Korean pop culture's reach

The lines for a recent S.M. audition snaked out the door of an office building on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown and into the indoor golf driving range next door. S.M. volunteers shouted to maintain order among teenagers practicing their dance moves or warming up their voices while puzzled middle-aged men carrying golf clubs cut their way through.

Many of the contestants were fans of "K-pop," the nickname of popular Korean music which is a distant cousin of early 1990s music and features the same style of soaring ballads and catchy dance tunes as 'N Sync or the Backstreet Boys.

Korean popular culture dominates much of Asia, where performers like Rain sell out stadiums from Thailand to China. When Korean soap operas travel to Tokyo for press junkets, the scene resembles something out of Beatlemania.

Both K-pop and Korean soap operas have gained a foothold in the United States, which explains why the Mexican Irish Bryanna Sandoval drove from Norco for the auditions. (S.M. executives ask that contestants be Asian, although not necessarily Korean.)

"I just like the music so much I thought, why not give it a try?" said Sandoval, who estimated that a quarter of her iPod was dedicated to Korean songs, even though she doesn't speak the language.

Sandoval, however, did not get a tryout.

Standing several spots in back of Sandoval was Katherine Ko, an 18-year-old from La Cañada Flintridge, who dances in a group with several of her friends. When asked about their favorite singers, the girls quickly rattled off American pop staples like Beyoncé and Missy Elliott, and showed off dance moves influenced by hip-hop rather than Asian style.

Ko, an aspiring actress, said she came to the tryouts because opportunities for Asian Americans are limited in America. You've got Sandra Oh, the "Grey's Anatomy" star, and "that's it," said Ko.

"It's very discouraging because you can't be original in America, they already know what parts they want you to play," Ko said.

source: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-et-idol1jan01,1,5321296.story?page=2&track=rss + Yahoo7 E-news