Hallyu North festival brings K-Pop music to Toronto Friday night

Some of the biggest acts in Korean pop music are coming to Toronto to take part in two festivals that fans say cement this city's title as the K-Pop capital of Canada.

Tonight, the two-day Hallyu North festival kicks off at the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place, celebrating all things to do with the infectious, high-energy, sugar pop dance music.

Fan Alicia Rodriguez like many K-Pop fans isn't Korean and doesn't even understand the language.

"Even though we don't understand, we enjoy the music, the music videos, the dancing ... it's pretty fun," she said.

And she says the fact that bands like SHINee, the boy band playing at Hallyu Northtonight, are stopping in Toronto is a big coup for a city skipped by K-Pop in the past,

"It feels good to see them acknowledge Toronto. because usually they just go to New York or L.A....and now they are coming to Canada!"

Jonathan Medina is with Toronto Korean Music Group, a Facebook group with about 2,000 members.

"K-Pop has gotten really big in Canada and they've seen that the fan base here in Toronto is getting big. It's awesome. we have SHINee coming andtwo weeks from nowwe have four groups," he said.

Medina admits that K-Pop seems to attract a crowd that is mostly not Korean.

"A lot of the fans are not Korean, but once they get into K-Pop they get into Korean culture and they want to learn how to speak Korean learn how to read Korean and travel to Korea."

When most people think of K-Pop they picture South Korean musician Psy's global hit Gangnam Style. The 2012 music video has been viewed more than 2.56 billion times on YouTube and is one of the most watched video ever.

But in the last few years, Billboard Magazine says young K-Pop boy and girl bands have been venturing outside of Asia and been booking more tours to North America.

Hallyu North festivalorganizer Gloria "Angel" Zhang says there's evidence of a growing K-Pop fan base in Toronto. She says a K-Pop concert in the fall drew 12,000 fans to the Air Canada Centre on short notice.

She says the biggest source of new fans is YouTube. Zhang, who is not Korean, stumbled across a K-Pop music video eight years ago and was hooked.

"And was like wow what's this cool music video? The production values are beyond what we have in North America and I'm sure that's why people have gotten addicted to it."

She says it's not uncommon for Korean companies to dump half a million dollars into one video."It's sensory overload, so many colours, so many people, almost like a mini movie," saidZhang.

Sarah Milberry owns Just You Sarah & Tom, a store on Bloor West and Bathurst that sells K-Pop CDs, posters and other paraphernalia.

"People like the brightness, the fun vibe of it. K-Pop music is very upbeat and it's good to dance to," she says

Brightly designed CDs include magazines and posters as part of the package and run from $20 to $80 dollars.

The next big K-Pop festival to roll into town is the Toronto KPOP CON 2016,May 20-22at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.