The K Waves

I believe we all have known the term 'pop-culture' for long time

I just realized that nowadays Korean pop-culture (Korean Waves or Hallyu*) are spreading in high-speed here in Indonesia. Korean dramas, musics, TV Shows (for those who are using cable TV)... we can see it almost everywhere!

So... since the wave is happening once again, I want to share a bit about it.

If we talked about Korean Waves, the first thing that popped in mind is K-Pop or dramas.

You don't know what K-Pop is? K-pop is an abbreviation for Korean pop music (also referred to as Kayo or Gayo music), specifically from South Korea. Many of these artists and musical groups have branched out of South Korea and have become popular in many countries around the world. The popularity of K-pop is often considered a part of the rise of the Korean Wave, the recent surge of popularity of contemporary South Korean culture in Asia.

Current Style

K-pop is similar to American pop music, with R&B, dance, and hip-hop being very popular genres in the 2000s. However, unlike American pop music, which had most of its boy bands and girl groups either break up or informally disband, bubblegum pop is still very popular in South Korea. Groups such as TVXQ, Super Junior, Wonder Girls, and Big Bang continue to be top sellers in K-pop, and artists like Ahyoomee and LPG have released novelty songs, to varying degrees of success. However, the 2000s has seen the rise of R&B vocal groups, such as SG Wannabe, Davichi and SeeYa having success with their albums. Ballads are also very popular, as 2006 has seen the release of ballad singles by non-ballad artists, including Shinhwa and Baek Ji Young. In addition, trot music has made a comeback in mainstream K-pop as well, mostly due to the success of Jang Yoon Jung and Park Hyun Bin. The year 2007 was marked with the release of numerous girl and boy bands, though only a few managed to top the charts. Despite new bands debuting, physical sales for CDs have become increasingly low, due to the stagnation of the K-pop industry. The highest selling album of 2007 did not even reach the 200,000 mark with only 190,998 copies sold.

The beginning of 2008 saw the rise of electronica dominance in the K-pop scene, influenced by the release of Big Bang's mini-album Always, which heavily featured the genre. Other artists also followed the trend, such as Jewelry for their song "One More Time" and Brown Eyed Girls for "L.O.V.E." Even artists that release music in other genres have released electronica-influenced albums to suit the current trends, including Epik High, Gummy, Clazziquai, and Lee Seung-cheol.

(*) Hallyu (Hangul: 한류; Hanja: 韓流), from the Korean pronunciation = The Korean wave or Korea fever, refers to the significantly increased popularity of South Korean culture around the world since the 21st century, especially among the Net Generation.

South Korea is among the world's top ten cultural exporters and the Korean wave began with the export of Korean TV dramas such as Autumn Fairy Tale, Winter Sonata, Dae Jang Geum (Jewel in the Palace), and Princess Hours across East and Southeast Asia; the growing success of Korean dramas was soon matched by Korean movies, popular music, food and language.

While popular throughout Asia, the Korean wave's influence is most visible in China, Japan and Southeast Asia, spreading to India and Pakistan, the Middle East, Central Asia, Iran, Israel, Turkey and Russia. The Korean wave is rapidly expanding beyond Asia through the internet and has a substantial presence in North, Central and South America, particularly in Chile, Peru, Mexico and Argentina, and is increasingly becoming popular in the United States and Canada. It is also gaining momentum in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, led by Hungary, Czech Republic and Norway. It is gathering positive interest in North Africa, attracting a sizable niche audience in Egypt. Currently, the Korean wave is starting to hit the United Kingdom, France, Spain, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia.