Seoul’s Senior Public Diplomacy Group will host a free folk music and dance concert at the National Museum of Korea on Sept. 6.

The concert, which brings together performers from nine countries, including Korea, was set up as part of the group’s efforts to promote Korean culture and bring different groups together to celebrate their own traditions.

“Initially we held concerts only with Korean traditional performers but since then we began to include dances from other cultures to bring people together. I think this kind of exchange is a more interesting way to celebrate culture,” said Choi Ha-kyung, president of the Senior Public Diplomacy Group.

Korean performances will include “gilgut” traditional marching music, percussion performances, and songs including “Arirang.”

These will be interspersed with traditional music and dance from Cambodia, Mongolia and Indonesia, a Chinese lion dance, Brazilian zouk, Cuban salsa and a cheerleading demonstration. There are also songs from a French ensemble and an international choir.

During the intermission, there will be an award ceremony for a photography competition run by the organizers to find the best pictures of Korea’s UNESCO World Heritage sites.

To support the competition, the Senior Public Diplomacy Group led two guided tours for local bloggers to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and Namhansanseong Fortress near Seoul.

The 10 best pictures short-listed in the competition will be on display outside the concert.

“The entries by the foreign photographers have been quite interesting. There is a lot of variety in the photographs that they sent in,” said Choi, pointing out that some had gone for purely traditional scenes, while others incorporated urban scenery.

The Senior Public Diplomacy Group is an organization of retired people set up under the Foreign Ministry to promote Korea. As well as performances, its activities include tours for journalists and bloggers and lectures at universities and elsewhere.

The concert will be held from 5 p.m. at Theater Yong at the National Museum of Korea in Ichon, Seoul. To reserve a space at the concert, email seniorpublicdiplomacy@gmail.com.

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)