138: history, music, and tears...

Well, I've been waiting for this day for a while. Since Day Sixty of this blog, in fact, when I posted the news that the New York Philharmonic had agreed to play Pyongyang. Several of you commented then on the value of shared musical appreciation in warming relations between different countries. Today, as CNN (and many others) reported, the historic concert took place. CNN's article (linked from the title above) documents the experience of Korean-American violinist Michelle Kim, who plays with the Philharmonic. Her parents were born in North Korea, but fled during the war and have never returned. Though Michelle spent some of her childhood in South Korea, she had never visited the North, so this trip was highly emotional for her and her parents. There is little doubt that the concert - and the accompanying press corps - has given at least a sliver of an insight into North Korea today, for Michelle and many others. Let's hope it's a sign of a North Korea reconnecting - to the South and to the rest of the world.

---------

And here is the concert report from North Korean state news. The website can be found via this link but unfortunately there is no URL for each page/story, so I thought it would be easiest to post it in full here:

"Pyongyang, February 26 (KCNA) -- The New York Philharmonic on a visit to the DPRK performed at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre Tuesday.
Appreciating the performance were Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kang Nung Su, minister of Culture, Mun Jae Chol, acting chairman of the Korean Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, Pak Kwan O, chairman of the Pyongyang City People's Committee, Song Sok Hwan, vice-minister of Culture and chairman of the Korean Association for Art Exchange, Kim Yon Gyu, chief of the State Symphony Orchestra, and working people in the city.
Among the audience were diplomatic envoys of different countries and representatives of international organizations here and foreign guests and overseas Koreans.
Put on the stage were the DPRK's Patriotic Song, the U.S. national anthem The Star-Spangled Banner, WAGNER's Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, DVORAK's Symphony No. 9, From the New World, GERSHWIN's An American in Paris, BIZET's Farandole from L'Arlesienne, BERNSTEIN's Candide Overture and orchestra Arirang.
The world-renowned Philharmonic with a long history showed exquisite and refined execution and high representation under Chief Conductor Lorin Maazel."

What a wonderfully prosaic final line!
(Lest I should mislead, however, if you go to the state news website itself, you will find other articles with a more combative tone towards the US and South Korea... one step at a time...!)