Fancy artists wow crowd at HK Asian Pop Music Festival

Tracy

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre was beaming Friday night as the 2nd Hong Kong Asian Pop Music Festival kicked off gathering popular Asian singers and thousands of thrilled music goers to celebrate the feast for the eyes and ears.

The four-hour event was organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the International Federation of Phonographic Industry to showcase pop singers from the Asian region and promote Hong Kong as a center for pop music, Mr. Ng Yu, Chairman of the Hong Kong Music Fair Organizing Committee, told an earlier press briefing.

The Committee has invited influential singers from seven countries/territories to perform and display their charm at the event. They are Hu Yanbin (Chinese Mainland), Chang Yun Ching ( Chinese Taiwan), Leo Ku (Chinese Hong Kong), JAM Project (Japan), Brown Eyed Girls (South Korea), Olivia Ong (Singapore) and Michael Wong (Malaysia).

The most exciting and enthralling highlight however was the Asian Super Nova Competition that attracted the participation and put under the limelight seven distinct star candidates selected as best representatives of the above regions, including Song Jingyu ( Chinese Mainland), Anthony Neely (Chinese Taiwan), Alex Wu ( Chinese Hong Kong), HIROZ SEVEN+ (Japan), Bevlyn Khoo (Singapore), Projek Pistol (Malaysia) and ALI (South Korea).

After the discussion of the adjudicator panel, the winsome South Korean soloist ALI with a solid fan base here copped the award of Super Nova 2012 amid screaming and cheers.

Zhu Dan, the MC of the event and a famous TV compere from China's mainland, said the festival served as a platform to boost music industry in the Asian region and facilitate the exchanges and cooperation of musicians while providing opportunities for the fledgling.

"Were it not for music, life would be dull," she said.

The organization selected TVXQ as ambassador of the event. Wu Qiong from the Mainland who had remained unknown till notching up the Super Nova championship on the same occasion last year and gained widespread reputation onwards, and Japanese singer Ikumi Kumagai who missed the grand affair in 2011 due to the March mega- disaster in her home country, also went on stage as performing guests.

The music festival is a part of ongoing 8th edition of Entertainment Expo Hong Kong that takes place from March 19 to April 15. This year's Expo features nine spectacular events covering a mix of film, TV, music and digital trend.