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Left: Taiwanese pop group F4 attend the press conference for the 4th Asia Song Festival at Shilla Hotel, Seoul, Friday. The group are special guests at the event on Saturday evening. Center: Chinese singer/ actress Vicky Zhao will perform with singers from Korea, Japan and other Asian countries at the 4th Asia Song Festival. Right: Thai pop duo Golf & Mike will sing their first Korean single " Fight for You" at the 4th Asia Song Festival. / Yonhap

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

Top stars from around Asia are kicking off the Chuseok holiday with exciting pop performances at the 4th Asia Song Festival, Saturday evening.

Thousands of fans are expected to flock to the Sangam World Cup Stadium to see Taiwan's F4 and A-mei, China's Vicky Zhao, Hong Kong's Gigi Leung, Japan's Kuraki Mai, Thailand's Golf & Mike, Philippines' Barbie Almalbis, Vietnam's Lam Truong, and Indonesia's Peter Pan. Korean pop stars TVXQ, Lee Hyo-ri, Super Junior and SG Wannabe will also perform.

With 13 performers from nine countries, this is the largest Asia Song Festival since it started in 2004.

``This year is going to be bigger than ever, as many countries around the region will broadcast the concert. With the theme 'We Are One,' we believe the Korean artists are not just for Korea and the same with Japanese artists and Asian artists. We believe culture is for exchange. We hope through the festival, this would be fulfilled,'' said Shin Hyun-taek, chairman of Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE). KOFICE is the organizer of the Asia Song Festival.

Many young female fans are eagerly awaiting the performances of TVXQ, who have lately focused their activities in Japan; Super Junior, who have released a new album; and F4 or JKVK, a Taiwanese pop group who gained popularity through the drama ``'Meteor Garden.'' Composed of Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu and Vic Zhou, F4 are also in Seoul to promote tourism to Taiwan.

Many of the festival's performers expressed their interest in Korean pop culture. Zhou said he liked the music of Korean singer Rain, while Leung said she admired actresses Lee Young-ae and Jun Ji-hyun.

Golf & Mike, who said they enjoyed watching dramas such as ``Goong'' and ``Full House,'' will perform their upcoming Korean single ``Fight for You'' for the first time during the festival.
``We love Korea. We like the language and music style. I hope Koreans will like our songs,'' Golf said. The duo will also perform their hit Japanese song ``Fever,'' which was originally recorded with J-pop heartthrob Tomohisa Yamashita.

Lam Truong, who was given the nickname the Kim Jong-kuk (a Korean R&B singer) of Vietnam, will also perform his version of ``Forever,'' a song originally recorded by Ahn Jae-wook.

Since the Asia Song Festival will feature performances in Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese and other languages, KOFICE believes this is a good opportunity to promote different cultures.

``Language cannot be a barrier when it comes to music. I believe Asians have something in common when it comes to music. So we would like to take this opportunity to share the music,'' KOFICE's Shin said.

An indication of the growing cultural exchanges, many of the festival's performers have collaborated with stars from other Asian countries.

Wu, who collaborated with Korean singer Kang-Ta, said: ``To be able to work in so many different places is a blessing and to have this mixture of cultures, and learning and understanding of new cultures is another gift that everybody should receive,'' he said.

Zhao, who appeared in a Hong Kong-produced movie ``So Close'' with Korean actor Song Seung-heon, said she would like to work with other Korean stars such as Choi Min-sik.

F4's Chu said he is in negotiations to star in an independent film to be directed by a Filipino director and shot in the Philippines. ``Right now, we are still dealing with the contract. It is an independent movie that will be shot in the Philippines. We might finish it by end of October. If the contract goes well, I will do it,'' he said.

Aside from the Asian stars, the festival also gives a chance for new performers to show their talent. Korean pop group FT Island and Thai singer James will receive New Singer awards, while new girl group Kara and singer Whee will also perform.

Organizers said there was a huge demand for tickets for the Asia Song Festival, not just in Korea but also overseas. Around 3,000 foreigners had applied to get free tickets to the event. The organizers' server crashed due to the rush to download the free tickets.

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A-mei rocks but...   HYO LEE BRINGS THE HOUSE DOWN  (09-27-2007)


ONE is Korea's sexiest songbird, the other is Taiwan's sizzling pop queen.

  
Audience members screamed the loudest for popular boy band TVXQ.  
So when Korea's Lee Hyo Lee and Taiwan's A-mei shared the same stage at the fourth Asia Song Festival at the Seoul World Cup Stadium last Saturday, it seemed almost inevitable that the battle of the divas would unfold.

Even at the press conference held on Friday, A-mei, 35, was already asked if she was worried about performing alongside Hyo Lee, 28.

Her cool reply: 'Actually, with every performance, I won't think too much or worry about being compared with anybody.

'Every artiste is different, be it in her performance or feel. I'm just happy to be here, and I've prepared both fast songs and slow numbers to introduce myself to the Korean audience.'

And deliver she did - with aplomb.

Clad in a cleavage-baring black top and matching mini-skirt with a bright pink jacket, the livewire was bursting with energy.

It was her first public showcase in Korea, and she seemed to be on a high.

While singing her new ballad You Love Me, her soaring vocals won the most waving lights (the battery-operated kind with multi colours) from the 40,000-strong crowd of mostly Korean teenage girls.

Never mind if they didn't understand a word of her Mandarin lyrics. Her infectious music moved them anyway.

ALLURING

Hyo Lee's opening act, however, received a much stronger reception - as one would expect.

Fans chanted her name as she performed three dance singles while shaking her bon-bon alluringly.

Her rhythm was immaculate, although she was a tad too stingy with flaunting her famous 'S-line' figure.

She showed just a bit of her slender thighs, while she hid behind a loose-fitting long-sleeve striped top, black mini-skirt and thigh-high red boots.

No doubt trendy, but rather conservative for someone who is always voted Korea's sexiest female singer.

Still, Singaporean operations manager Esther Tan, 32, found HyoLee's performance, when compared to A-mei's, more 'appealing and fresh'.

'She really knows how to move her body, her dancing is more trendy and her dressing is more hip,' said MsTan, who was on holiday in Seoul and got a concert ticket from a friend.

'A-mei's style is more old-school, probably because she's older. But she's the stronger vocalist.'

But, when it comes to commanding the audience, the two divas were clearly no fight for the Korean boy bands TVXQ and Super Junior, and R&B male trio SG Wannabe.

Even Hyo Lee admitted defeat on stage, with a laugh: 'There are many TVXQ fans here tonight, right?'

To which the crowd screamed back at the top of their voices.

Most of them were indeed diehard fans, and proud to show it by wearing their idol's official red colour and waving matching light sticks. Cheering in unison, they made up more than half of the crowd.

Most amazingly, they even managed to pull off a green against red light formation that read 'TVXQ FLY!'.

LOUD SCREAMS

Naturally, the loudest screams were reserved for TVXQ.

Clad in all white, the five members, whose average age is 20, took to the stage and delivered three songs in perfect harmony.

Complete with sleek synchronised dance moves worthy of their raging popularity, no less.

Not forgetting the overseas fans present, they went on to greet fans in three languages - Japanese, Mandarin and English.

Overall, theirs was a spirited performance which was a fitting end to the 41/2hour-long Asia Song Festival.

The Super Junior fans, all decked out in blue, were just as organised, but smaller in number.

Japan's representative this year was R&B singer-songwriter Mai Kuraki, whose power vocals belie her incredibly petite frame.

'She's like a doll!' someone exclaimed.

But Mai, 25, was friendly enough. She had a smile for everyone, despite her rather daunting entourage.

With at least 12 black-clad staff members following her every move, she was arguably the most well-protected artiste of the evening.

Other performers included China's impish Vicki Zhao Wei and Hong Kong sweetie-pie Gigi Leung.

Among South-east Asian musicians were Indonesian rock band Peterpan, Thai male duo Golf & Mike, Vietnamese balladeer Lam Truong and Filipino folk-rocker Barbie Almalbis.

Taiwanese quartet F4, which is Taiwan's tourism ambassador in Korea, was the guest star of the evening and helped to introduce the Chinese artistes.

Only one member - Vanness Wu - performed, but, as a group, the guys certainly generated plenty of buzz.

Their Korean fan club prepared a huge black banner that read F4 Yong Yuan Bu Mie (Mandarin for 'never dies'), and cheers resounded around the stadium for them.

Who knows, they might be able to give TVXQ a run for its money in the time to come?

The free concert is organised annually by the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, with support from the Ministry of Culture And Tourism and Seoul city government. It aims to promote cultural exchange between Korea and other Asian countries.


http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story/0,4136,143093,00.html