As the heat of Korean Waves continued to flourish across the globe, there's no exception in Malaysia either as the first ever Inspiring Korea Festival was held from 20-22 September 2013, hosted by the Korea Tourism Organization Kuala Lumpur Office (KTO KL). Well...what is K-Wave without K-pop right? Hence, the highlight for these 3 days' festival was none other than the five 'hot boys' of Bravesound, BIGSTAR.

Led by FeelDog, alongside with the other members Raehwan, Baram, Sunghak and Jude appeared on the centre stage, they were welcomed by the cheers and screams from the audience who have been flocking the mall as early as 11am. Standing in their position readily to start their performance, they seemed like the typical Korean idols...pretty face and fancy wardrobe. Nope! Don't judge a book by its cover as looks can be deceiving. As soon as the beat to their debut song Hot Boy started, the group stunned the audience with their energetic and sleek hip hop dance moves including back flip, flying kick, and some acrobatics moves. Upon entertaining the passionate crowds, the group cooled down the venue with an acappella version of Baby Girl and inviting the fans to sing along with them before singing the full version of it. They also sang Nallali and Thinking of You, I Got the Feeling..

The crowds were giving them positive response too as the cheers were getting louder as the group introduced themselves and they were also taking this opportunity to promote their hometown as the other Korea's tourist spots. The vocalist, Raehwan, who was born in Gangwon encouraged and welcomed the audience to this beautiful province while leader, FeelDog who originally from Busan, shared with the audience the beautiful beaches and scrumptious delicacies that Busan could offered.

The evening can't be any better and delightful as some lucky fans were invited to be on stage to play Korean traditional games with BIGSTAR. Each member was paired with the lucky fans to play Ddakji, where they have to hit the 'square looking' paper and made the paper flipped. As for this game, unfortunately none of the pairs succeed in making the 'ddakji' flipped. Another game being played was 'pushing game' where each member was paired once again with the lucky fans and the member from each pair was asked to beam the other team's member hands and whoever moved from their spot lost the game. The ultimate champion for this game goes to Jude's team. All the lucky fans were presented with a special signed CD of BIGSTAR and KTO goodie bags.

The surprise did not stop there as BIGSTAR serenaded the audience with famous Malay folk song Rasa Sayang and the mall suddenly turned into a mass karaoke session as both the idol and fans were singing together. The group's effort to actually learn the song in a short span of time was something that should be complimented. They also taught the audience simple Korean phrases saranghaeyo (I love you) and gidarilge (I'll wait for you). Well, the 'language teaching session' is not complete if it's only BIGSTAR who does the 'teaching'. They were also taught by the fans to say the same phrases in Malay Saya Cinta Kamu and Saya Tunggu Kamu. The group thanked the fans for the warm welcome and for supporting them, and before wrapping up their show with their latest hit Run and Run, they shouted to the fans once again, Saya Tunggu Kamu (I'll wait for you); hinting to the fans that they will wait for them til their next visit to Malaysia.

Inspiring Korea Festival was held from 20-22 September 2013 organized by KTP, Kuala Lumpur office to create a platform for all Korean lovers in Malaysia 'to have a taste of Korea'. Various activities were held during this 3-days festival which also include Korean beauty workshop by Faceshop, 'fresh from kitchen musical, Bibap', and MYKTQ Talent Quest 2013 finale. This festival was successfully held and congratulations to KTO for 'bringing Korea' to Malaysia.

Thank you to KTO for giving the media coverage opportunity to Kpopstarz.

Writer: Amalina A. | Photo Credit: Nik Tim/ Gladys S.