under the MapoDaegyo
The Hangang Canoe Festival, which consists of a seven‐day canoe experience and a two‐day dragon boat and canoe race tournament, will be accompanied by passionate cheering from participating teams as the dragon boats and canoes in an array of colors dot Hangang at the finale of the Hi Seoul Festival 2008 Summer. The dragon boat and canoe race, in which roughly 3,500 persons on a total of 150 teams will compete as part of 38 groups, seeks to build unity among the citizens of the city and the district. At the same time, participation by foreigners and local autonomous bodies throughout the nation will enhance the global reputation of the Hi Seoul Festival.

First Hangang Birdman Contest
August 9 to 10
Yeouido Park Special Airstrips
10am-7pm
The 1st Hangang Birdman Contest is a special and delightful opportunity to fly like a bird toward the blue sky and river spread out in front of you. It is Korea’s first non power driven machine flying contest where you can fully realize your desire to soar through the sky. A special bonus of 100 million won will be presented to participants who successfully cross the 1.6-kilometer-wide Hangang. Besides, demonstration of overseas competition team and celebrity’s birdman contest will give a lot of fun. Through the Hangang Birdman Experience, anyone can become a birdman and fly through the sky.

Water Park & Benni’s Hill
August 9 to 17
10am-10pm
Yeouido under the MapoDaegyo

Run free and enjoy Hangang!
Revisit the innocence of childhood while having fun running around in a tunnel filled with a cool mist.
If you want to experience a true summer playground and have a cool and fabulous summer vacation, there is no need to travel far. The Hangang Water Park will give you the ultimate summer vacation.

A treat of large toys suspended in the skies
These air sculptures that expand and shrink like springs are installation works created by Australian set and prop designer Benni Seidel. They are built using special materials, scrap and fabrics with tension.
The sculptures in various shapes and colors that hang in the skies are available to touch and experience, rather than just observing. The summer skies above Hangang are fantastically crafted as the unique sculptures enmesh and mingle.

Jazz in the Sun
August 9 to 12
Yeouido Park River Side Stage
Noon-7pm

During summertime in Seoul, where daytime temperatures often soar to around 30 degrees, Yeouido, with its many high‐rise buildings, is extremely sultry. A cool drink and the best of Latin and jazz music drifting through the sultry air – this is how summer meant to be. will make the stage hot and cool the steaming hot weather.

■ Blacktop Rollers
The Blacktop Rollers is an Australian jazz group with a total of eight members that transforms into a smaller group, like a trio, to play music from all kinds of genres, including ballads, jazz, Latin and punk. The Blacktop Rollers, with their big sound that makes audiences move to the rhythm, will make this performance a midsummer concert for all to take part in and enjoy.

■ South Mountain
South Mountain is a jazz band created by foreigners living in Korea. They transport everyone to an enjoyable world of jazz music through their varied repertoire.

Guerrilla Performance
July 19 to August 17
Yeoido Island Stage, Jonggak, Sinchon, Dongdaemun, Daehang-ro
Noon-8pm

The inline performance team wearing fish costumes, acrobatic performers, dancers flying high in the sky, and the funny and comical costumes of stilt-walkers create a festive mood in Seoul.
Starting a month before the festival, performers dressed as fish and birds of Hangang, peculiar creatures, and river angels can be spotted throughout Seoul giving unique performances. During the festival period, you can see them at the Hangang Parade and at various festival sites.

‐ Six “inline fishmen” wearing fish costumes and sporting inline skates
‐ Six “aquamen” consisting of mimes, acrobats, martial artists, and gymnasts who perform dressed as creatures in and around the river such as plants and birds.
‐ “River angels,” who are dancers performing three meters above the ground buoyed by a helium-filled balloon seven meters in diameter.
‐ A stilt-walker show in which performers play river spirits on three-meter-tall stilts.

Hangang Parade
August 9 to 17
Yeoido Park River Side Stage
7pm to 8pm

■ Noridan
This is an ecological musical performance group formed to deliver environmental messages. Members range in age from teens to 50s.
They travel around in a uniquely shaped vehicle totting musical instruments created using recycled products, such as industrial pipes. Their variety show uses street performance, singing, dancing, theater and music to communicate environmental messages.

■ Introduction to the musical instruments
‐ Thongaphone: A polyethylene pipe is cut to different lengths to play different notes, and several cut pipes are joined together to create this musical instrument.
‐ Moving Thongaphone: An instrument created to enable one person to carry the Thongaphone like a backpack and move around while playing it.
‐ Subvibes: An instrument created using a broad aluminum board and thick polyethylene pipe.
‐ Mag Wheel: An instrument with an aluminum wheel from a vehicle tuned for specific pitches.
‐ Marimba: An instrument made from wood that produces a sharp sound with a long reverberation.
‐ Vibraphone: A large xylophone made using an aluminum plate.
‐ Tinkerbell: An instrument made of aluminum pipe that produces a clear, high pitched metallic sound.
‐ Doof: A drum like instrument made by cutting a hole in a plastic tub.
‐ Talktalk: Long wooden gongs are attached together to make them easier to strike.
‐ Coke Bottle: A handheld instrument whose pitch is adjusted by blowing air into an empty plastic bottle.
‐ Harmonic Flute: A handheld instrument created by trimming thin polyethylene pipes.

Hangang Fantasy Show
August 10 to 12
Yeouido Park River Side Stage
8pm-9pm

■ Shenzo’s Electric Stunt Orchestra
This 21st century stunt orchestra is the only group in the world to combine musical skills with dangerous stunts and athleticism, with performances given 14 meters above the ground. This high action, startlingly virtuosic show, once seen, is never forgotten.

■ Dislocate
This acrobatic performance group has combined the humanity of theater with the remarkable artistry of the circus. It has been regularly putting on sophisticated circus shows for audiences at international performing arts festivals, and is at the vanguard of p
hysical performance by combining clowns, mimes, dance and theater. The unique approach and humor of the troupe’s street performances are known across Australia as well as in Japan, Spain, England, Scotland and other nations.

Mix it up! Dance DJ
August 13 to 17
Yeouido Park River Side Stage
8pm-11pm

■ DJ Rainman
A DJ, MC, and singer from Brisbane, Australia active mainly in Brisbane and Sydney.

■ DJ Gazaebal
A leading electronic producer in not only Korea, but all of Asia. Gaining worldwide attention following the release of albums in Korea, Japan and England.

■ VJ Park Sang-hyeon
Exhibits and performs various works revolving around interactive installations based on experimental audio-visual works and computers.
“Dancing is not a Crime”

Transform an ordinary hot summer night after a boring and dull day into an exciting night through Mix it up! Dance DJ. Create the most fun, dynamic and unforgettable summer night of your life!
Spectacles to thrill the eyes and music from famous dance DJs to electrify the ears fill the last four days of the festival, giving you a definite reason to return to Hangang. The night is yours to enjoy!

Monster Ballet
August 9 to 12
9pm to 9:30pm
Yeouido River Side Stage

■ Components of the choreography
‐ Act 1: Conveys the tragic image of humans conquered by machines.
‐ Act 2: Festival of the machines. The king of the machines and the king’s power are symbolized by the movements of the large machineries.
‐ Act 3: A goddess of beauty, in human form, appears and dances alone to express beauty. The machines steadily assimilate to the beautiful movements of the goddess of beauty.
‐ Act 4: The machines surrender to the beauty pursued by mankind. The machines, which are viewed as violent, barbaric, and unemotional, come together with man in movement to express the magnificence of the power of beauty.

■ Choreographer Kim Yong‐geol (soloist with the Paris Opera Ballet)
Kim Yong-geol, who began studying ballet when he was 14 years old, became the lead dancer as soon as he joined the Korea National Ballet in 1995 and soon became the face of Korean ballet. He has been referred to as the Crown Prince of ballet based on his outstanding skill and resolution. He cast aside his fame in Korea and auditioned for an apprenticeship with the Paris Opera Ballet. He became the first Oriental soloist in the more than 330 years of the ballet company’s history, and is still a soloist with the Paris Opera Ballet today

Voice of the River
August 9 to 12
Yeouido Park River Side Stage
9:30pm-11:30pm

Do you get bored listening to just one genre of music? If so, check out the Voice of the River, a variety musical performance. Various genres of music will be performed live, including ska, rock, blues and punk, with a different theme each night. Famous Korean and international musicians transform Yeouido into a festival venue with exciting music on a midsummer night.
‐ August 9: A power performance by first-rate female singers, including Lee Sang-eun, Island City, Gangheodallim, and BellaMafia
‐ August 10: An exciting and powerful performance by male vocal bands such as Gang San-e, Serengeti, and Vodka Rain
‐ August 11: A feast of passionate ska and reggae music performed by Kingston Rudieska, Leska, and Number One Korea Band
‐ August 12: Rock’n’roll on a midsummer with The Rock Tigers, The Moonshiners, and Oh! Brothers

Subway : line5 Yeouinaru exit 2 and 3

SECOND LOCATION

Romance Garden
August 13 to 17
Seonyudo Gardens

The cool shade of the trees, the serene promenades, and the captivating scenery blend with romantic music to make midsummer Seonyudo the most romantic island on earth. Right in your backyard, Seonyudo gives you every facet of summer romance without traveling to a faraway sea.
Take pictures and create memories of a special time spent with people you love.

Water Music
August 13 to 17
7pm-10pm
Seonyudo Hangang Museum

Sunset. You can feel the romantic orchestra melodies and enjoy the river’s waters that take on a red glow at Seonyudo, where people say a mountain wizard once roamed. The impressive natural landscape tucked away in the city and the classical music flowing through it will be remembered as a romantic midsummer night. Immerse yourself in the waves of enchantment while welcoming the cool river breeze with family, friends or loved ones.

Subway : line2 dangsan exit 1 – 1.5kmSubway : line2 Hapjeong exit 8 – 1.5kmSubway : line6 Hapjeong exit 8 – 1.5km