Asia News: Psy’s Wet Show Complaints; MAMA Awards to L.A.; China Bans Big Gee; Blue Note Jazz Japan Lineup

KOREA

Psy’s ‘Summer Swag’ Draws Complaints, Again

K-pop superstar Psy, of “Gangnam Style” fame, carries out an annual summer tour of South Korean stadiums, sometimes called Summer Swag, sometimes called Psy Wet Show, that invariably sells out.

The distinctive feature is a lot of water that is sprayed on the audience to help them cool off in the summer heat, which is especially intense this year. In the past, the singer has come under pressure for using so much water, since Korea is occasionally hit by drought.

This year’s edition, which rotates through nine locations, has already faced some problems. The K-pop fansite Koreaboo reported on complaints from residents of one unnamed city where the tour decamped.

The shows are all done outdoors and, in this particular city, the crew was carrying out sound check and lighting rehearsals in the middle of the night, keeping residents in the vicinity awake. Eventually, someone called the police, but the sound check continued until 3 a.m.

Then, on July 20, as the tour was playing the first of two dates at the Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, a torrential thunderstorm struck accompanied by high winds that blew over a five-meter-high lighting fixture onstage.

Though no one was injured, Psy’s agency decided to halt the concert “in order to prioritize the safety of the audience and staff,” according to the Korea Times.

The agency, P Nation, said they would reschedule the concert and offer refunds to those who couldn’t attend. The next day’s show went ahead as scheduled.

MAMA Awards Travel To L.A.

One of the many major K-pop awards shows, the MAMA Awards, will take place in the U.S. for the first time this year.

Entertainment company CJ ENM announced that the first day of the three-day awards series will take place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles Nov. 21 before moving to the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, Nov. 22-23.

CJ ENM tends to hold the awards ceremony overseas to promote its K-pop acts to an international audience. In the past, the awards took place in Macau, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and many times in Japan.

MAMA stands for the Mnet Asian Music Awards, because they are broadcast on Mnet, which is CJ ENM’s own music channel.

CHINA

Big Gee Banned

A Mongolian rapper known as Big Gee has been barred from performing in Southern Mongolia because of lyrics deemed to be “anti-China.”

Big Gee is from the independent country of Mongolia, but Southern Mongolia is claimed and occupied by China.

In his music, Big Gee complains about the Chinese taking away Mongolia’s independence, and how “[Chinese] money will never be able to buy out real Mongolians.”

Big Gee had two concerts scheduled for the capital of Honhot in Southern Mongolia June 22 and 29.

Both were canceled by the Chinese authorities, though the organizer of at least one of the dates said the reason for the cancellation was a “scheduling” problem.

The cancellations may have been in response to widespread criticism of the rapper on Chinese social media, with many messages demanding Big Gee be thrown out of Southern Mongolia for “insulting China.”

Social media users also condemn his choice of apparel, a T-shirt with a map of “Greater Mongolia” that includes Southern Mongolia, thus implying that the territory is an integral part of the country of Mongolia.

Since Big Gee’s songs are sung in the Mongolian language, many Chinese may not have been aware of him until someone actually translated his lyrics into Chinese.

JAPAN

Blue Note Jazz Reveals 2024 Lineup

Tokyo’s Blue Note Jazz Festival will take place at the Ariake Arena on the city’s waterfront Sept. 21-22.

The festival promises to bring the funk, with headliner Nas, supported by George Clinton with Parliament Funkadelic; Japanese singer Misia; Tank and the Bangas and idol-turned-rock-guitarist Endrecheri.

The following day’s headliner will be Chicago, with Marcus Miller, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Snarky Puppy and Candy Dulfer filling out the bill.