K-Culture Heats Up Spanish Summer Festival... Participation as Guest Country in 'La Mar de Musicas'

[Financial News] The southeastern port city of Cartagena in Spain was heated up by the Korean Wave.
According to the Korean Cultural Center in Spain on the 4th, as part of the '2025 Korea Season in Spain' program, the guest country event of Spain's representative comprehensive cultural festival 'La Mar de Musicas' (Sea of Music) was successfully concluded.
The 'La Mar de Musicas' festival, which attracts 40,000 visitors annually, celebrated its 30th anniversary by inviting Korea as the guest country for the first time among East Asian countries. The festival, held from July 18 to 26, became an opportunity to reaffirm the cultural power of K-Culture by introducing various cultural arts such as music, literature, film, and visual arts of the guest country every year.
Shin Jae-kwang, director of the Korean Cultural Center in Spain, said, “This invitation as a guest country is a symbolic example showing the status of Korean culture locally,” adding, “It is meaningful in that it achieved practical cultural exchange with local audiences by introducing Korean culture in multiple layers, including music, literature, exhibitions, films, as well as food, calligraphy, and tea ceremonies.”
'La Mar de Musicas' started with the opening performance of Lee Nal-chi on July 18, featuring artists from various genres such as fusion Korean traditional music (Jambinai, Dal:um, Chudahae Chagis), indie (Sunwoo Jung-a, W24), jazz (Na Yoon-sun), electronic (Fat Hamster & Kang New), hip-hop (Hypnosis Therapy), and K-pop (B-Wave). 
Miguel Tebar, a music critic who attended the festival, said, “I felt a thrill watching everyone become one under the traditional Korean melodies.”
Prior to this, the 'La Mar de Letras' literary festival, held for a week from July 14, was successful with the participation of four representative Korean authors. The festival opened with a talk by Kim Ho-yeon, a leading figure in healing novels, and Bae Su-ah, known for her experimental style, followed by Jeong Bora, a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award, and Cheon Myeong-kwan, a finalist for the Booker Prize, who took the stage in succession. All programs were sold out in advance, and the atmosphere was heated with continuous audience questions.
Korean contemporary art was also highlighted. Photographer Koo Bon-chang and others engaged with the audience through works that captured the tranquility and depth of Korean aesthetics. In the film section, a total of eight films were screened, starting with director Bong Joon-ho's 'Parasite', followed by Park Chan-wook's 'Decision to Leave', Hong Sang-soo's 'The Novelist's Film', and Jung Joo-ri's 'Next Sohee'. The open format of outdoor screenings allowed Spanish audiences of various generations to naturally approach Korean films. The cultural experience programs also received great response from local audiences. Korean food cooking classes, such as kimchi and bulgogi, Korean calligraphy and lettering, K-pop dance classes, and tea ceremony and etiquette experiences were held continuously.
Director Shin said, “Since Cartagena is physically distant from the capital, we also prepared a performance in Madrid under the name 'K-Live' to allow more people to experience Korean culture,” adding, “We planned customized programs by analyzing local demand by age group. We will expand into various areas to sustain the Korean Wave.” 
Meanwhile, the Korea Season is one of the core projects of the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, and this year, marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, it is being held in Spain under the slogan 'Two Cultures, One Heart' since March, following events in the UK in 2023 and France in 2024.
jashin@fnnews.com Shin Jin-a Reporter