SBS Gayo Daejun 2012 New Years Special Features K-Pop Celebrities

SBS Gayo Daejun is an end of year New Year’s broadcast special in South Korea that features k-pop celebrities. All the proceeds will go to children of low-income families through the charity Dream Orchestra.

Before this year most Americans were not familiar with k-pop but nowadays this niche music genre is becoming mainstream. The 20 best k-pop songs of 2012 includes music artists like BIGBANG, Psy and more.

I would be remiss in my duties if an article about k-pop failed to mention the famous South Korean rapper Psy and his record-setting Gangnam style video. Psy’s music has inspired many copycats and parodies, even one from NASA called NASA Johnson Style. His music is largely responsible for bringing k-pop to the forefront of the world’s attention.

Unfortunately, Psy will not be counted among tonight’s performances, but Allkpop.com has the full list of participating k-pop music artists:

“SECRET, B.A.P, Super Junior, TVXQ, Lee Hi, Epik High, 2NE1, Big Bang, Ailee, Sung Si Kyung, 2AM, MBLAQ, INFINITE, Teen Top, B2ST, SISTAR, 4minute, KARA, After School, GLAM, EXO, Ga In, f(x), SHINee, miss A, Kim Wan Sun, Kim Won Jun, FTISLAND, and CNBLUE.”

The MCs for tonight’s show will be miss A’s Suzy, IU, and actor Jung Gyu Woon. According to WonderWall, “2012 marks a particularly special year as members from some of K-pop’s biggest groups will create four super idol groups, record a new single, and perform it together at SBS Gayo Daejeon.”

For those wondering what they mean by “idols,” let me explain. In k-pop terminology so-called idol bands are similar to the Spice Girls, where corporations put together singers and entertainers as a branded form of entertainment. In many cases, idols enter the system at age nine or ten and live together in a house under tight rules. They attend school during the day, learning multiple languages, and take singing and choreography classes at night. So a super idol group is where multiple bands come together for a particular musical work of art.

K-pop and idol bands also heavily influence culture and fashion throughout Asia Digital music was the savior of the Korean music industry and in the first half of 2012 it grossed nearly $3.4 billion. I’m curious what percentage of this was caused by Psy and Gangnam Style alone.

Do you plan on watching the SBS Gayo Daejun broadcast once it hits Youtube and the rest of the world?

http://youtu.be/ILrUIJik8s0