Bringing multi-artistic event to Jordan, Caravan celebrates Korean culture

AMMAN — Jordanian audiences on Tuesday had a taste of Korean culture at the 10th Korea-Arab Friendship Caravan hosted by the Korea-Arab Society (KAS), which aimed to promote mutual understanding between the Asian country and the Arab region.

The Caravan, established by KAS in 2008, offers Korean cultural programmes combining tradition and modernity to effectively introduce the country’s culture and arts into the Arab region.

The ceremony was opened by Korean Ambassador to Jordan Lee Bom-yon, who talked about the start of the diplomatic relations between Korea and Jordan 55 years ago and stressed “the importance of such a bilateral partnership and the cultural exchange embodied in events like the one we celebrate today”.

Park Yong-min, director-general of the African and Middle Eastern affairs department at the Korean foreign ministry, thanked Jordan for its hospitality in hosting the event, saying that the Kingdom is “blessed with beautiful traditions, prosperity and stability”.

This year, Jordan witnessed an increase of 40 per cent in visitors coming from Korea, Yong-min noted, adding that “it proves the great relationship between the two countries”.

The show started out with a salmunori (percussion quartet) performing “Salmo Seoljanggu”, transitioning from slow to fast rhythms and showing both harmonisation and individualism. 

Audiences were also able to enjoy the traditional buchaechum (fan dance), whereby performers created visual illusions such as blossoming flowers or waves by folding, unfolding and turning hand-held flower fans. 

The repertoire of traditional Korean dances concluded with a pan gut and sogochum (folk music performance), which provided attendees with multi-artistic entertainment combining percussion music and dance.

The ceremony concluded with “Marionette”, a hip-hop inspired performance that uses the concept of the puppet show to produce a storytelling choreography. 

The European marionette puppetry tradition was recreated as a b-boy musical show by Expression Crew, showcasing advanced dance skills that triggered a mixed feeling of sorrow, anger and joy between the public. 

Jordanian audiences were able to meet with the dancers of Expression Crew, the first ever Asian team to win the “Battle of the Year” dance competition within the “World Cup of B-boy Dancing”.