Girls Generation, who will participate in the “SM Town Live World Tour” that will be held in Paris from June 10 to 11, revealed their feelings through their agency SM Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as SM) when they left for Paris on June 7, saying, “We will boast the power of Hallyu in Europe.” They continued, “We are very much glad and feel nervous as we can meet our fans in Europe.
We saw the news on TV in which many fans in Europe held a street rally in front of the Louvre Museum asking for an additional concert, and we were very surprised to see that our fans were perfectly acquainted with our songs and dances. Our concert in Paris might become an event that we and our fans can enjoy together. We will inform them of splendid Korean songs and give performances in Europe along with our senior and junior singers who will participate in the concert.” The concert, in which star singing groups such as Girls Generation, Dong Bang Shin Ki, Super Junior, SHINee, and f(x) will appear, had been organized for only one concert, but the tickets for the concert had been sold out after only fifteen minutes since its opening, and around 300 fans in France held a street demonstration in front of the Louvre Museum asking for an additional concert in Paris, so one more concert had been added. During this process, the K-POP boom in Europe could be spread through various channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. French fans belonging to a Hallyu club entitled “Korean Connection” gathered signatures through their Facebook website asking for additional concert while arguing that illegal tickets for the concert were rampant. In addition, ticket booking websites in France such as Livenation and Fnac were temporarily shut down due to too much traffic. As the SM singers’ concert has been imminent, many local musicians and related people have had their interest raised. By reflecting local people’s huge interest, an event entitled “2011 SM TOWN in Paris Writers & Publishers Conference” will be held at Paris Marriot Rive Gauche Hotel on June 11 at 1 pm. Producer Lee Soo Man, two singers belonging to SM, around 70 music composers in Europe, and people in European publishing companies will participate in the event, and they will freely share their opinions on K-POP and how Asian pop artists feel about changes to their status in the world music industry. A person from SM said, “Pele Reidel in the publishing company who had introduced songs by BoA, Super Junior, and Girls Generation, the music composing team in Europe called 'Design Music,' who had composed BoA’s song 'Hurricane Venus' and Girls Generation’s debut song in Japan 'Genie,' and famous American producer Teddy Riley will participate in the event.” Experts in Hallyu emphasized that “SM Town Live World Tour” played a catalytic role in the introduction of K-POP to Europe, and these kinds of concerts had to continuously be held in Europe for the continuing popularity of K-POP. Manager Lee Sang Yoon at Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange said, “To inform the world of our culture, which is not limited to Hallyu, especially through the Internet, this kind of event should not become a one-time performance. For paving the way to spread Korean culture, we should not be sitting and waiting for the efforts made by people in the Korean pop music industry, but we have to anticipate support from our government.”
Girls Generation: ‘We Will Boast of Power of Hallyu in Europe'
