South Korea will showcase various aspects of traditional and contemporary Korean culture in France for a year starting this week, the government said Monday.
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports said that South Korea will begin events to mark the 130th anniversary of the country's diplomatic ties with France, which falls next year, in Paris on Friday.
In 2010, the two countries agreed to designate the period from the latter part of 2015 to the end of 2016 as "Years 2015-2016 of Korea-France Bilateral Exchanges" under which more than 200 cultural programs will be held in the two countries to allow citizens to experience each other's culture without having to travel.
A total of 149 South Korea-hosted events will be held from Friday to August next year in France, while some 60 French events will take place in 2016 in South Korea.
The performance of Jongmyo Jeryeak, a royal ancestral ritual music, will lead the Korean events at the Chaillot National Theater in Paris on Friday and Saturday.
South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn is scheduled to make an official trip to France, where he will declare the opening of the exchange year on Friday night.
During the visit, he is also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on French President Francois Hollande and meet his French counterpart, Manuel Valls.
Friday night's performance will be attended by Hwang, France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius and culture minister Fleur Pellerin, among others.
The music that Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) kings used in ancestral memorial ceremonies at Jongmyo Shrine in downtown Seoul became the first Korean item on UNESCO's list of intangible world heritage along with the ancestral ritual in 2001.
South Korea plans to play the ritual piece in full, employing 120 people, including 50 musicians and 35 dancers.
This will be the first time that the musical piece is performed in full outside of South Korea, although a brief version of it was staged in Japan in 2000 and Italy and Germany in 2007.
The performance of Jongmyo Jeryeak was also designated as the national theater's 2015-2016 season opener. It will be performed at the 1,250-seat theater before audiences.
Also on Friday, there will be a spectacular light show that projects colorful lights featuring the Korean national flag Taegukgi on the iconic Eiffel Tower.
The opener will be followed by performances of traditional and contemporary Korean music ranging from pansori, a traditional Korean narrative song, to jazz and electronics and exhibitions of visual artworks ranging from crafts, fashion and design to photographs in public theaters, museums, exhibition halls and various other places in major French cities, such as Paris, Nantes, Marseille, Lyon and Nice.
The Forum Des Images, the centerpiece of Paris' film archives, will screen 76 Korean films that have the South Korean capital Seoul as a main theme.
There also will be a festival of Korean street food and culture in Paris on Sept. 25-27.
"We prepared to raise the French people's understanding of Korea's unique and deep-rooted culture and to enable them to experience Korean culture in their daily lives," Choe Jun-ho, music director of the South Korean organizing committee, was quoted as saying in a release from the culture ministry. "They will be able to experience Korea wherever they go because the performances will run for a long period, not being one-time events." (Yonhap)
