Psy, left, will attend the 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), which is to be held at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre on Nov. 30. / Courtesy of CJ E&M By Rachel Lee After gracing EMA and AMA ceremonies in Europe and the United States, world star Psy will take to the stage at Mnet Asian Music Awards in Nov. 30 in Hong Kong. It couldn’t be a more fitting stage for Psy nor could there be a better guest for MAMA, an annual music award ceremony hosted by CJ E&M. “With increasing popularity of K-pop, we are hoping to share more of our music with the rest of the world and become the best music award in Asia,” said Shin Hyung-kwan, executive director of channel Mnet, at a press conference held Tuesday in Seoul. To be held at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, MAMA has long aimed to promote Korean music while interacting closely with other Asian neighbors since it first began in 1999 under the title “Mnet Music Video Awards.” Korean boy band Super Junior This awards ceremony, which the production team describes as “global event,” seems to have turned out to be a feast concentrating heavily on one genre (popular music) and local acts. It is altogether different from its intended purpose and aim. In MAMA held last year, Korean girl group 2NE1 won the Song of the Year, one of the three Grand awards, with their single “I am the best.” Girls’ Generation and Super Junior received two each — the Artist of the Year, the Best Female Group award and the Album of the Year and the Best Male awards of general awards. Out of all 22 winners last year, only four awards were given to non-Korean artists; Vision Wei of China (Best New Asian Artist Solo) and Jane Zhang Liang Ying (Best Asian Artist China); Koda Kumi of Japan (Hot Asian Artist) and American Aziatix (Best New Asian Artist Group). Shin Hyung-kwan, executive director of channel Mnet, speaks at a press conference on the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of CJ E&M According to the local audience, preliminaries in other Asian countries and their songs sound unfamiliar to them as MAMA focuses on giving out prizes rather than introducing different music and artists in other countries. “I never got to know artists or their music in countries like China or Japan,” Kim Soek, a 26-year-old office worker, said Wednesday in an email interview. “I think the event is just about Korean artists, especially idol groups.” The same was the case in previous years; K-pop artists, especially those popular idol groups, have swept all the grand awards and most other prizes. Especially those managed by the country’s big talent agencies, YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, carried off at least two prizes at the ceremony. With regard to such criticism, the MAMA production crew said at the press conference that they are already aware of their weighted result in favor of certain genre and local artists at the award ceremony. “I agree with the fact that the spotlight is mainly on Korean artist. I think our production team needs to include a wide range of music genres and actively introduce music in other countries as well. We need to devise a long-term plan to tackle this problem,” Shin said. Other big names slated to attend are Super Junior, American pop stars such as Adam Lambert and B.o.B.
