When I told my mum that I was thinking of coming to Korea to teach English, she said “you won’t meet those boys from that band, you know.” I told her “I might!” By that of course she meant BTS, the biggest band in the world. They’re a Korean boyband, or a Kpop group depend on who you ask. Even if you don’t know who they are, you might recognise some of their songs.
Obviously I didn’t come to Korea to meet them but I have done a few activities because I’m one of their fans (we’re called ARMY). They did their first live concerts since the pandemic at the Seoul Olympic Stadium, and with thousands of others I went and stood outside the stadium to hear them (getting tickets would’ve been so impossible I didn’t even try).
I also went to the museum that’s run by the record company they are part of, HYBE. HYBE are a very big record label who also run lots of other Kpop bands and I’ve never knowingly heard any of them. The museum was pretty fun, and had interesting sections about producing music, virtual tours of producer studios, and information about making music videos. It also had some of BTS’s outfits and a whole wall of photos to pose with, which was hilarious.
All over Kore, there are BTS niknaks you can buy all over the place, from packets of chewing gum to chilled coffees with their faces on. There’s also cartoons created by the band called BT21 and you buy almost anything you can think of with those characters on – it starts off with stickers and purses and notebooks, but quickly moves up to pyjamas, computer keyboards and even toastie makers.
I thought I was a pretty big fan because I’d watched a lot of BTS videos during the various lockdowns. They were a real mood-lifter when things were sad or difficult, and I shared a lot of the fun with my friend Nancy who introduced me to them. We call ourselves ARMY and even got silly tshirts made. However now I’m here, I realise I’m merely a baby casual fan. It’s still fun though 🙂
Otherwise I’ve found it difficult to experience a great deal of music here. I’d like to see some traditional Korean music, but the closest I’ve been able to get is going to see an opera that was a setting of a Korean folktale.
I went to the Korean National Opera/National Theatre of Korea and saw a production of Prince Hodong, It was first performed in 1962 but sounded like it was from the 1860s! It was very much like an Italian Grand Opera by Verdi, with lovely melodies and big crowd scenes. However there was also an added element of Korean music, with some sections being essentially pansori. It involves one singer telling a story whilst accompanied by a drummer. I thought the sound was very interesting and I’m very glad to have experienced it. And of course I always love a trip to the opera!
One other place I visited was the Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music. They had lots of recordings of Korean folk songs and told the tales of various types of songs, from working songs to cleaning songs to lullabies. Like many museums I’ve visited here, it was a very modern museum with beautiful and well-thought out exhibitions. There were lots of gorgeous illustrations and videos, and things to look at whilst using the different listening stations. And also there was plenty of information in English. The museum was free and is just across the road from Changdeokgung. You only need 30mins and I would really recommend going to take a look if you go to visit the palace.
Songs of Travel 