Cebu K-Pop Star holds auditions today

CEBU, Philippines — It’s the time of the year where K-pop fans all over the Queen City of the South come together to take a shot at and make their idol dreams come true. But regardless if you want the limelight or not, the search for the next Cebu K-pop Star is arguably the biggest K-pop event in the city.

Now on its seventh staging, Cebu K-Pop Star (CKS) will hold their auditions today at the ICON Club in Mabolo to any resident of the Philippines between 13 to 30 years old.

Brought by the Cebu Korean Association Inc., in partnership with the Korean Consulate Office in Cebu, CKS started in 2011 to cater to the growing number of Korean pop music fans in Cebu. The affair allows passionate K-Pop buffs to show their talents through dance and song covers of their favorite K-Pop idols, whether by group or solo.

From 140 applications, 80 groups will be performing at the ICON Club auditions today for the first phase of KCS which usually runs for almost three months. The participants will be performing for a spot in the second phase or the pre-finals come August, where only 40 out of the 80 groups will make the cut. Eventually, about 25 finalists will be battling it out on the Cebu K-pop Star finals during the annual Korea Day celebration in September.

That gruelling process also comes with a bounty. In today’s auditions, the top two out of eight winners will be granted P20,000 each, while whoever places third becomes P10,000 richer. Those who place fourth until eighth will receive P5,000 each.

To make that victory a lot sweeter, the Korean Consulate in Cebu will choose two from the 80 groups in today’s auditions and will recommend them for the K-Pop World Festival in Changwon City, South Korea. Hosted by the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) with the support of MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and MCST (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), the K-Pop World Festival has opened its global auditions until this month. In its eighth year, the K-Pop World Festival will take applicants from 91 areas throughout 74 countries. The Philippines currently represents two areas: Cebu and Manila.

The two lucky winners from today’s CKS auditions will be recommended to the international festival where KBS World will be selecting 14 acts from all over the world and invite them to perform for the final round on October 5.

Should our Cebu teams fare well between the auditions and further screening process, apart from competing, they will also have the chance to join the festival camp in Changwon for 13 nights and 14 days as they immerse in the K-Pop idol experience.

They will also get to catch performances of their favorite idol groups during the finals. Last year, idol groups BTS, Twice, Monsta X, NCT 127, and Astro, as well as singer Ailee performed in the festival.

Consul General Oh Sung Yong of the Korean Consulate Office in Cebu shared during a press conference Wednesday at Chosun Galbi along A.S Fortuna how the annual competition is among theirs and the Cebu Korean Association Inc.’s efforts to further the relationship between Cebuanos and Koreans.

“The Korean government and Korean community in Cebu continuously extend efforts to boost mutual cultural exchange between Koreans and Cebuanos. We want more Cebuanos to enjoy K-pop,” he quips.

The Consul General adds how Korean pop music was able to bring together Koreans and Cebuanos and have allowed them to share each other’s culture in the process. He says the annual competition fosters values of teamwork and friendly play among the youth.

“I think that K-Pop is one of the beneficial factors that binds Filipinos and Koreans together and creates an avenue for the young generation to build teamwork and camaraderie through music and dance. It will boost mutual cooperation that makes our two countries continue to consistently connect and develop the established, growing and long-running friendship,” the Consul General quips.