Mokpo Music Play Confirms Finalists for National Audition Competition

546 Teams Participate... 20 Teams Selected Through Preliminary Rounds 1 and 2

20 Teams Selected for Mokpo Music Play Finals (Photo by Mokpo City)

[Mokpo=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeong Hyeong-seok] Jeollanam-do Mokpo City announced on the 6th that the second round of preliminaries for the "National Audition Competition," which is incorporated into the festival for the first time nationwide as a contest that can only be seen on broadcasts, was successfully completed on the 3rd, about 20 days ahead of the "Mokpo Music Play" event.

The second preliminary round was held with 60 teams who passed the first preliminary round out of 546 applicant teams, competing fiercely to select 20 teams to participate in the semifinals.

The competition featured a large number of musicians from across the country, including singers, participants from popular programs such as Miss Trot, Sing Again, Hidden Singer, I Can See Your Voice, and Pyeonae Joonggye, famous YouTubers running music broadcasts, and music album producers and publishers, delivering high-quality performances beyond a simple contest level.

In particular, after the competition, a panel of top experts provided individual feedback, giving all participants valuable opportunities to build their future music careers regardless of the competition results.

The 20 teams that passed the second preliminary round consisted of 13 teams from Seoul and Gyeonggi, 5 teams from Jeolla, and 1 team each from Gangwon and Gwangju, with Mokpo having 2 teams advance. By age group, 10 teams were in their 20s, 6 teams in their 30s, 3 teams in their 40s, and 1 team in their 50s.

The judges praised, "We were surprised by the scale of such a large event held in Mokpo and the high level of the competition participants," adding, "We hope Mokpo Music Play will establish itself as a cultural content of Mokpo and serve as an incubating role that goes beyond K-pop to the world."

Meanwhile, the semifinals and final of the "National Audition Competition," which Mokpo City is pioneering for the first time nationwide, will be held at the Mokpo Music Play festival site from September 30 to October 2 (9.30?10.2). The final TOP 5 will be selected based on evaluations by Korea's top professional judges including Lee Geon-woo, Hong Jin-young, Son Mu-hyeon, Park Hyun-woo, and Wi Jong-su (80%) and the public judging panel (20%).