A K-Pop convention like no other

MANILA, Philippines - The hallyu wave still lives.

This was proven when Filipino K-Pop fans reunited last Dec. 11 for the second K-Pop convention at the PICC Forum Center.

Kring Elezano, head of the convention’s media committee said that this year’s second convention is by far the biggest gathering of K-Pop fans compared to their first gathering last year.

“We had a feeling that the fans didn’t expect that it would be that big. We prepared for months for this event and we’re very happy that the feedback was pretty much all positive. We’re compiling the fan accounts now and at the same time, looking at things we could improve on,” says Elezano.

Activities of the convention included a fashion show sponsored by yesstyle.com, a dance competition and cosplay, where fans imitated their favorite groups and singers. Highlight of the event was the Second Philippine K-Pop Awards where recognitions were handed down to K-Pop artists. Among this year’s winners were CN Blue (Rookie of the Year), Kim Jae Joong of JYJ (Hottest Male Idol) and Sandara Park of 2NE1 (Hottest Female Idol). Super Junior was the biggest winner of the night, capping three awards for Best Male Artists/Group of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.  2NE1, on the other hand, won Female Group of the Year. The fan groups accepted the awards on behalf of the artists. For fans unable to attend the event, Flippish.com lived streamed the event.

While their favorite K-Pop artist was not present, performers who imitated some of them provided the squeals and cheers. Indie boyband 1:43 was also present and fans lined up to have photos and autographs with them.

Elezano says the event would not have been possible without the fans clubs of the artist as well as the recording companies. Proceeds of the event, she said will go to Gawad Kalinga.

“The K-Pop convention is a joint effort by pretty much all the biggest fan clubs in the country. In fact, the fan clubs didn’t just participate, they made this happen. The committee heads are from different fan clubs and not just a certain organization. Because they know that it’s for a good cause, they tried to pull all strings to have this event promoted by celebrities, who support not just K-Pop but GK as well,” she said.

With the success of the second convention, Elezano says the committee is now lining up activities for next year.

“The Philippine K-Pop Committee, Inc. will have a lot of events next year. We’ll be bringing the K-Pop Convention to Visayas and Mindanao because it’s about time our friends from the south get to experience something like this. More than that, we’re also in partnership with different Korean organizations and private companies to further expand the fandom and bring more activities to the fans,” Elezano says. 

And it seems an international event is not far behind.

“We’ve been getting requests to bring the K-Pop convention abroad, too!” she states.

Surely, it proves that the hallyu wave is not yet about to die.