The ABU TV Song Festival 2012 was the first annual edition of the

ABU TV Song Festival The ABU TV Song Festival is an annual non-competitive gala that showcases songs or instrumentals by musicians across Asia, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). Participating countries which have full or additional full ABU mem ...

s. The festival, which was non-competitive, took place in the KBS Concert Hall, located in the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n capital of

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

and coincided with the 49th general assembly of the

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU or APBU), formed in 1964, is a non-profit, professional association of broadcasting organisations. It currently has over 287 members in 57 countries and regions, reaching a potential audience of about 3 bil ...

(ABU). Eleven countries confirmed their participation in the first edition of the competition. The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) had previously run international contests, inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest, for their members during 1985 – 1987. The European Broadcasting Union had proposed a partnership with the ABU in 2008 to establish the Asiavision Song Contest, however these talks never produced any results. The ABU announced in 2011 that they would organise their own ABU Radio and TV Song Festivals. The format used was different from that of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, as there were two festivals that took place. The ABU TV Song Festival was a non-competitive musical gala orientated, while the Radio Song Festival was the competitive. The festival was not aired live by any of the competing broadcasters, but was scheduled to be broadcast between October and November 2012.

History

The

(ABU) had already run an international song contest for its members inspired by the

in 1985 – 1987, called the ''ABU Popular Song Contest'', with 14 countries of the Asia-Pacific region competing. The show had a similar concept to the current festivals with winners being chosen by a professional jury.

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

celebrated victories in this competition. In 1989 – 1991 ABU co-produced the ''ABU Golden Kite World Song Festival'' in Malaysia with participation of Asia-Pacific countries, as well as

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In 2008, the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU) proposed a partnership with ABU on the establishment of an ''Asiavision Song Contest'', however these talks didn't produce any result, and in September 2008 it was announced that the

format for Asian production had been sold to a private company from

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, Asiavision Pte. Ltd. The original name intended for that event was ''Asiavision Song Contest'', but it was later changed to ''Our Sound - The Asia-Pacific Song Contest'' following a request from the ABU, who uses the Asiavision name for their news exchange service. Initially, the contest (which was supposed to be a two program live broadcast TV show with public voting) was set to premiere in 2009, but it was later rescheduled for March 2010 in

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

and then for November 2010 in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, at the end being postponed indefinitely "due to the ongoing issues between the organizers and EBU". Shortly before launching the ABU Song Festival, the ABU had been considering the possibility to organize the ''ABU ASEAN TV Song Festival'' in Thailand. Historically,

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

song contests had been organized in periods between 1981 and 1997, however since 2011 the ASEAN Festival had been organized between local Radio stations as ''Bintang Radio ASEAN''. In November 2011, the

ABU Abu or ABU may refer to: Places * Abu (volcano), a volcano on the island of Honshū in Japan * Abu, Yamaguchi, a town in Japan * Ahmadu Bello University, a university located in Zaria, Nigeria * Atlantic Baptist University, a Christian university ...

announced that they would organize its own TV and Radio Song Festivals to take place in

, the South Korean capital, in time with 49th General Assembly in October 2012. The name ''Asiavision Song Contest'' was initially mentioned as a possibility, but they were later officially titled ''

'' and ''

ABU Radio Song Festival The ABU Radio Song Festival is a biennial non-competitive gala that showcases songs or instrumentals by musicians across Asia, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), and is based on the Eurovision Song Contest. The format consist ...

''. According to the ABU, the deadline for participation applications for ABU TV Song Festival was 18 May 2012.

Location

Seoul, officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

. A

megacity A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. Precise definitions vary: the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report counted urban ...

with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

developed world A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...

. The

Seoul National Capital Area The Seoul Capital Area (SCA), Sudogwon (, ) or Gyeonggi region (), is the metropolitan area of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, located in north-west South Korea. Its population of 26 million (as of 2020) is ranked as the fifth largest met ...

is the world's second largest metropolitan area with over 25 million inhabitants, which includes the surrounding

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

metropolis and

Gyeonggi Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

province. Almost a quarter of South Koreans live in Seoul, half of South Koreans live in the metropolitan area, along with over 275,000 international residents. Located on the Han River, Seoul has been a major settlement for over 2,000 years, with its foundation dating back to 18 B.C. when

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...

, one of the

Three Kingdoms of Korea Samhan or the Three Kingdoms of Korea () refers to the three kingdoms of Goguryeo (고구려, 高句麗), Baekje (백제, 百濟), and Silla (신라, 新羅). Goguryeo was later known as Goryeo (고려, 高麗), from which the modern name ''Kor ...

, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. It continued as the capital of

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

during the

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

and the

Korean Empire The Korean Empire () was a Korean monarchical state proclaimed in October 1897 by Emperor Gojong of the Joseon dynasty. The empire stood until Japan's annexation of Korea in August 1910. During the Korean Empire, Emperor Gojong oversaw the Gwa ...

. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to four

UNESCO World Heritage Sites A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Changdeokgung Changdeokgung (Hangul: 창덕궁, Hanja: 昌德宮; literally, "The Palace of Prospering Virtue"), also known as Changdeokgung Palace or Changdeok Palace, is set within a large park in Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the "Five G ...

Hwaseong Fortress Hwaseong Fortress or Suwon Hwaseong is a fortification surrounding the centre of Suwon, the provincial capital of Gyeonggi-do, in South Korea. It was built from 1794 to 1796 by King Jeongjo of the Joseon dynasty to house and honour the remains of ...

, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.

National host broadcaster

Korean Broadcasting System The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...

(KBS) was the host broadcaster for the first edition of the annual TV Song Festival, which was staged in the KBS Concert Hall. The host broadcaster offered to cover costs for staging the show as well as the accommodation for the participants of ABU TV Song Festival.

Format

Unlike the format used in the

there are two versions of the ABU Song Festival. The

ABU Radio Song Festival 2012 The ABU Radio Song Festival 2012 was the first edition of the biennial ABU Radio Song Festivals, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). The festival took place in the KBS Hall, which is located in the South Korean capital of S ...

and the ABU TV Song Festival 2012, which were both scheduled to take place between 11 and 17 October 2012 during the 49th ABU General Assembly. During the TV Festival, participants from eleven countries performed a song from their

repertoire A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform. Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a l ...

in a musical gala presentation. The theme for the festivals was 'Beyond the Wave', which has been inspired by the digital evolution changes in the global media.

Participating countries

Eleven entries participated in the final of the ABU TV Song Festival (as shown in the table below).

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

had initially selected Naran with the song "Nudnii shil (Shades)", but subsequently withdrew their participation on 14 September 2012. Notes : 1.Specifically

Hazaragi Hazaragi ( fa, , Həzārəgī; haz, , links=no, Āzərəgī) is an eastern dialect of Persian that is spoken by the Hazara people, primarily in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, as well as other Hazara-populated areas of Afghanistan ...

, a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

dialect spoken in

Hazarajat Hazaristan ( fa, هزارستان, Hazāristān), or Hazarajat ( fa, هزاره‌جات, Hazārajāt) is a mostly mountainous region in the central highlands of Afghanistan, among the Koh-i-Baba mountains in the western extremities of the Hi ...

, in central Afghanistan.

International broadcasts

Each participating country were invited to broadcast both events across their respective networks and provide commentary in the native languages to add insight and description to the shows. The festival was not broadcast live, although each broadcaster has stated that they would broadcast the festival between October and November 2012 with an estimated audience of 2 billion people, twenty times the audience that is reached by the

which reaches an audience of approximately 100 million people. * Afghanistan –

Radio Television Afghanistan National Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA; ps, ''Da Afġanistan Mīlī Radīo Telvizoon'', fa, ''Rādīo Telvizoon-e Mīlī-e Afġānestān'', branded as ملی (meaning ''national'')) is the public-broadcasting organization of Afghanista ...

* Australia –

SBS One SBS is a national public television network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2018, SBS had a 7.7% audience share. As of 2022, SBS is the lowest ...

(28 October 2012) /

SBS Two SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

(1 November 2012) * China –

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...

* Hong Kong –

Television Broadcasts Limited Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...

(10 November 2012) * Indonesia –

Televisi Republik Indonesia TVRI (, Television of the Republic of Indonesia), legally ( Public Broadcasting Institution Television of the Republic of Indonesia) is a public television network and the oldest television network in Indonesia. Its national headquarters is i ...

(3 November 2012, on

TVRI Nasional TVRI (also referred to as TVRI Nasional, TVRI Siaran Nasional, or Kanal 1 TVRI Nasional, formerly also known as TVRI Stasiun Pusat Jakarta) is the main national public television channel owned by LPP Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI). The ch ...

) * Japan –

Japanese Broadcasting Corporation , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television l ...

* Malaysia –

Radio Televisyen Malaysia Radio Televisyen Malaysia ( en, Radio Television of Malaysia, abbreviated as RTM, stylised as rtm), also known as the Department of Broadcasting, Malaysia ( ms, Jabatan Penyiaran Malaysia) is the national public broadcaster of Malaysia. Establi ...

(4 January 2013) * Singapore –

MediaCorp Suria Suria (Malay for "Sun") is a Singaporean free-to-air Television channel owned by Mediacorp. The channel broadcasts popular Malay television series, either originally produced by Mediacorp or imported from Malaysia and Indonesia. Its logo is a ...

(November 2012) * South Korea –

KBS 1TV The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...

(21 October 2012) * Sri Lanka –

MTV Channel MTV Channel (Pvt) Ltd is a Sri Lankan media company which owns three national television channels - Shakthi TV, Sirasa TV and TV 1. It also owns the Hit TV, News First and Ethalaya.com. The company was established in 1992 as joint venture between ...

* Vietnam –

Vietnam Television Vietnam Television ( vi, Đài Truyền hình Việt Nam), or VTV, is the national television broadcaster of Vietnam. As the state broadcaster under the direction of the government of Vietnam, VTV is tasked with "propagating the views of the ...

References

External links

*
ABU TV Song Festival at ESCKaz
{{good article 2012 festivals in South Korea ABU Song Festivals 2010s in Seoul 2012 in South Korea 2012 song contests Music festivals in South Korea