All India K-Pop Contest 2024 regional round

fervour takes over Itanagar

Eastern Sentinel, 8.14

K-Pop fans in Itanagar had only one destination this week as hundreds of them gathered at the Dorjee Khandu State Convention Hall to witness the regional round of the All India K-Pop Contest 2024. A total of 77 participants were selected for the round after 415 registrations were received for the online round competition in the region. There were 29 teams in the regional round with 17 teams performing in the dance category, while another 12 teams took part in the vocal category of the contest.

It was amongst this splendid display of performance that ‘The Trend’ performed to Stray Kids’ ‘God’s Menu’ and went on to take the top prize in the Dance category. Similarly, Dorothi Hazarika mesmerized the crowds with Ailee’s ‘I Will Go To You Like The First Snow’ and earned the top prize in the Vocal category of the Itanagar regional round. Both of these participants will now perform in the semi-finals that is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on 19th October.

The other participants who performed exceptionally well at the Itanagar regional round include the nine-member group ‘The Muse’ who were the first runners-up in the dance category. The group danced to the popular track, ‘One Spark’ by Twice. Six-member group ‘Lunette’ was the second runners-up in the dance category after performing to ‘Fearless’ by Le sserafim

The competition in the vocal category was extremely intense, with Dayum Apu taking the first runners-up prize by crooning to ‘Love Wins All’ by IU. Miko was the second runners-up after performing to ‘Eyes Nose Lips’ by Taeyang. At the Dorjee Khandu State Convention Hall, the most popular songs on which the participants performed in the Itanagar regional round were IU’s ‘Love Wins All’, Le Sserafim’s ‘Fearless’, ILLIT’s ‘Magnetic’ and Ailee’s ‘I Will Go To You Like The First Snow’.   

One of the contestants at the event, Tadar Junu, who was performing to Le sserafim’s ‘Smarter’ at the Itanagar regional round, said, “My introduction to K-Pop was in 2019 when I watched a dance cover of a song and I was mesmerized with the dance moves. It was not just the dance, but also the music and the costumes of the artists that attracted me. Since then, K-Pop has been something that makes me very happy. I participated in the All India K-Pop Contest last year as well, and it felt really good to be amongst people who had the same interest and love for K-Pop like me.”

After the successful completion of the Itanagar regional round of the All India K-Pop Contest 2024, five out of a total of 11 cities have now completed the regional round of the contest. Earlier, the regional rounds were organised in Bengaluru, Kohima, Kolkata and  Mumbai. The regional round caravan will continue to pass through Chennai (August 11th), Hyderabad (August 18th), New Delhi (August 18th), Ahmedabad (August 25th), Bhopal (September 1st) and Lucknow (September 1st). More than 300 teams are expected to showcase their talent in the regional rounds that spans across India. The Grand Finale of ‘All India K-POP Contest 2024 presented by LG’ will be held at the state-of-the-art exhibition and convention centre, 'Yashobhoomi', in New Delhi on November 23rd, 2024. The winners of the Grand Finale will get an opportunity to visit Korea.

Hwang Il Yong, Director of Korean Cultural Centre India said, “Itanagar always has shown a special love and appreciation for K-Pop and this is why Korean Cultural Centre India decided to organise the regional round of the All India K-Pop Contest 2024 in the capital city of the state, Arunachal Pradesh. I would like to congratulate the winners of the regional round. I would also like to thank all the other participants who practiced hard and displayed great performance and made this event so successful.”