The ACC World Music Festival will be held at ACC Art Theater in Gwangju from Aug. 20 to 22, both online and offline.

The three-day festival, hosted by the Asia Culture Center of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Asia Culture Institute, aims to encourage the audience to embrace various genres of music, from Korean traditional music to fado and tango.

The festival, in its 12th edition this year, is to showcase 24 performances in genres such as pansori, jazz, tango, fado and folk by 15 groups.

The festival is separated under four themes: Asian character, regionality, technological convergence and coexistence of online and offline platforms.

Local acts such as Daybreak, SWJA, Jeong Mil-a, OBSG and Silica Gel, will go onstage for the festival.

The festival is to feature unique collaborations, too.

Kim Joon-soo, a celebrated Korean traditional music singer and singer-songwriter Choi Go-geun, will go onstage together. Bass player Seo Young-do and pansori singer Kim Yul-hee will present a concert together.

Celebrated pansori singers Kim Il-gu and An Sook-seon will put on a performance together through “Namdo Legacy.”

Fado singer Mariza is slated to meet local audiences through an online performance.

Through the ACC WMF Telematic Concert, US and Korean performers will exchange sound and video in real time via the internet.

Gayageum-player Hey String’s collaboration with Taiwanese traditional musician Sauljaljui, will be released as a documentary. A Gayageum is a Korean zither with 12 strings.

The festival will also introduce six indie bands based in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province -- Art For Ensemble, The Bros Combo Band, Slow Jean, Saenal, Nocturnal and Noya.

The festival is free of charge. Performances will be live streamed through the festival’s YouTube channel.

“Due to the spread of COVID-19, foreign musicians could not participate (in the festival) in person but other opportunities were created with creative collaboration between Korean musicians and performances produced by the ACC World Music Festival,” Art Director Huh Yoon-jeong of ACC World Music Festival said.

Huh, who is a celebrated geomungo performer herself, is an associate professor at the College of Music at Seoul National University.

More detailed information on the festival is available on the festival’s website.