'Gwangju Chungjang Festival' Back on Track and Making a Global Leap

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On the 13th, when the 'Chungjang Festival,' established as a representative festival of the Gwangju region, opened, a citizen was taking a photo of his son who came along, reminiscing about old memories.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Jin-hyung] On the 13th, the representative festival of the Gwangju area, 'Chungjang Festival,' which had been canceled or held partially in a non-face-to-face format for the past two years due to COVID-19, returned to its main track in the Chungjang-dong area of Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City.

It was as if the world had returned to before the coronavirus appeared, with outing guests showing bright smiles revealing their white teeth, and tourists from around the world flocking to fill the streets, heating up the festival atmosphere to the fullest.

People laughed, chatted, and shouted as they passed by various food booths and experience booths set up here and there. It seemed as if they were freely releasing the suppressed freedom and energy they had held back.

In particular, it was not difficult to see foreigners with striking appearances on the streets.

A middle-aged foreigner pulling a cart carrying a guitar wore a fedora hat with feathers and a red bead necklace. Along with white pants and long hair reaching down to the collarbone, he caught people's attention once again.

He was a participant in the newly introduced global audition program at this festival, the '1st Buskers World Cup IN Gwangju.'

The festival, focused on large scale, grandeur, and globalization, began its five-day grand journey from this day, with continuous events such as competition parades, movie concept parades, and Asian countries parades.

Especially to attract participation from people worldwide, the festival's name was changed this year from 'Memories of Chungjang Festival' to 'Memories of Gwangju Chungjang World Festival,' and related content was also enhanced.

Because of this, people styled in the free-spirited 'European Bohemian style' were occasionally seen.

The 'Buskers World Cup' attracted intense interest, with 539 teams (busking musicians) from 46 countries participating in the preliminaries. It is said that such a scale is unprecedented in Korea.

Before the main stage, where the grand prize of '100 million won' was contested, began around 3 p.m., busking performances were in full swing at eight locations including Chungjang-ro, Geumnam-ro, and Art Street.

The audience seemed captivated by the sweet voices flowing from the amplifier speakers and the sound of guitars played by overseas musicians, staring intently.

When a foreigner finished a song with the awkward Korean pronunciation of "Kamsahamnida," laughter suddenly burst out, followed by enthusiastic applause and cheers.

The acoustic guitar case, warmed by the gentle sunlight, contained a few coins and several 1,000 won bills given as performance fees by someone.

From 5 p.m., the eagerly awaited second preliminary round was held amid cheers from citizens at the ACC Sky Yard located at the northeast corner of the National Asia Culture Center.

On the performance stage, an Australian 'Godo Drummer' performed percussion by striking plastic containers with wooden sticks.

It felt like casually playing with items picked up from the street, but before long, the audience watching on the lawn swayed their shoulders to the rhythm, fully immersed.

Foreigners are performing busking shows at the Gwangju Chungjang Festival, which is focused on large-scale, expansion, and globalization.

Another killer content of the festival, the 'Memory Theme Street,' saw footsteps of those immersed in nostalgia, recalling old memories kept for a long time like black-and-white photos.

The 'Memory Exhibition Hall' was densely decorated with frames made from black-and-white movie posters on the entrance walls, and the floor was covered with a carpet in a bright red primary color that looked somewhat kitschy.

Spaces recreating the 1970s-80s scenes now rarely seen, such as old stationery stores, barbershops, and video rental shops, harmonized with old snacks, school supplies, toys, and other items.

In the retro-style karaoke room where a bulky CRT monitor displayed song lyrics, an actor playing a student role sang soulful trot songs, drawing people into 'those days.'

Mr. Seo Won-il (46) and his wife said, "We had been withdrawn due to COVID-19, but the region's representative festival is grandly held again," and recalled, "Seeing the quaint props reminds me of the old days."

Ms. Jang Gyu-hwa (39), who came with her child, said, "I was the last graduate of elementary school, and it reminds me of sitting on wooden chairs studying," adding, "I feel like I can still smell the scent of the wood stove we used to heat the classroom."

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