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Bandung Korea: Community Embracing Indonesian, Korean cultures
Royal performance: Members of the Bandung Korea Community, or Hansamo, perform the Buchaechum royal fan dance during a luncheon with South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Cho Tai-young
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span class="inline inline-center">Royal performance: Members of the Bandung Korea Community, or Hansamo, perform the Buchaechum royal fan dance during a luncheon with South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Cho Tai-young.
The influence of Korean pop culture may fade away after a decade or so, but even when that time comes it will leave a deep-rooted legacy among young people.
The Bandung Korea Community, or Hansamo, is the largest and, to date, the only Indonesian youth organization recognized by the South Korean embassy as one that embraces everything about Korea. It was established by 15 fans in the West Java provincial capital on Sept. 10, 2006, in the early days of the K-pop drama and music craze that would sweep the nation. In nine years it has attracted over 1,800 members from all over the province and Greater Jakarta area. Hansamo is currently the official organizer of the Korean National Festival and the bridge for Bandung-Suwon sister city relations and joint activities such as student and artist exchanges.
Sani Ihsania, the only founding member who is still active in the organization, said that Hansamo was first established as an 'agent of information' for K-pop fans who wished to learn more about the country. The group's founders were surprised to see the many people with shared interests attend their first gathering. The group later opened a language course ' 147 people signed up for the first class and it was soon followed by an acting class, both traditional and modern dancing courses, singing, comic drawing, B-boying and film and drama discussion class. 'At that time I was moving to Jakarta for work reasons so I was appointed as Hansamo's mouthpiece and contact person with the Korean embassy. Since its establishment, we have received support from the embassy who provided us with books and Samulnori traditional music instruments,' said Sani, an accounting graduated from the University of Padjadjaran.
Samulnori is a percussion ensemble of four instruments: kwaengwari, jing, janggu and buk; it is currently gaining popularity outside Korea. In April this year, the South Korean government entrusted Hansamo's team of dancers the task of joining the parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, together with South Korean Salmunori artists. The impressive skills of Hansamo's members was once again shown during a luncheon event organized by the South Korean embassy recently. A group of three performed the royal fan dance, or Buchaechum, while another group performed a modern K-pop number. Impressed by the performance, Ambassador Cho Tai-young and chairman of the Association of South Koreans in Indonesia Shin Gi Yeop returned the courtesy by singing Indonesian songs. 'I wish to convey my gratitude to Bandung Hansamo for its active involvement in spreading the culture of South Korea,' said the ambassador who spoke mostly in English with a little Indonesian thrown in the mix. 'Indonesia is the first destination country of South Korean's foreign direct investment and the first host country for Korea International Cooperation Agency's overseas office. I'm glad this number one country for Korea also likes Korea.' Hariza, 19, a professional translator who has been a member of Hansamo for seven years, said that she had started to learn Korean while at elementary school from songs and drama series. 'It's difficult to learn it by myself. When I was at junior high school I joined Hansamo and quickly honed my language skills. I received scholarships and job offers as translator in Korea through Hansamo,' said the student of the International Women's University in Bandung.
Despite the achievement of the organization, Sani said in the future she would like to see the establishment of a Bandung-Korea Cultural Center in which people could appreciate both Korean and Sundanese cultures, the majority ethnic group in West Java. Sani, who is now a full-time Hansamo administrator, said that the cultural center would serve the same purpose as the Little Bandung in Seoul project initiated by Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil.
'Many people asked me why I don't appreciate local culture. What they don't know is the more I learn about Korean culture, the more I look into Indonesian culture and am proud of it.'
' Photos by JP/Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak
