Accra, April 21, GNA - Vice President Aliu Mahama joined a large crowd of Koreans and Ghanaians last night for a cultural performance by the Korean Traditional Percussion Institute and the Ghana Dance Ensemble.

The cultural groups treated the audience to about one-and- half hours of cultural music and jazz.

While the Ghana Dance Ensemble performed ceremonial and war dances in the local languages, the Koreans performed Samulnori and poongmul among other Korean music and dance.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization arranged the programme in connection with the Sustainable Tourism for Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP), a programme that focuses on tapping the potential of tourism in order to alleviate poverty in a sustainable way.

The Pan group from Korea performed the Samulnori music for 17 minutes with instruments that included janggu (hourglass drum), kkwaenggwari (small gong), buk (barrel drum), and jing (large gong).

They combined traditional rhythms derived from wandering bands of old ceremonies and modern composition to create a unique musical experience that represented both ancient and contemporary music.

The Ghana Dance Ensemble performed a dance titled "Ahengro and Aveho" with atenteben (flute), fontonfrom (talking drum) and the gong gong in addition to using the northern traditional musical instruments to perform cultural songs of the North.

Mr Stephen Asamoah, the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Modernization of the Capital City and Ms Theresa Tagoe, the Deputy Minister of Mines, Lands and Forestry were among those who attended the programme.

Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Modernization of the Capital City, said tourism was about happiness, ''finding out about each other and realizing that we are all the same. Tourism is a happy industry," he said.

Ms Dho Young Shim, Ambassador for Sports and Tourism in Korea, expressed the hope that Ghana/Korea ties would be strengthened through culture and tourism.

"Ghana has a great potential in Tourism," she said.