(8 Sep 2024)
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 7 September 2024
1. Various of people dancing K-pop
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 6 September 2024
2. Various of K-pop dancer Francisco Piedra, known by the stage name "Ken," practicing in a park
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Francisco Piedra, aka Ken, dancer:
“K-pop has given me happiness, it has given me a world where I can be myself, where I can develop myself and share with my friends. I can enjoy laughing, singing, dancing, and expressing myself as I really am.”
4. Various of K-pop Ken dancing
5. Various of fans looking at photographs of K-pop artists
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Tania Abreu, leader of the Macrocosmos cultural center:
“When the kids found out that it is a beautiful music, very beautiful music, that has nice lyrics and they started to download the lyrics and identified with that world because those songs talk about social issues that are not foreign to the rest of the world. They are social issues that we might have ourselves.”
7. Various of people dancing K-pop
STORYLINE:
Even socialist Cuba, the birthplace of salsa and many other rhythms that conquered the world has surrendered to the invasion of South Korean pop music.
Thirteen-thousand kilometers (about eight-thousand miles) of distance separate the Asian nation and the island, as well as a different language and exotic culture.
However, all of these differences vanish in a second for the young people who attended "discorea," a dancing place for K-pop enthusiasts.
Twenty-four-year-old Francisco Piedra, who adopted the artistic name ‘Ken,’ never misses an event and rehearses every day.
He aspires to be a K-pop choreographer.
"K-pop has given me happiness, it has given me a world where I can be myself," he said. "I can enjoy laughing, singing, dancing, and expressing myself as I really am.”
Dedicated fans gather in Havana almost every weekend to show their moves to the music of K-pop and exchange the latest gossip on their favorite K-pop artists.
Earlier this year, Cuba and South Korea re-established diplomatic relations that had been severed after the Cuban revolution in 1959.
However, K-Pop made its way to the island around four years ago when mobile internet service for cell phones finally became available.
A report by the official portal Cubadebate this week said there are currently 7.5 million users connected to the Internet in Cuba, a little more than 70% of the population.
The K-pop tribe, as they prefer to call themselves, uses their phones to stay updated on the latest K-pop songs and dance moves. They also embrace the aesthetics of the popular boys’ and girls’ bands that have gained popularity worldwide.
Tania Abreu, an electronic engineer by profession and the leader of the Macrocosmos cultural project specializing in this genre, said K-pop has become popular not only because of the quality of the music but also because the songs touch on social issues that are common in Cuba.
There is no exact number of people participating in this mostly youthful K-pop movement, but she said several thousand people are involved and are very visible in Havana and Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city in the country.
In discotheques, parks, and squares, young people as young as 13 or 14 years old, and older fans practice the dance steps to which they often inevitably add a little bit of Cuban style and charm.
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