Music and Performance at the Gala
Hello KACF-SF community! With our annual gala being just around the corner, we wanted to share a few blog posts in the next couple of days about some of the things that you can look forward to this weekend. Today I will delve into the thought process that went into the music choices for the gala reception and dinner, as well as the special guest performers we have for the evening.
In planning an event as important and intricate as this one, attention to detail cannot be understated. One of these details includes the selection of jams to be played during the gala, curated by yours truly. Of course I could have looked up today’s K-pop billboard top 100 songs, slapped them on a list and sent them out, but I wanted to add some variety into the mix and hopefully even introduce some attendees to non-mainstream Korean artists they might have never heard of otherwise.
I have attached the links to both the reception playlist and the dinner playlist below if anyone wants to get a taste of what will be playing at the gala, or if you happen to enjoy the music after attending, you can come back here to find any artist or song you liked. There’s even a playlist with noraebang favorites for the after-party.
A large majority of the music you will be listening to is pulled from different generations of the K-pop genre. You will hear some songs by Big Bang and Girls’ Generation, all the way up to today’s popular artists, including Jennie, BTS, and Enhypen, and even a couple of songs from popular Kdramas–see if you can recognize them at the gala!
One artist in particular I want to mention goes by the name Hojean. He is an upcoming Korean American R&B/Soul artist from the East Coast. Some of his more popular songs include: “Over 85”, “Comin’ Through”, and “Hold Me”. I personally love a good R&B song, so I really enjoy Hojean’s music, and I highly recommend anyone else into R&B to check him out.
As for the main show, we will have a group of performers from the traditional Korean dance and music organization Urisawe! They will be incorporating various elements of Korean traditional performance, including samulnori (Korean drums), fan dance, and familiar melodies from South Korea. Attached above are some pictures from their website. I hope you all are ready for a night full of Korean culture as we celebrate the spirit of K-Giving together!
