MAMA hopes to soar with fan votes and stops in 3 Asian cities

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MAMA hopes to soar with fan votes and stops in 3 Asian cities

This year’s Mnet Asian Music Awards, also known as the MAMA, will be held in three different cities - Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong - and for the first time, fans will be able to vote for their favorites.

On Monday, Kim Ki-woong, head of Mnet, and Kim Hyun-soo, head of the convention business department at CJ, met with local press to reveal the plan for 2018 MAMA, which begin on Dec. 10 at central Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza, move to the Saitama Super Arena on Dec. 12 and end with a grand finale on Dec. 14 at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo Arena.

“We started MAMA aiming to become the biggest music awards ceremony in Asia, and last year, we held the event in three different countries for the first time. We began with a unique identity when no-one else thought of doing so,” said Kim Hyun-soo

Last year’s event took place in Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam. This year’s three-day festivity will run under the theme of “Icarus” - a figure from Greek mythology whose father Daedalus made him wings that allowed him to fly - with three different keywords for each venue: challenge, passion and dream. This is the first time that MAMA will be held in Seoul, and the venue will feature rookie stars’ performances to kick off the festivity. In Tokyo, the “Fans’ Choice” awards will be given out.

The finale will take place in Hong Kong, where the awards for the album, song and singer of the year will be given out. The award show is known for its special performances that always manage to surprise audiences, and this year’s collaboration performance will feature girl group Momoland and rookie rapper Mommy Son.

“MAMA sought to be an Asian music awards, something that hadn’t been tried before,” said Kim Hyun-soo. “It’s different from the others in that while we do have the similar system from other local awards, we work with experts throughout the Asian region. We will keep trying our best to maintain a healthy ecosystem within the Asian music industry.”

Kim added, “We will prepare ourselves for the next 10 years of MAMA in the hope that Asian music will make it in the global market.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]
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