'Buskers World Cup' Stole the Show, Rocked It, and Captivated Hearts... Chungjang Festival Dominates Gwangju

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The 'Chungjang Festival,' a representative event in the Gwangju area, attracted 600,000 visitors and recorded a huge success.

The 'Buskers World Cup,' introduced for the first time to attract participation from people around the world, proved highly effective in drawing crowds and concluded spectacularly.

According to Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, on the 18th, despite the chilly weather, the finals of the 'Buskers World Cup,' which started the previous day at the main stage in the 5·18 Democracy Square, were crowded with Gwangju citizens and domestic and international tourists who came to watch the competition of 16 teams that passed the third round of the preliminaries.

Among the 16 teams that fiercely competed for about four hours that day, the final winner who took home the prize money of 100 million won was the multinational group 'Ancod team,' who sang 'Heaven' and was honored with the first-place 'Golden Buskers' award.

The team consists of leader Aancod Abe Zaccarelli (London, UK), Teboco (South Africa), and Kim Wang-guk (Republic of Korea).

Following them, the 2nd place Silver Buskers award (prize money of 30 million won) went to Jeong Seon-ho, the 3rd place Bronze Buskers award (prize money of 10 million won) was awarded to Borja Catanesi and the Gugak and popular music team, and the 4th place Chungjang Buskers award (prize money of 5 million won) was given to Ben Jansz, Malachy, La Sambusa, and Gap’s Orchestra teams.

Ancod, the winner of the 100 million won prize and the Golden Buskers award, said in their acceptance speech, “We believe music is not a competition but a festival everyone enjoys together,” adding, “Behind the stage, we were good friends, and on stage, we overcame those feelings, so please give a round of applause to all the artists here.”

Im Taek, head of Dong-gu Office, said, “I am grateful that the Buskers World Cup, which became the killer content of the newly reborn global festival ‘The 19th Memory of Gwangju Chungjang World Festival,’ was successfully concluded,” and added, “Congratulations to the Ancod team, the winner of the 100 million won prize, which was everyone's focus, and we will do our best to prepare for next year’s Chungjang World Festival and the 2nd Buskers World Cup.”

The 'Buskers World Cup' began recruiting participants in May, attracting 1,603 applicants from 539 teams across 46 countries. After the first and second preliminary rounds, 120 teams from 25 countries fiercely competed in the first to third rounds of the main competition, and through the final stage, 8 teams out of 16 were awarded.

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