Food, drinks and live entertainment bring the world to the melting pot of Seoul


The world will be at your fingertips at this year’s Itaewon Global Village Festival ― three days jam-packed with various cultural activities, performances and cuisine from around the globe. The festival will be held Friday through Sunday with stages and street booths scattered throughout the Itaewon area.

Each day of the festival will showcase a wide range of global cultures, featuring events such as international food booths, live music and dance performances and a world cultural parade. The festival will extend from Noksapyeong Station all the way to the Hamilton Hotel area.

“Last year approximately 30,000 people came to the festival,” said Go You-in, one of the organizers of this year’s festival. With the addition of more food booths and, for the first time, a club party out on the streets with live DJs, she predicts that the number of visitors will exceed last year’s.

International food booths and exhibitions

From kebabs to noodles, the festival will have food booths highlighting cuisine from all over Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas with around 30 different countries participating, Go said. The event also provides a multitude of opportunities for people to experience Korean culture through exhibitions on learning to play traditional Korean instruments and hands-on classes for making cultural handcraft items using recycled materials. Visitors can also purchase traditional and cultural souvenirs at various handcraft booths.

World cultural parade

The global festival’s cultural parade will feature honor guards, traditional Korean military bands, taekwondo demonstrations, Korean royal costumes and marchers in costume from a number of different countries including Thailand, Japan, Iran, Laos, Sri Lanka and the Czech Republic. The march will begin at 3 p.m. and starts from the Eastgate Arch located near Hangangjin Station and ends at the global village festival’s main stage.

On the stage

The event will host open stages throughout the weekend to feature appearances by hip-hop, b-boy and percussion groups, amateur bands and many more art performances both on the main and side stages.

A team of musicians called Strong Africa will showcase traditional and modern African culture through music. Also appearing is Sentires, who will share Argentinean music and dance, and the Yakukia State Dance Ensemble, who will perform traditional Russian folk dances.

On Friday night from 6 p.m.-11 p.m., people can lose themselves through an electrifying street party featuring DJs Greive, S_Pill, Team Marionette and Rocosound.

On Saturday a special “Live Power Music” concert will be held on the main stage with live performance by the sexy ladies of Sistar, the sensuous K-pop idol group known for their hit songs “Alone,” “Lead Me” and “Ma Boy.” Also gracing the stage are Lady Jane (also known as the “Hongdae Goddess”), Phantom & Sunny Days, Geomjandi, Attack, 4Heaven, NEWT, Sook Hang, Yeom Su-yeon and others.

Finally, the “Haengbok-Nanum Chakhan” concert on Sunday will mark the final night of the three-day-long global festival. This concluding event will present jazz pianist Gina as the master of ceremonies with appearances by Crying Nut, Biuret, Mood Salon, Ginagram, N.O.C., wHOOL and Magna Fall.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)