Street Performers in Korea (Pt.1): The 일루와밴드

One thing I really enjoy about walking around Korea at night is the STREET PERFORMERS. They are all over the place- bands, guitarists, dancers, rappers, etc...

Because I have seen so many street performers and have videos and stories for each of them, I've decided to dedicate multiple posts to various street performers.

PART 1: 일루와 밴드

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This was the first street performance I really remember enjoying. After spending the night eating at a restaurant and going to Starbucks with my Korean friend in 신촌, we were walking outside on the streets and heard music playing! When I stumbled upon this group, they were playing their version of the 귀요미송 haha, quite an interesting song selection for an all-male group. I stayed watching them until their performance was over, and they were really entertaining! These are my boys~~~ The 일루와 밴드 ^^

                                  

I really enjoy listening to Korean music, but more than kpop, I prefer listening to Korean hiphop and ballads [&I'm a huge fan of old school kpop]~ The 일루와밴드 performed songs by Primary, H.O.T, Taeyang, EXO, g.o.d, and more- a pretty wide range and all songs I really love. A large crowd was gathered around watching their performance, and they have a good amount of fans for being street performers~ [Click the artists name and their performance of that artist's song will open in a new page!] 

 I took a lot of videos during their performance, so I will leave links to those videos for those interested in watching.
ALSO, they just released a new video to their song so check it out!! It's really cute and fun, and it will show you a little bit around Seoul! CLICK HERE FOR THEIR MUSIC VIDEO

In addition, as a bonus for y'all, I talked with the 일루와밴드 and asked them some questions. [I was curious about street performers and them.] Get to know more about the boys and their group by reading their responses to my questions below! ^^ 

p.s. I translated all this on my own and tried to translate it so that it made sense in English~ 

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MY "INTERVIEW" WITH 일루와밴드:

1. When and how did the 일루와밴드 band begin?

 December 24, 2013. On Christmas Eve, all of the members of 일루와밴드 didn't have girlfriends so      because [we were] bored, [we] went out and did our first street performance!! After that, because we all matched well and had the same feelings [about performing], we kept doing street performing.

2. How did you come up with your name? 

Our title song is "일루와" so we decided to name our group after that and called ourselves the 일루와밴드 ^^ Tired people can come (일루와) every day and listen to our songs [to gain strength]!! 

3. Which genre of music is your favorite?

All of the members like different genres, but we all like popular and exciting music.

4. Do you have a favorite singer?

"Personally, I like Yoon DoHyun Band!!" -Leader Daejung

5. Where is your favorite place to perform? (They go all over in Seoul)

Whenever we go to 신촌, it's always very enjoyable, and there are a lot of people who come to watch. So I think Sinchon!

6. What is your dream (일루와밴드's dream)?

일루와밴드's dream is to appear on television once? The goal is to become famous (laughs).

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I hope this helped you get to know a little bit more about street performers (in general) and that you learned a lot about one of my personal favorite street performers the 일루와밴드! They're super talented, fun, and adorable. Definitely check out their videos on Youtube [click here for my videos of them].

일루와밴드's FACEBOOK PAGE:  https://www.facebook.com/illuwaband?ref=br_tf
~ They always put their schedule here, so if you are in Korea, make sure to check out their Facebook page so you know when they'll be near you performing! They're also super friendly and chill so definitely go see and talk to them!






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There are seriously SO many street performers in Korea. If you are in Korea through NSLI-Y, most likely you'll be quite familiar with the area called 신촌 (where Sogang University is). Around the U-Plex area is a common place for street performers to be. This picture is a list/schedule of the July performers at this area, so as you can see there are quite a lot of performers. Just look for the big open wood space(?)!


     

Come out of exit 1 and you will be in the popular part of Sinchon

More posts coming soon about street performers in Seoul!