Meet BIG: the Korean Boy Band Who Can Sing in Arabic

posted on: Nov 5, 2019

Korean boy band BIG (short for Boys In Groove) will be heading to the UAE for a performance at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, November 7 as part of the Korea Festival 2019. However, unlike other past acts of the same popular genre, they’ll be bringing something a little more unique: the ability to sing songs in Arabic.

Now heading to the UAE, where K-pop has a loyal fanbase, the band is thrilled to finally get a chance to meet their fans in person.

“We’ve met the UAE fans through our songs only, so I’m really excited to meet you all in person at our concert in Abu Dhabi. We will show you the best performance there. Please keep supporting us with love,” said Minpyo in an interview with The National.

The group debuted in 2014 with the song Hello under GH Entertainment and featured five members: J-Hoon, Benji, Gunmin, Minpyo, and Heedo. When J-Hoon enlisted in the mandatory military service in November 2018, another member named Jinseok was added to the group in January.

Staging a comeback, rather than returning with another Korean single, the band surprised fans with covers of popular Arabic songs as part of their Global Cover Project. They’ve taken on hits such as La Bezzaf by the Arab boyband The 5, Lm3allem by Saad Lamjarred and Hussain Al Jassmi’s Boshret Kheir.

So just how did the group come up with the idea to sing these cover songs?

We’ve met the UAE fans through our songs only, so I’m really excited to meet you all in person at our concert in Abu Dhabi. We will show you the best performance there.

Minpyo

“We first got interested in covering Arabic songs when we went to one of the radio channels as guests,” said Gunmin. “It was an Arabic programme so we thought of covering Arabic songs for the Arab fans who has been supporting us since our debut.”

The group is more than just about singing in Arabic as they’ve also taken the time to properly learn the language through lessons.

“It is a great fun but a new challenge at the same time,” admits Benji. “When we first started, pronunciation was a lot more difficult than I thought. Trying pronunciations that do not exist in Korean made my tongue twist but it’s getting faster and faster to learn new things in Arabic as we continue learning.”

By learning to sing songs in Arabic, the group has picked up some new fans with their approach – including getting the attention of The 5 who took to social media to say: “BIG’s cover video is great. It’s an honour how a K-pop boy band covered our song.” It seems the admiration is mutual because their hit also happens to be one of BIG’s favourite songs to sing as well.

“I love singing La Bezzaf because it’s the first Arabic song that we covered and the music itself is my kind of music,” said Jinseok. “I also like 3daqat – the more you listen to it, the more it gets addictive and the melody is quite easy for everyone to sing along.”

“I listen to the latest Arab songs a lot. As BIG is a boy band, I like The 5, who I relate to in a way. I especially like listening to one of their songs Hannini these days,” adds Heedo.

However, even though The 5 have since disbanded, BIG don’t have any plans to follow. They’ve just released their new single Illusion which has two versions: a Korean and an Arabic one. The group have also been together now for five years, so what do they envision for the next five?

“We would like to expand our stage throughout the world further than we did last five years,” says Gunmin. “Of course we will continue to be active in Korea, and hopefully also in Arab countries. BIG’s goal is to come and show our performance to our supportive fans anywhere in the world no matter how far they are away.”