Riding the 'Miss·Mister Trot' Craze, a Youth Trot Song Festival?

Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The government is supporting a 'Trot Festival' that the public can enjoy to raise interest in trot music and the domestic popular culture industry, spotlighted by the popularity of the traditional song competition program 'Miss·Mister Trot.' This support is for the 12th annual 'Korea Youth Trot Song Festival,' hosted by the Korea Federation of Entertainment Artists.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 10th, the ministry plans to select the final host city for the offline finals of this year's Korea Youth Trot Song Festival by the 25th, after receiving applications from metropolitan local governments interested in hosting the event by the 18th, followed by document screening and presentation evaluations on May 21. The selected local government will receive a government support budget of 250 million KRW, and the local government must also invest local funds within 10-50% of the national subsidy to carry out the event.

Participants aged 14 to 28 can apply for the Korea Youth Trot Song Festival. The competition is held by selecting about ten finalists through regional preliminary rounds. Based on last year, about 300 youths competed in preliminaries divided into six regions, and 13 of them advanced to the finals held in Bucheon City, Gyeonggi Province, where they competed in skills.

According to the Korea Federation of Entertainment Artists, the event was planned to inherit and develop trot music and to reduce the generation gap. A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official explained, "Although trot is perceived as a genre preferred by adults or the elderly, it can also embrace younger generations. Considering that seniors respond enthusiastically to talented youth in trot and that it produces prospective trot singers, the youth trot song festival was planned."

Some criticize that the government is supporting trot-related festivals by riding on the popularity of broadcast competition programs. In response, the ministry official emphasized, "Government funding has been provided to the Korea Youth Trot Song Festival since 2017, before the trot craze, with the purpose of promoting various genres of cultural industries, not only K-pop and Hallyu cultural content."

He added, "Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), performing artists have suffered greatly as performances and programs have been suspended. We plan to ensure that this event is held safely while strictly adhering to COVID-19 prevention guidelines, and measures related to this will be reflected from the application stage."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.