[Korea.net News, Culture / Events, January 31 2008] Stringed instrument player wins top prize for UCC video

A teenage boy plays a pair of the traditional Korean instrument gayageum. By flawlessly playing the 12-stringed zither, he creates a Korean-flavored rhythm of Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D major.

A video of Cheon Sae-bit (above) playing the canon is gaining huge popularity among Korean Web users. The clip won the top prize at the Korea UCC Contest 2007 held by the Culture and Tourism Ministry and the major Korean Web portals that include Naver, Daum and Cyworld.

The ministry and the Korea Broadcasting Institute selected Wednesday (Jan. 30) 13 of the top amateur UCC (user-created content) videos created by Korean Internet users.

Three of the 13 clips, including a Michael Jackson dance performance (below) accompanied by a popular Korean trot song, were chosen in the parody category. Though hardly professional, the video’s creator Lee Baek-gyeong created an unbalanced yet hilarious harmony of Jackson’s dance using the rhythm of the love song "Ddaengbeol."

Other winning videos included a young photographer who creates a large "taegeukgi (Korean national flag)" with 1,000 Polaroid photos on the wall, and a rap version of "humminjeongeum," a document containing 28 Korean letters originally created by King Sejong (1397-1450) during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

In the song, the singer highlights the significance of the Korean alphabet hangeul with witty lyrics. He also criticizes the excessive emphasis on English by Koreans over their native language.

The 13 videos were chosen from 110 entries recommended by major Web portals, including Naver, Daum, Cyworld, Korea.com, Pandora TV, Freechal and M goon. Votes were tabulated online and by phone, as well as through polling of experts.