ASEAN celebrated

The “5th Bravo! ASEAN in Korea 2013” showcased Southeast Asian traditional music and dance, as well as pop music performances, at the Millennium Hall of Konkuk University in Seoul on Saturday.

The theme of the fifth installment of “Bravo ASEAN” was “diversity in harmony” to highlight the enormous diversity of ethnicities, language and most of all cultural heritage of the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, organizers from the ASEAN-Korea Centre said.

The event has taken place annually since the launch of the ASEAN-Korea Centre in 2009. “Bravo ASEAN is organized in order to provide opportunities for Southeast Asians residing in South Korea to show off their artistic talent while at the same time introduce the many cultures of the region,” an organizer from the center said.

“The annual event is contributing to invigorating people-to-people exchanges and is enhancing cultural understanding between Southeast Asia and Korea,” said the organizer.

Organizers said this year the event’s preliminaries were held in Ansan and Hongdae, two of the few places where one can see relatively many non-Koreans, in order to attract greater participation among the Southeast Asians residing in South Korea.

A festive feeling and sense of togetherness was the main goal for the all-day event. So, a non-competitive format was chosen for the finals, organizers said.

Ten teams consisting of about 50 people, representing the 10 ASEAN member states “competed.” The 10 final teams each received 1 million won and a single round trip flight to his or her home country was awarded to a member of each team.

K-pop band “100%” also performed at the event.

By Philip lglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)