Bangladeshi emigrant wins South Korean singing competition

Nowshad Ferdous, a Bangladeshi emigrant, has won a prestigious singing competition in South Korea.

The competition included 1,800 migrant workers, including employed citizens of the country. Nowshad became the winner after defeating 11 South Korean competitors.

On Thursday, the final round of the 44th National Workers Festival was held in the KBS Hall in Seoul, South Korea‍‍`s capital. As the winner, he would get the Prime Minister‍‍`s Award and  Tk4 lakh in prize money, which is equivalent to 5 million South Korean won (KRW).

The award ceremony will be broadcast on KBS, a popular Korean television channel, on May 1.

Nowshad, an EPS employee in Seoul, had already won multiple awards for singing Korean songs in other events. He worked as a Korean language teacher in Bangladesh for several years before shifting to South Korea as a migrant worker.

After winning the 44th National Workers Festival, Nowshad said: “I came to Korea in 2016. After coming here, I used to sing in various Bangladeshi communities as a hobby, although I could not sing well then. When I went to Bangladesh in 2020 and was stuck for a long time due to the coronavirus, I started practicing music. I also got trained in poetry recitation for better pronunciation.”

He also said: "After coming back to Korea, I put my full concentration on music in addition to my work. I also enrolled in a music class here.”