Zandari Festa
By Matthew Fennell, Contributing Writer
Zandari Festa is an annual music showcase event that takes place in Seoul each fall. The event promotes youth culture and brings together acts and music industry professionals from around the world for concerts and conferences. Zandari Festa exposes audiences to a wide range of musical genres and helps build bridges to allow Korean and overseas artists to better communicate, work together, and learn from each other. Asia Society Korea’s Matthew Fennell caught up with Cecilia Soojeong Yi, the Project Manager at Zandari Festa, to talk about how the festival can promote cross-cultural understanding.
Zandari Festa was started in 2012. What was the inspiration behind wanting to bring various music cultures to Korea?
I’ve only been working for Zandari Festa for the past two years, so I can’t comment on what the original inspiration behind the festival was. But I can talk about what inspires us to keep doing the festival. Nationality is nothing. Musicians are musicians and music lovers are music lovers regardless of where they’re from. Indie music scenes around the globe are continuing to grow and we want to give them wider opportunities to grow in Korea and other parts of the world. Nowadays, even if you're not signed by a major label, you can find opportunities to present your music anywhere in the world and Zandari is a platform that musicians can use to take their first step in the Asian market.
Over the past five years, how have Korean musicians benefitted from the international influences at the festival?
I think the international influences at the festival have helped inspire Korean bands and opened their eyes to the global market. This is motivating an increasing number of local bands to try and perform overseas. I love to see all the bands getting along with each other so well during the festival, no matter where they are from. The opportunity to meet so many people is one of the benefits for Korean bands at Zandari. They make new friends with musicians and industry professionals from other countries and get to learn about different international music scenes without leaving Hongdae. These friendships are very beneficial because when Zandari takes Korean bands to overseas festivals, the bands can use their own networks and expand their tours through the contacts they made at Zandari Festa.
What has been the reaction to the local Korean music scene from international artists who visit?
Everyone has been so excited and loved it. Since the Korean music market is dominated by local pop music, it's not easy to get information about talented musicians in other genres. So a lot of international artists are surprised by the high level of talent in the Korean indie scene. Something that’s been really interesting to see is that more and more of the international acts are doing some research about the Korean indie scene before coming to Zandari Festa and have their own list of local bands they want to see perform while they’re here. Whether they’re Korean or foreign acts, it’s pretty awesome to see all the musicians checking the festival timetable and making lists of who to watch, just like other fest-goers at Zandari.
Do you think your festival can help connect cultures and improve understanding between different nationalities?
Definitely! Music is stronger than borders. If you come to Hongdae during Zandari Festa, you won't see any cultural conflicts. Instead, you’ll just see people from different backgrounds and nationalities enjoying music. It’s a powerful sight.
What are your future hopes for the festival and do you have any plans to expand?
For now we’re working to make our festival more solid. After five years, we finally have a clear vision of what we have to do and what we can do. Despite facing many difficulties each year, thanks to our friends in Korea and from all over the world we can continue to make Zandari Festa stronger and improve the Korean indie scene too. We’re going to be taking more Korean musicians to festivals overseas and will keep searching for brilliant international musicians to introduce to the Asian market.
Zandari Festa 2017 took place from September 29 to October 1.