By Prisca Sam-Duru

In normal circumstances, the showers that blessed the earth last Saturday should have dampened the excitement of witnessing another enthralling time at the Banana Island multicultural festival but, the show held successfully.

The 2024 festival of cultures organised by the Banana Island Property Owners and Residents Association Lagos, BIPORAL, began about 12pm with participating countries such as, Zimbabwe, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Pakistan, Cote D’Ivoire and South Africa, occupying designated stands on the playground. That signaled the commencement of food tasting and purchase or gifting of some native wears to  guests. As usual, the festival was a delight to culture and entertainment lovers. You’d marvel at the very long queue at the Korean stand. Everyone was eager to taste delicious ramyun, kimchi, etc.

 While savouring varieties of delicious cuisines prepared with  traditional recipes by the participating countries, guests enjoyed cultural dances, comedy and games; all during the afternoon session.

Tagged, “Tour the World”, this year’s Banana Island multicultural festival took place as usual, at the Banana Island Children’s playground, Ikoyi Lagos.

Organised as a day-long festival, the show featured a pot–pourri of exciting activities including, carnival parades, lots of music, dance, games, raffle draws, food tasting, business fair, miss carnival contest, etc.

All participating countries including Nigeria put up exhilarating performances. However, the mere mention of South Korea, got the young people up on their feet, screaming and demanding that the Koreans take the stage and display their usual eclectic vibes. Of course they were expressing the desire to watch another scintillating K-Pop performance.

 Zulu performance by South Africa gave way to team Korea. But before that, there was a dance competition by four volunteer dancers. At the end, there was a tie and both received gifts from the organisers.

This year, the 2024 K-Pop 2nd place winner, Femmevoice, an all female dance group which also won the Popularity prize during the competition, represented Korea. The young Nigerian girls, despite thunderous hailing from the over excited crowd, struggled initially to find their vibe; no thanks to the slow rhythm of the sound. They however picked up once the hot beat with which K-Pop is known for, enveloped the entire venue. They gave their best. Last year, the Korea Cultural Centre flew a six-man  crew of hot steppers led by Park Seung-Gu to represent their country. The team known as I O.F is a Korean break-dance  crew known to infuse Korean tradition with stylish athletic moves. Guests looked forward to their second visit but a slim budget, according to the Director of the Korean Cultural Centre, Kim Chan-Ki, prevented their return this year. The all-boys team stole the show! Some of their moves were robotic and super energetic. It will be lovely to watch them on stage again next year.

Chang-Ki said the role of the Korean Cultural Centre in Nigeria is to promote the Korean culture in Nigeria, adding that his country’s diverse cultures are already permeating corners of the world.

Korea, the ‘Land of the Morning Calm’, is a dynamic East Asian nation famous for its scenic beauty. The country has become a major tourist destination courtesy of global K-Pop icons like BTS and Blackpink and hits like the Oscar-winning film, ‘Parasite’ and Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’. Recall that BTS made history by topping the Billboard Hot 100 multiple times in 2021. Their hits have always been the choice of competitors during K-Pop festivals.

With all that in mind, Chang-Ki went further to explain more about how Korea reaches out to the world.

“The Korea Cultural Centre promotes our country’s culture through the K-Pop dance, drama and singing competition as well as our diverse native foods. In May 2024, we held the K-Pop festival in Lagos. And in Abuja, we held the Korean film festival. Now, we are here again this year to participate in the multi cultural festival alongside other countries all over the world. We exhibited more than eight different Korean foods. We are happy that the people are always excited about our participation.”

Chang-Ki further expressed the Centre’s commitment towards ensuring that the mutual relationship between Nigeria and Korea keeps blossoming.