The Ramparts, an all-male Dublin-based a cappella group, recently brought South Korean actor Park Bo-gum to tears while singing Glen Hansard's 'Falling Slowly' on the Disney+ show "My Name is Gabriel."
The new reality show offers Korea’s top celebrities the rare chance to live someone else’s life for 72 hours in another part of the world where no one knows them.
Park Bo-gum, star of "Love in the Moonlight,' was flown from South Korea to Ireland to live the life of Ruaidhrí Ó Dálaigh, director of The Ramparts. Guided by clues, Park Bo-gum has to locate and live in Ruaidhrí’s house, and meet his family and friends before discovering he must lead The Ramparts in a St Patrick’s Day performance on the busy streets of Dublin.
During first episode of the show, Park Bo-gum was brought to tears whilst joining The Ramparts in singing a rendition of ‘Falling Slowly.' The Oscar-winning track was written and performed by Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard in the 2007 movie "Once."
Speaking about the experience, Ó Dálaigh said: “When I received the call about 'My Name is Gabriel,' I thought it was a practical joke! A huge Korean celebrity is going to come to Dublin to live my life as a director of music?! It wasn’t until one of the producers of the show flew all the way from Korea to watch one of our rehearsals that I began to believe it.
"It’s such a unique concept, which is what makes it so interesting. Due to the show’s premise, I had to be MIA for Park Bo-gum’s time with The Ramparts, so I’m really enjoying seeing what actually happened through the show. Music really is a universal language - no matter where you’re from in the world, you can always find a common ground with music. And this is what’s happening here.
"I’m also really proud of the group for welcoming a complete stranger - albeit a super talented and accomplished stranger - and trusting him in leading their performance. Park Bo-gum is such a lovely guy and wrote the kindest letter to me after filming wrapped. We all had such a fun time with the crew - and the lads really loved getting to know Park Bo-gum. The whole group was quite sad after they all left.
"Since the show started airing, we’ve been overwhelmed by the online reaction from Park Bo-gum fans all over the world. We have received tonnes of messages and comments of support on our social media pages. So many of Park Bo-gum fans have really embraced The Ramparts and we couldn’t be more thankful!”
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The Ramparts have been singing together since February 2016. The group is perhaps best recognized from their online viral successes with performances of 'The Rocky Road to Dublin' and 'Fairytale of New York' in the Stags Head pub, which have received over 7 million views on YouTube. They are also known to surprise passers-by in Dublin with impromptu busking sessions on Grafton Street, the DART, and even rooftops.
The Ramparts are set to appear at the O’Reilly Theatre in Dublin on August 28th and 30th, 2024. For more information, visit The Ramparts’ official website.
Viewers can follow the rest of the group's story with Park Bo-gum over three episodes of ‘My Name Is Gabriel’ which are now available to stream on Disney+.
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