1.
Seoul
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The Seoul Capital Area houses up to half of the countrys population of 50.22 million people with 678,102 international residents. Situated on the Han River, Seouls history stretches back more than two years when it was founded in 18 BCE by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty, the Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by mountains, the tallest being Mt. Bukhan, in 2015, it was rated Asias most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis. In 2014, the citys GDP per capita of $39,786 was comparable to that of France and Finland. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, Seoul is the worlds most wired city and ranked first in technology readiness by PwCs Cities of Opportunity report. It is served by the KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway, providing 4G LTE, WiFi, Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport, rated the worlds best airport nine years in a row by Airports Council International. Lotte World Tower, a 556-metre supertall skyscraper with 123 floors, has built in Seoul and become the OECDs tallest in 2016. Its Lotte Cinema houses the worlds largest cinema screen, Seouls COEX Mall is the worlds largest underground shopping mall. Seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games,1988 Summer Olympics,2002 FIFA World Cup, the Miss Universe 1980 pageant, a UNESCO City of Design, Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. The city has known in the past by the names Wirye-seong, Hanju. During Japans annexation in Korea, Hanseong was renamed to Keijō by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with the hanja 漢, in reality, the ancient name of Seoul, Hanseong, originally had the meaning of big or vast. Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning city, which is believed to be derived from the word Seorabeol, which originally referred to Gyeongju. Unlike most place names in Korea, Seoul has no corresponding hanja, on January 18,2005, Seoul government officially changed its official Chinese language name to Shouer from the historic Hancheng, of which use is becoming less common. Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje in the northeastern Seoul area. There are several city walls remaining in the area date from this time. Pungnaptoseong, a wall just outside Seoul, is widely believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century
2.
Folk music
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Folk music includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th century folk revival. The term originated in the 19th century, but is applied to music older than that. Some types of music are also called world music. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways, as music transmitted orally, music with unknown composers and it has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. Starting in the century, a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. This form of music is called contemporary folk music or folk revival music to distinguish it from earlier folk forms. Smaller, similar revivals have occurred elsewhere in the world at other times and this type of folk music also includes fusion genres such as folk rock, folk metal, electric folk, and others. Even individual songs may be a blend of the two, a consistent definition of traditional folk music is elusive. The terms folk music, folk song, and folk dance are comparatively recent expressions and they are extensions of the term folklore, which was coined in 1846 by the English antiquarian William Thoms to describe the traditions, customs, and superstitions of the uncultured classes. Traditional folk music also includes most indigenous music, however, despite the assembly of an enormous body of work over some two centuries, there is still no certain definition of what folk music is. Some do not even agree that the term Folk Music should be used, Folk music may tend to have certain characteristics but it cannot clearly be differentiated in purely musical terms. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers, the fashioning and re-fashioning of the music by the community that give it its folk character. Such definitions depend upon processes rather than abstract musical types, one widely used definition is simply Folk music is what the people sing. For Scholes, as well as for Cecil Sharp and Béla Bartók, Folk music was already. seen as the authentic expression of a way of life now past or about to disappear, particularly in a community uninfluenced by art music and by commercial and printed song. In these terms folk music may be seen as part of a schema comprising four types, primitive or tribal, elite or art, folk. Music in this genre is often called traditional music. Although the term is only descriptive, in some cases people use it as the name of a genre
3.
Korean language
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It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changbai Korean Autonomous County of the Peoples Republic of China. Approximately 80 million people worldwide speak Korean and this implies that Korean is not an isolate, but a member of a small family. There is still debate on whether Korean and Japanese are related with each other, the Korean language is agglutinative in its morphology and SOV in its syntax. A relation of Korean with Japonic languages has been proposed by linguists like William George Aston, Chinese characters arrived in Korea together with Buddhism during the pre-Three Kingdoms period. Mainly privileged elites were educated to read and write in hanja, however, today, the hanja are largely unused in everyday life, but in South Korea they experience revivals on artistic works and are important in historic and/or linguistic studies of Korean. Since the Korean War, through 70 years of separation, North–South differences have developed in standard Korean, including variations in pronunciation, verb inflection, the Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in North Korea and South Korea. In South Korea, the Korean language is referred to by names including hanguk-eo Korean language, hanguk-mal, Korean speech and uri-mal. In hanguk-eo and hanguk-mal, the first part of the word, hanguk, refers to the Korean nation while -eo and -mal mean language and speech, Korean is also simply referred to as guk-eo, literally national language. This name is based on the same Chinese characters meaning nation + language that are used in Taiwan and Japan to refer to their respective national languages. In North Korea and China, the language is most often called Chosŏn-mal, or more formally, the English word Korean is derived from Goryeo, which is thought to be the first dynasty known to Western countries. Korean people in the former USSR refer to themselves as Koryo-saram and Goryeo In, the majority of historical and modern linguists classify Korean as a language isolate. Such factors of typological divergence as Middle Mongolians exhibition of gender agreement can be used to argue that a relationship with Altaic is unlikely. Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin found about 25% of potential cognates in the Japanese–Korean 100-word Swadesh list, a good example might be Middle Korean sàm and Japanese asa, meaning hemp. Also, the doublet wo meaning hemp is attested in Western Old Japanese and it is thus plausible to assume a borrowed term. Among ancient languages, various relatives of Korean have been proposed. Some classify the language of Jeju Island as a distinct modern Koreanic language, Other famous theories are the Dravido-Korean languages theory and the mostly unknown southern-theory which suggest an Austronesian relation. Korean is spoken by the Korean people in North Korea and South Korea and by the Korean diaspora in countries including the Peoples Republic of China, the United States, Japan. Korean-speaking minorities exist in these states, but because of cultural assimilation into host countries, Korean is the official language of South Korea and North Korea
4.
South Korea
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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
5.
Djembe
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A djembe or jembe is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying Anke djé, anke bé which translates to everyone together in peace. In the Bambara language, djé is the verb for gather, the djembe has a body carved of hardwood and a drumhead made of untreated rawhide, most commonly made from goatskin. Excluding rings, djembes have a diameter of 30–38 cm. The majority have a diameter in the 13 to 14 inch range, the weight of a djembe ranges from 5 kg to 13 kg and depends on size and shell material. A medium-size djembe carved from one of the traditional woods weighs around 9 kg, the djembe can produce a wide variety of sounds, making it a most versatile drum. The drum is very loud, allowing it to be heard clearly as a solo instrument over a large percussion ensemble, the Malinké people say that a skilled drummer is one who can make the djembe talk, meaning that the player can tell an emotional story. Traditionally, the djembe is played only by men, as are the dunun that always accompany the djembe, conversely, other percussion instruments that are commonly played as part of an ensemble, such as the shekere, karignan, and kese kese, are usually played by women. Even today, it is rare to see women play djembe or dunun in West Africa, there is general agreement that the origin of the djembe is associated with the Mandinka caste of blacksmiths, known as Numu. The wide dispersion of the drum throughout West Africa may be due to Numu migrations during the first millennium AD. Despite the association of the djembe with the Numu, there are no restrictions on who may become a djembefola. This is in contrast to instruments whose use is reserved for members of the caste, such as the balafon, kora. Anyone who plays djembe is a djembefola—the term does not imply a level of skill. However, due to the lack of records in West African countries. It seems likely that the history of the djembe reaches back for at least several centuries, the goblet shape of the djembe suggests that it originally may have been created from a mortar. There are a number of different creation myths for the djembe, the djembe first came to the attention of audiences outside West Africa with the efforts of Fodéba Keïta, who, in 1952, founded Les Ballets Africains. Tourés policies alienated Guinea from the West and he followed the Eastern Bloc model of using the countrys culture and music for promotional means. He and Fodéba Keïta, who had become a friend of Touré, saw the ballets as a way to secularize traditional customs
6.
Orange Caramel
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Orange Caramel is the first subgroup of South Korean girl group After School. The unit was formed with the third generation members, Nana, Raina, Orange Caramel’s concept is Candy Culture. Orange Caramel debuted on June 16,2010, with the single Magic Girl and their debut mini-album, The First Mini Album was released on June 21,2010. The album was a success, peaking at No.2 on the Gaon Chart with the lead single Magic Girl peaking at No.18. The mini-album was also released in Taiwan, where a Mandarin version of The Day You Went Away, both versions of the album included Rainas R&B solo, Love Does Not Wait. On November 18,2010, The Second Mini Album was released with the title track A-ing, the music video for A-ing had a fairy tale witches concept. The album peaked at No.10 on the Gaon Chart, the second single released from the album, a solo by Raina titled Not Yet. The album also includes the song One Love and a Korean version of The Day You Went Away, on March 30, Bangkok City was released as part of the groups One Asia project. The single peaked at No.3 on the Gaon Chart, Orange Caramel continued the One Asia project with the release of Shanghai Romance on October 13, which peaked at No.8. The songs lyrics were written by Kim Hee-chul of Super Junior, the single had two B-sides, Close Your Eyes, a solo by Nana, and the Mandarin version of The Day You Went Away. A Japanese version of Shanghai Romance was later released as a track on After Schools debut Japanese album. Orange Caramel debuted in Japan on September 5,2012 with a cover of 1970s pop group Candies song My Sweet Devil and they returned to Korea and released their first studio album, Lipstick on September 12. On October 23,2012, Orange Caramel released the single Lipstick DJ Remix and it consisted of two remixes of Lipstick by DJs Vodge Diper and Hanmin. Vodge Dipers remix was used in their live TV performances. The groups first Japanese studio album, Orange Caramel, was released on March 13,2013 and it included their previous Japanese singles and Japanese versions of their Korean singles, as well as some new songs. On May 9,2013, Orange Caramel released a collaboration with indie band 10cm, the single is a remake of 10cms Hug Me and is part of LOEN Entertainments Re, code project. In July 2013, Orange Caramel released the book Youth Travel, Orange Caramels third single, Catallena was released on March 12. In the music video, the group appear as mermaids before turning into different types of sushi, the song has a Bollywood-inspired disco beat and samples a Punjabi wedding folk song
