Nina Korošak-Serčič and Sara Ester Gredelj, who create music and perform as the duo freekind., collaborated two years ago on the album Layover by the Korean singer V, a member of the world-famous K-Pop group BTS. The album reached number two on the Billboard Top 200 chart, and its videos have over a hundred million views on YouTube. The most streamed song on Spotify, Love Me Again, has over a billion streams. In September, freekind. visited South Korea for the first time, where they performed three concerts and participated in a residency workshop on Jeju Island.

freekind.’s visit was part of a larger project organized by Music Slovenia through its new export office program, the Croatian export office We Move Music Croatia, and the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in South Korea. The embassy celebrated three years since its opening in 2022 with a diplomatic Honeymoon Week from September 22 to 27 in Seoul, showcasing Slovenia through culture, sustainability, bees, and music. The main event was a concert by freekind. and the Korean duo Dal:um (who are connected to Slovenia through their agent and Glitterbeat Records label based in Ljubljana). The concert was initially planned on the embassy’s rooftop but was moved indoors due to a monsoon passing through Korea that day. Several dozen diplomats from around the world, representatives of Korean corporations, and music companies attended the concert, enjoying top-quality Slovenian wines.

Initially, freekind.’s visit to South Korea was intended only for this performance, but on Music Slovenia’s initiative, the Korean expedition expanded to include additional concerts and a residency: before the embassy show, freekind. also performed at the Block Party festival and the iconic smaller Seoul club Jebidabang, where members of the Korean production group BANA, including renowned producer and musician 250 (real name Lee Ho-hyeong), also came.

“The audience was very open, respectful and attentive, but also responsive and enthusiastic,” Nina and Sara described their Korean concert experience, thrilled by the warm reception, which they hope to build upon in the future. After the concerts, they attended a multi-day residency workshop on Jeju Island. For now, they can’t say much about it except that, alongside new personal and business connections, they rekindled collaboration with a team they had worked with on previous Korean projects, promising new, even stronger and smoother Korean-Slovenian musical-diplomatic bridges.

(RoK)