The artistes at the musical concert performing at Katara. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
Doha: To share Korean culture with Qatari people, the Cultural Village Foundation - Katara hosted yesterday ‘Fantastic Sounds of Korea’ musical concert, in the presence of a number of ambassadors accredited to Qatar.
The event was held in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Qatar. “It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Fantastic Sounds of Korea. We prepared this special event to share Korean culture with Qatari people and diplomatic missions in Doha,” said Kim Chang-mo, Ambassador of the Republic of South Korea to Qatar.
In his speech at the occasion, the Ambassador said: “This year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and Qatar, and the relations of the two countries have strengthened further recently, especially with the successful visit of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Seoul last January.”
In line with cementing ties between Seoul and Doha, the Ambassador said, this year Embassy is going to present a number of Korean cultural events to the people in Qatar and this is the first show.
Five young talented musicians (the Korean fusion band QUEEN) played four different instruments including gayageum (zither), daegeum (flute), janggu (drum), and electric violin.
QUEEN played 15 musical selections including classical masterpieces, movie and television soundtracks, K-pops and a special song devoted to the Qatari people. About the Gayageum, it is a traditional Korean string instrument with 12 strings, although some more recent variants have 21 or more strings while Daegeum is a traditional Korean transverse flute made of bamboo.
Speaking to The Peninsula on the sideline of the event, the Ambassador pointed out that the event was organised as part of cultural relations between the two countries in the framework of bilateral ties and the embassy would organise more events in 2019. “In Qatar, there are around 1800 Koreans working in various sectors,” he added.
The musical concert was attended by a large number of people who keen to watch the concert.
