The musical puns are almost too good to resist, but I’ll do my best. The New York Philharmonic, America’s oldest symphony orchestra, played a concert today. They do that a lot, being an orchestra and all. But this concert was extraordinary, because it occurred in Pyongyang—possibly the most repressive country on Earth, and not known as a world music capital.And while North Korea bills itself as a people’s paradise, this was hardly a vox-pop sort of audience. Indeed, only a hand-picked Communist elite—some 2,000 of them—filled the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre, although the dynastic North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was conspicuously absent. Reporters said the rapt audience comprised mainly middle-aged men in dark suits and red lapel badges bearing the face of Kim Il-sung, father of the current leader and revered founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The audience, more used to music that praises North Korea’s political system and its dynastic leadership, listened with rapt attention to the more than 90-minute performance in the packed concert hall. (On the topic of the theatre and hall, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency waxed positively lyrical. I quote: “The theatre, which underwent a formative and artistic renovation last year to meet the requirements of the new century, has all necessary facilities as an edifice of culture. The grand columns of formative beauty, the mural depicting the splendorous Ulrim Falls and other fascinating decorations of the central hall add grace to the theatre. Chandeliers shining brightly in various colors, sculptures of the women’s instrumental ensemble and the dance ‘Snow Falls’ and various decorative patterns of balconies and walls on the second and third floors lead the viewers deep into the artistic world. Perfect are the harp-shaped walls of the seating hall, the stage and latest sound facilities…”)
The New York Phil earned a prolonged standing ovation after playing a 90-minute concert including Dvorak, Gershwin, the Korean folk song Arirang, and both U.S. and DPRK national anthems. Some of the American performers were so moved that they left the stage in tears. The state television station broadcast the whole concert live to the country’s 20-odd million citizens, indoctrinated since birth in the notion that the United States, and all things American, should be regarded with suspicion, loathing, and contempt.
I noticed that the Japanese news agency Kyodo quoted my old friend Li Gun, now head of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s American affairs bureau, as describing the concert as “quite good.” That’s about as chatty as he ever got with me when he was working at the North Korean mission to the United Nations, and I was an AFP correspondent in Washington, relentlessly, some might say mercilessly, pursuing him for comments on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its chronic food shortages.
The whole subject conjures up memories of the ping-pong diplomacy that opened doors between Washington and Beijing during the Cold War. This was the largest group of Americans to visit North Korean—there are about 350 to 400 there now—since war broke out on the Korean Peninsula in 1950. They’re staying for three days, and reporters traveling with them say the Hermit Kingdom has opened up phone lines and Internet access to an unprecedented degree. This is the first such visit by an American cultural group the North Korea, which President Bush has called part of a global “axis of evil.”
Now, lo and behold, not only is the North Korean State Symphony Orchestra planning to perform in London later this year, but The Financial Times is reporting that 62-year-old British rock icon Eric Clapton has been invited to perform in North Korea in 2009—despite a long-standing ban on rock and pop in the North Korea. And Clapton, the newspaper said, has in principle agreed. A North Korean official told the paper: “We want our music to be understood by the western world and we want our people to understand western music.”
Wow. I wonder what on Earth they will make of, uh, Britney Spears.
Filed under: music, north korea, north_korea | Tagged: north korea, north_korea, philharmonic, pyongyang
