Provided on 2011. 10. 04(Tue)
Please release this material on 2011. 10. 04.
Press Release
Company
Korea
Foundation
for Lee SangDept. Manager
Name :
International Culture Exchange
Yoon
010-2699-3427
Moon KyuDept. Rep.
Ho
Deputy Head
Reum
(02) 554-0827
010-3682-5475
Song HanAE
Na
(02) 523-1051
010-4046-9595
Cho AhPR Agency: Strategy Salad
(02) 523-1050
(02) 554-1011
010-8778-5319
Additional Singer Lineup of Asia Song Festival 2011 Revealed!
- 'BEAST' for Best Asian Artist Award - representing Korea along with Super Junior, Girls'
Generation, Lee Seung-Ki
- ‘miss A’ was chosen as ‘Best New Asian Artist Award’, visualizing their overseas activities
- 'U-KISS' and 'G.NA' were selected as "Asia Influential Artists" for their outstanding
performances
☐ Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (President: Kim Young-Hoon, hereinafter
referred to as "foundation") co-sponsored with UNICEF, and the Metropolitan city of Daegu
released additional singer lineup for 2011 Asia Song Festival. The group 'BEAST' was selected as
"Best Asian Artist Award", representing Korea, 'miss A' was chosen as "Best New Asian Artist
Award", and 'U-KISS' and 'G.NA' were selected as "Asia Influential Artists", and all of them will
be on the stage for 2011 Asia Song Festival.
☐ The group ‘BEAST’, who became solid idol group with this year’s blockbuster hit song
“FICTION” was chosen to represent Korea will be on the stage. Since their debut in 2009, group
‘BEAST’ have been actively participated on stage, and are considered as one of a few artist who
grew fast to become top men idol group. They especially left their strong impression during the
last year's “Asia Song Festival.”
☐ Recently ‘BEAST’ released their first official album ‘So BEAST’ and started to actively involve in
Japanese market. This album was ranked 2nd in the Oricon Daily chart and ranked 1 st in the
Recochoku chart, Japan’s biggest mobile chart, after selling 26,565 copies during the first date of
release, becoming a big part of K-pop fever. During the “United Cube in Japan”, Cube
Entertainment family concert, ‘BEAST’ presented powerful and strong performance on stage to
10,000 Japanese fans. After the Concert in Budokan, which many Japanese singer consider it as
their dream stage, ‘BEAST’ got so many request from other areas around the world and they plan
have family tour, starting from on November 19, in London, England and then carry on in Asia,
Europe, Southern America as well as other countries around the world. We expect to see great
performance from ‘BEAST’, who now became a top artist performing around the world in 'Asia
Song Festival’.
☐ A girl group ‘Miss A’, who is actively engaged since making their debut in July of 2010, will be
on stage on ‘Asia Song Festival’ as ‘Best Asian New Artist’. Former ‘Best Asian New Artist’
recipient included ‘SHINee’, and Japan’s ‘Berryz Kobo’ in 2008, ‘2NE1’ in 2009 and other famous
artists. miss A’s title song ‘Bad Girl Good Girl’ ranked the 1st in ‘KBS Music Bank’ with in just 22
days since making their debut, this made them the fastest girl group who making their debut.
They also received 5 awards from last year’s top 3 musical awards and recognized as ‘Best Asian
New Artist.’ Not only ‘miss A’ dances fiercely on stage they also do not have any problem hitting
high notes and sings heavy tones as well and that’s what made them this much popular. After
successfully debuting their first album, ‘Miss A’ continued to hit the top charts with songs like
‘Breathe’ and ‘Good Bye Baby’.
☐ As their girl group name ‘miss A’ says it all, their main mission was to focus on world wide
activities even before making their debut, and now more and more fans are anticipating this girl
group’s world wide debut. According to the recent poll by the ‘BIGLOBE MUSIC’ ‘miss A’ was
voted as the #1 ‘K-Pop next generation girl group Japanese are anticipating and people already
expect them to be successful world wide girl group. A songwriter and music producer ‘Bang SiHyuk’ highly appraised ‘miss A’, calling them the K-Pop’s significant event and said they are final
product targeting to make the next “Han Ryu”. Considering it’s only been an year since they
made their debut, we anticipate to see their unlimited growth soon. Considering ‘miss A’ will be
on stage as ‘Best Asian New Artist’, we think this year’s ‘Asia Song Festival’ is their stage to show
their place as a future “Han Ryu star” to fans around the world.
☐ The seven boys idol group ‘U-KISS’ and new generation female solo artist ‘G.Na’ are two
artists will be on stage as this festival’s Asia Influential Artists. Both artists have been getting
tremendous amount of supports from both Korean and world wide fans since making their debut,
and this year they were selected as “Asia Influential Artist” given to most notable artist in Asia
during that year. Former “Asian Influential Artist” include ‘BEAST’, and ‘4minute’.
☐ Dance group ‘U-KISS’ is consist of members from various countries such as Korea, American,
and Chinese. Since making their debut in 2008, U-KISS has been actively participated in
concerting events in Korea and other parts of the world and setting on K-POP wave around Asian
countries. Recently, U-KISS has been joined with Japanese entertainment management agency
‘AVEX’ and teamed up with Japanese top star, Hamasaki Ayumi, Koda Kumi, EXCILE and other
Korean artist top star, BoA, and TongVfangXienQi and entered Japanese music market. Their
Japan mini album ‘Bran New KISS’, which contains hit song ‘0330’ was their licensed record, and
U-KISS plans to debut their major single record December, 2011. Next year, U-KISS plans to have
tour concert around Japan. We expect to see one of this year’s “Asian Influential Artist”, U-KISS’s
more matured and splendid performance from this year’s concert.
☐ Female single artist 'G.Na' is having a fantastic year so far even in the midst of idol group
dancers and after selected as one of this year’s ‘Asian Influential Artist’, she will be on this year’s
‘Asia Song Festival’ as well. Back in 2010 she stormed into K-Pop and hit the top chart with her
debut song “I’ll Back Off So You Can Live.” Her second hit song ‘Black & White’ was also
blockbuster hit and stayed in top 10 of Monkey 3 weekly chart for 7 straight weeks, and selected
as Early 2011’s steady seller. ‘G.Na’ captured audiences' hearts with her well-proportioned and
glamorous body, and her flawless performance on stage. Years of preparation and training during
her 5 years of apprenticeship shaped her fabulous voice and her fluency with English since she is
a Korean- Canadian made her notable new artist and K-pop fans around the globe expect to see
this ‘Asia Influential Artist’s tremendous performance.
☐ The thirteen top-notched teams from 6 different Asia’s countries will take stage and proudly
present the most brilliant line up ever before in this year’s Asia Song Festival. Each Asian country’s
artists will proudly represent their country. ‘Super Junior’, ‘Girl’s Generation’, ‘Lee Seung-Ki’,
‘BEAST’, will represent Korea, and ‘Perfume’, ‘AAA’ representing Japan, ‘Peter Ho’ for Taiwan, ‘Bi
Chang Zhou’ representing China, ‘Leo Ku’ for Hongkong, and Tata Young will represent Thailand.
All the artists who participates in this year’s festivals will receive Ministry of Culture and Tourism
Director’s appreciation plaque, and President of Foundation’s ‘Best Asian Artist Award trophy for
their support of Asian pop culture. Also, ‘Miss A’ will be the recipient of 'The Best Asian New
Artist’ award, and ‘U-Kiss’ and “G.Na” will be the recipient of ‘Asia Influential Artist’ for the
award given to this year’s prospective Asian artist.
☐ Top-notch Asian artists will take stage in ‘2011 Asia Song Festival’ in Daegu Stadium on
October 15. The Metropolitan city of Daegu and UNICEF will co-sponsor with KOFICE and it will
also be held as official cultural event for this year’s IAAF world championships in Daegu. You can
check out more details about this event at its webpage (www.asf.or.kr). This site also featured with
other languages such as English, Japanese, and Chinese for international fans. It also tries to
connect with Asian music fans through its official twitter (@asongfe).
***
(Appendix) Profiles of performing artists of Asia Song Festival 2011
1. BEAST (Best Asian Artist Award)
2. miss A (Best New Asian Artist Award)
3. U-KISS, G.NA (Asia Influential Artist)
(Appendix 1) Profiles of performing artists of Asia Song Festival 2011
1. BEAST (Best Asian Artist Award)
• A six member boy-group, Cube Entertainment
• Debuted in 2009 with their 1st mini album ‘Beast
Is The B2ST’
• Their debut song ‘Bad Girl’ was ranked #1 for a
couple of weeks, and 'Shock', title track of 2nd
album gained wide popularity
• In 2010, 'Breath' became a hit and became very
popular, and their 1st official album 'Fiction' was a
blockbuster hit, making them one of the top boy
band of Korea
• Japanese Single 'Shock' quickly sold 29,000
copies and ranked #2 on Oricon Chart right after
their release
• More than 5,000 records were sold in each of the
following countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan
• Held a fan-meeting tour across Asia in July 2011
starting
BEAST
from
Singapore,
Malaysia
(visited
6
countries and met more than 40,000 fans
• The first Korean artists to be invited to perform
on Singapore Youth Olympic pre-opening stage in
August 2010
• Chosen as the official ambassadors by Korean
Airports Corporation in 2011
<Awards>
•
2011
5th
Mnet
20's
Choice
Awards
Hot
Performance Star
• 2011 20th Seoul Music Awards Bonsang Award
• 2010 25th Golden Disk Awards Newcomer Award
• 2010 11th Korea Visual Arts Festival Photogenic
Award
• 2010 Asia Song Festival Asia Influential Artist
Award
• 2010 4th Mnet 20's Choice Awards Smoothie
King Cool Star Award
• 2010 Universal Music Gold Disk
• 2010 19th Seoul Music Awards Newcomer Award
2. miss A (Best New Asian Artist Award)
• A four member girl-group, JYP Entertainment
• The group was designed for global market with
its member Jia, Fei (Chinese origin), Suzi and Min
(Korean origin)
• The group name means that they will strive for
the top Asian group and they will become "A" class
in every aspect.
• In July 2010, their sensational 1st single album
"Bad But Good" became #1 on KBS Music Bank
only 22 days after their debut
• First official album 'A Class' was released in July
2011, it's title song 'Goodbye Baby' ranked 1st
miss A
place right after their comeback
<Awards>
• 2011 8th Korean Music Awards Best Dance &
Electronic Song
• 2011 Gaon Chart Music Awards Best Digital Sales
• 2011 20th Seoul Music Awards Bonsang Award
• 2010 2nd Melon Music Awards MBC + Star Award
• 2010 25th Golden Disk Awards Digital Music
Bonsang
• 2010 Mnet Asian Music Awards Song of the Year
• 2010 Mnet Asian Music Awards Female Rookie Award
• 2010 Mnet Asian Music Awards Best Female Dance
Performance
3. U-KISS, G.NA (Asia Influential Artist Award)
• A seven member boy-group (Soohyun, Kiseop,
Eli, AJ, Hoon, Kevin, Dongho)
•
U-KISS
stands
for
Ubiquitous
Korean
International (Idol) Super Star
• Debuted in 2008 with their 1st Album 'New
Generation', each member is playing an active
part in various fields such as advertisements,
movies, sitcoms, and entertainment programs
• Began to make a mark when their track "Man
Man Ha Ni', a mix between Gangster Hip Hop and
Electronica became a big hit in November 2009
U-KISS
• Made their Japanese debut in August 2011 after
collaborating with Avex, the top entertainment
agency in Japan works with top Japanese stars
Hamasaki Ayumi and Koda Kumi as well as top
Korean stars such as BoA and TVXQ
• Planning to release their Japanese First Single in
December and a nationwide tour Japan in 2012
• In 2008, they performed in New Asian Artist
Showcase at the 5th Asia Song Festival
<Awards>
•
2011
Taiwan
Channel
V
The
Most
Potential
Overseas Idol Group Award
• Solo female singer, Cube Entertainment
• Debuted in July 2010 with ‘Things I Want to Do
When I have a Lover’
• In July 2010, she gained her popularity with ‘I'll
Back Off So You Can Live’
• Released her 1st Album in January 2011 and its
title track 'Black & White’became a big hit and she
G.NA
is anticipated as the next generation solo female
artist
• Famous for her well-proportioned figure and
fabulous voice
• In August 2011, her 2nd Mini Album 'Top Girl'
was released
<Awards>
• 2011 5th Mnet 20's Choice Online Song Award
• 2011 Gaon Chart Best Rookie Award
※High resolution image files are attached separately for the press release