The weekend after I returned from my trip to Japan I was hoping to get some rest. There was an Arabic Festival in Seoul that had been advertised for some. I had wanted to go but didnt know if I would be up for it. I even came down with a slight cold after my trip so was somewhat reluctant. However at the prospect of being able to eat some nice middle eastern food I made a last minute decision and headed out to Seoul on Saturday. The venue was easy to reach at the exit of one of the subway stations. Here there was a large plaza with a fountain in the centre. Around the fountain were various middle eastern food stalls set up. To the back of the fountain was a small square where the stage was setup for the performers. This made for a very cramped venue as there were traffic streets surrounding this small area so no room for overfill. It was difficult to move around the stalls as many people were sitting to watch the show performances which were one after another. There was a performance schedule from 2 - 5pm which would repeat and loop again for the evening. First up were the bellydancers and I caught the tail end of this. Then there was a group of Afghan dancers doing a folk dance dressed in shalwars. It didnt seem like they had really practiced and were just making it up as they went along, as I've seen lots of Indian and Pakistani dancing at weddings and movies my entire life. Following was a Jordanian traditional dance. This was done by international university students and included people of other nationalities including Koreans as the dance moves werent particularly difficult to master with some practice. Next up and most interesting was the Iranian Sports Dance. Essentially this was a sports workout with traditional warm up exercises. However it was set to folk religious singing performed by two musicians. The athletes would perform various exercise routines in rhythm to the vocals and which made it quite interesting. They then brought out weight pins and began juggling them while they performed acrobatics. They would throw them up and catch them while performing some acrobatic act inbetween, as well as toggling throwing from standing and crouched positions. Then a very large build person brought two giant heavy pins. I thought they were light and he was putting on an act. Rather than toss them he was using them to perform circle maneuvers to work out his shoulders and upper body. They then allowed volunteers to lift the large weights and they were in fact quite heavy. There was then a traditional Iranian Folk Group so I used the interlude to get something to eat. There was a Moroccan vendor grilling minced lamb, onions, with egg, and placing it in a bun. The egg was a bit of a turn off so instead I went to the Egyptian vendor selling grilled lamb. Then the performance set began to repeat the cycle from where it had began at 2pm. Local bellydancer Belynda Azhaar performed several of her routines. This was followed by students from her bellydance classes who performed more arabic dances they had studied. After this I had time to get some more food so I tried the Iranian stall. They gave me a combo of herb flavoured rice, with a chicken curry, and some vegetable curry that had a vinegary taste. I wanted to try more food stalls but there's only so much you can eat. They had Afghan grilled chicken skewers, Indonesian food, and Turkish Kebabs. It was a rather nice afternoon and I'm glad I made the special trip up from Daegu. My one complaint would be that the venue was too small for the turnout. The fountain took up half the plaza and people were sitting in the other half to watch the performances. The stalls closest to the stage were blocked by crowds watching the show Maybe this normal for Seoul to cramp many people into a small space but it would have been more relaxing if you could browse the stalls, have somewhere to sit and eat, and enjoy the performances. The Korea Muslim Federation was also missing. They have attended other cultural fairs with information on Islam in Korea as well as the mosques in Seoul, Busan, and other cities. Also missing was any food from Indian, Pakistan, or Uzbekistan which have large communities in Korea. It wasnt technically an 'arab festival' as they had representation from Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey which are not Arab nations. The following weekend Seoul had another Itaewon Global Festival with food and performances from around the world but it was too close to go again for another weekend and there was too much happening in Daegu that weekend also. Even though Toronto is so multicultural with large Arab populations I havent seen any such festival there. Here are some videos I made followed by more photos Video : Seoul Islamic Festival : Jordanian Dance http://youtu.be/n3zOZCxQlTg Video : Seoul Islamic Festival : Iranian Sports Dancehttp://youtu.be/FcSxOmN3--A Video : Seoul Islamic Festival : Iranian Traditional Music http://youtu.be/lebwL_pag04 This is also an article in Korean with more details http://blog.naver.com/typan/13014883263 7