100 youths from four countries, global harmony connected by music
a new cultural fusion stage where K-pop and classical meet
"Culture is power" — a stage carrying on the will of Kim Gu
The 6th World Youth Online Concert, organized by Munsan Sueok High School in Paju, Gyeonggi Province (advisor Seo Hyun-seon), once again presented an emotional stage this year. This project involved about 100 youths from four countries — Korea, Japan, the United States and the Republic of South Africa — who reinterpreted BTS's hit song "Dynamite" in an orchestra version.
Students from different countries, languages and cultures combined videos of performances recorded in their own spaces to complete a single massive online orchestra. The students on screen had never met each other, but they created perfect harmony through music, becoming a "symbol of youth cultural exchange that connects the world."
This performance goes beyond a simple cover; it is regarded as a special case in which a representative K-pop song was translated into the language of classical music and expanded into an "art language that the world can empathize with." As performances by students from each country continued and the piece was completed like a single stage, the video received warm responses at home and abroad immediately after being posted on YouTube.
Seo Hyun-seon, the teacher who planned the project, said, "BTS's 'Dynamite' is a song that symbolizes hope for youths around the world," and added, "As that energy was reborn in the melody of the orchestra, I felt that music is truly the language that connects the world."
The World Youth Online Concert began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic with a teacher's belief that "even if stages are closed, music does not stop." That spark has continued for six years and has now grown into a global youth cultural and arts platform in which students from each country participate voluntarily.
Teacher Seo said, "With the students, I felt again the meaning of the country that Kim Gu spoke of — a nation that moves the world through culture" and added, "This stage is a record of friendship created by sincerity and passion, beyond technique or perfection."
Participants from each country said, "Playing BTS's song together connected our hearts," and "Even though our languages were different, music was one," proving the "small peace" among the world's youths created by music.
[photo] video capture
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