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| Members of Dream Key10z practice a musical show, scheduled for Sunday. / Courtesy of Korea Cultural Diversity Organization |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Dream Key10z, a group of 10 talented Filipino-Korean children and teens aged 8 to 15, will perform a musical adaptation of a traditional Korean folktale to commemorate the 70th anniversary of relations between Korea and the Philippines.
To celebrate the 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Korea Cultural Diversity Organization (CDO-Korea) and FILKOHA will present a musical adaptation in Tagalog and Korean of the Korean folk tale "Heungbu and Nolbu."
The story is about a selfish, greedy man named Nolbu and his good-hearted but poor younger brother, Heungbu. In this show, folktales of the Philippines and Korea will be mixed, adding Lola Basyang, a famous folktale character of the Philippines to the story of the two brothers.
"It's one of the best-known Korean folktales, that even beginners of the Korean language would have heard and read of it," Jasmine Lee, a former lawmaker and chair of the CDO-Korea told The Korea Times.
The CDO-Korea is a group composed of Filipino expatriates organizing activities for Filipinos and Filipino-Koreans living here. It is headed by Lee who also organized Dream Key10z.
The musical show is directed by Cherish Maningat, the first Filipina stage actress in Korea, and is choreographed by Park Eun-hee, a Korean musical actress.
"Although it's going to be performed in Filipino, the Korean audience will be able to enjoy the show more easily because they know the folktale by heart. Through this story, we can learn great lessons about greed, family and also about forgiveness."
All of the 10 children are from multicultural families. Most of them have mothers from the Philippines who speak Tagalog as their mother tongue.
Lee said when the children practice lines of the show in Filipino, they were also able to learn their parents' mother tongue. They have been practicing dancing and acting for the show since June.
"Learning a language means learning the culture and thoughts of the people using it. The children now understand more about their mothers," Lee said.
