US orchestra strikes a chord for peace with North Korea

Published on Monday 25 February 2008 21:21

THE New York Philharmonic arrived yesterday in North Korea on a historic trip as the most prominent American cultural institution to visit the nuclear-armed country.

The oldest orchestra in the US will stay in North Korea for about 48 hours in a visit that will culminate in a concert today, featuring Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony and George Gershwin's An American in Paris.

North Korea made unprecedented accommodations for the orchestra, allowing a chartered plane carrying nearly 300 people to fly into Pyongyang.

Last night, energy-starved North Korea lit the streets of Pyongyang for the motorcade of buses carrying the visitors.

As the buses pulled away, the street lights went out behind them. Through the rear-view mirror, one lit sign could be seen, which read "crush the American imperialist aggressors".

The concert is scheduled for live broadcast on North Korea's state-run TV and radio, unheard of in a country where all events are carefully choreographed to bolster the personality cult of its leader, Kim Jong Il.

Analysts said the North's propaganda machine is almost certain to spin the event as homage to a man Washington accuses of sponsoring terrorism.

"It can be presented to the public as westerners paying tribute to the Dear Leader," said Andrei Lankov, of South Korea's Kookmin University.

It's not the first time the Philharmonic has been used in political dtente. In 1959, the orchestra, led by Leonard Bernstein, visited Soviet Russia in a groundbreaking trip. At one event, Bernstein lectured about the similarities between works of Copland and Shostakovich as examples of how Americans and Russians were not so far apart.

The Philharmonic accepted the North's invitation to play last year, with the encouragement of the US government, at a time of rare optimism in the long- running nuclear stand-off.

After testing an atomic bomb in October 2006, North Korea shut down its main nuclear reactor in July and has been working to disable it, in exchange for aid and removal from terrorism and sanctions blacklists.

But disarmament has stalled this year because of what Washington says is North Korea's failure to give a full declaration of its atomic programmes to be dismantled.

The music director, Lorin Maazel, said that, despite the trip's political overtones, it was the right decision to go.

"I think it would have been a great mistake not to accept their invitation," he said after arriving at Pyongyang airport.

"I am a musician and not a politician. Music has always traditionally been an arena, an area where people make contact. It's neutral, it's entertainment," Mr Maazel said.

He said if the music moves the audience, "we will have made whatever contribution we can make to bringing our peoples just one tiny step closer".

The performance was scheduled to begin with the orchestra playing both countries' national anthems, and the US and North Korean flags would stand together on stage, said the Philharmonic's president and executive director, Zarin Mehta.

SINGING COMMUNISM'S PRAISES

IT'S the music created and inspired by the dynastic rulers of the Communist state that truly tugs at the heartstrings of one of the world's most isolated peoples. At least, so says North Korea's propaganda machine.

Its KCNA news agency has reminded people how, during the 1950-53 Korean War, its soldiers "mowed down the US imperialist aggressors", inspired by such tunes as My Song in Trench and Song of Defending Homeland.

Music plays a central role in North Korea, enforcing its Communist ideology, self-reliance and the power of the military. Its official songbook includes The Sea of Blood, Let Us Hold High the Red Flag and A Rich Apple Harvest.

The country's founder, Kim Il-sung, and his son, the current leader Kim Jong-il, have been credited by the official media with creating new musical genres and penning revolutionary operas.