Hallyu: The Beginning

The Beginning

You might have not heard of the term Hallyu but you have definitely noticed the sudden visibility of Koreans in the country. And with visibility I mean both physical and in spirit.

Hallyu refers to the spread of the South Korean culture around the world. They often call it The Korean Wave. The Chinese Government claimed it all started in the 1990′s when the Korean drama series, “Stars In My Heart” aired in China, Hongkong and in several other countries in Asia. Becoming a hit, there came a sudden rise of Kdrama airtime in Chinese television. The Philippine television may have had the same experience. In 2003, GMA network gained rights to air the Kdrama Endless Love: Autumn in My Heart which may have been the big break of Kdrama in the Philippine TV. By now, Korean drama series become a staple of Philippine prime time television.

Of course, drama is just but one of the many aspects of Philippine culture victimized by the wave.  Tune in to Myx Daily Top Ten and see how many K-pop songs landed a spot in the chart. The Filipino music scene which locals artists admits to be greatly influenced by foreign music surely is a casualty, too. The biggest dance crazes of the last few years competing with Willie Revillame’s Igiling-giling and the like are actually Korean pop songs (K-pop) such as Nobody by Korean girl group Wonder Girls and Sorry, Sorry by boy group Super Junior.

While to some extent we could hold mass media accountable for this, there is a certain interesting fact about this phenomenon. Wonder Girls and Super Junior did not actually promote their songs in the Philippines. Our concern is, how did it happen?

The Wave

Another Kpop artist Taeyang released a solo album entitled “Solar” which went viral on the web through social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. YG Entertainment, Taeyang’s agency claimed to have targeted Korean and Japanese market only and did no promotions outside these Asian countries. Later on, the album topped the iTunes charts in Japan, surprisingly, in Canada and US.

“Solar” album’s success is not a lone story. Just recently, SM Entertainment Agency, one of Korea’s biggest agencies in terms of roster and sales, held a world tour with itinerary including Los Angeles, Shanghai, New York, Paris and Tokyo featuring all of its artists. In Paris, all 12, 000 tickets were sold in a matter of 15 minutes.

While it is apparent that many are still at awe of how far the craze has gone, crossing then national and now continental boarders, they know to whom they owe it all to- social media.