Impact of North Korean performances felt by South Korean musicians following their return home

Posted on : 2018-04-05 18:09 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Audience response demonstrates a new openness toward South Korean music
South Korean musicians pose for a commemorative photo after arriving at Incheon Airport following their return from performing in North Korea on Apr. 4. (Photo Pool)
South Korean musicians pose for a commemorative photo after arriving at Incheon Airport following their return from performing in North Korea on Apr. 4. (Photo Pool)

A joint performance by North Korea’s Samjiyon Orchestra and a group of South Korean musicians - the first such group to visit Pyongyang in the 16 years since the “MBC Pyongyang Special Performance” event in 2002 – came to a successful conclusion on Apr. 3.

North Korean viewers responded enthusiastically to performances on Apr. 1 and 3, while the South Korean musicians themselves were visibly moved.

Speaking to reporters at Incheon International Airport after returning early in the morning on Apr. 4 following the performances, South Korean musical director Yoon Sang said, “Everyone was so deeply moved they could hardly believe it was real, and I think it was only when they arrived in Incheon that they really sensed what kind of performance they had just given.”

In a written interview with the press, singer Seohyun, who served as a host for both performance, said, “I felt sorry and upset that my voice wasn’t in good condition [due to a cold] when I sang the North Korean song ‘Pureun Beodeunamu (Green Willow),’ but I was able to finish it thanks to the enthusiastic applause from the Pyongyang audience.”

“The performance was even more moving for me,” she recalled.

“[Samjiyon Orchestra director] Hyon Song-wol was very warm and encouraging, expressing concern about my health throughout the performance and telling me how grateful she was after it was over,” she added.

After seeing the Pyongyang performances, experts on North Korean performing arts said they could see a new openness toward South Korean popular music from the audience.

“Seeing the audience’s reaction, I could really sense the generational difference in North Korea,” said pianist and North Korean defector Kim Cheol-woong.

“When Yoon Do-hyun, Fin.K.L, and Baby V.O.X. went in the past, the atmosphere was more noncommittal,” he added. “But when I saw the recognition in the response to ‘Chong Majeun Geotcheoreom (Like Being Hit by a Bullet),’ I got the sense that [North Korea] has become more modernized since the Kim Jong-il era.”

Inter-Korean cultural [event] planner Lee Cheol-ju said, “While the song selections were mostly numbers that were familiar to North Korean audiences, the cheering and audience response was much better than in the past.”

“The fact that this large theater with over 10,000 seats was packaged and the event was broadcast shows North Korea’s open attitude toward South Korean music,” Lee said.

In terms of the history of inter-Korean exchange performances, the event was the first to be viewed directly by a South or North Korean leader. Some observers saw Kim Jong-un’s interest in the songs of Baek Ji-young as reflecting North Korea’s own concerns about modernization in terms of “musical politics.”

“With North Korea worrying now about how to modernize its music, Chairman Kim seems to have been deeply struck by how Baek Ji-young used a falsetto in places where she could have used her chest or head voice,” Kim Cheol-woong noted.

No changes demanded for lyrics or dance routines

Signs of change in North Korea’s attitudes were also evident in the consideration it extended to the South in terms of song selections and performance time. In past discussions on performance content, North Korea has tended to be sensitive about song choices or demand changes of costume. But in the preparations for the recent Pyongyang performances by South Korean musicians, it did not demand any changes to lyrics or dance routines.

“There used to be two straight days of fighting over the song selections,” University of North Korean Studies professor Lee Woo-young said on Apr. 4, referencing previous experiences of South Korean musical performances in North korea.

“This year’s talks took place with unprecedented ease. North Korea seems to have signaled its commitment to improving relations,” Lee added.

Indeed, while the Samjiyon Orchestra performed a medley of ten South Korean songs during its February visit to South Korea – including “Namja-neun Bae Yeoja-neun Hanggu (Men Are the Ships, Women Are Harbors)” and “Sarang-ui Miro (Maze of Love)” – the South Korean musicians performed just two North Korean songs during the Apr. 3 joint performance besides the fixed repertory number “Dasi Mannapsida (Let Us Meet Again)”: Seohyun’s solo rendition of “Green Willow” and an ensemble version of “Baekdu-wa Hanna-neun Nae Joguk (Baekdu and Halla Are My Homeland)” by the female South and North Korean singers.

“The North Korean side proposed reducing their own performance time and doing more from the South Korean repertoire,” a government support team official told reporters in Pyongyang on Apr. 1.

Konkuk University Institute of Humanities for Unification professor Jeon Yong-sun said, “The especially noteworthy thing about this Pyongyang performance is the greater level of expertise, with a line of communication created between the South and North Korean artists (Yoon Sang and Hyon Song-wol) rather than this being a performance under the Ministry of Unification’s leadership.”

“It looks like there will be some real changes in inter-Korean talks with experts from different areas participating on different issues, including the Manwoldae excavation project that [South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism] Do Jong-hwan hoped to see as a restoration effort,” Jeon predicted.

The Apr. 1 performance by South Korean musicians was recorded and aired at 7:55 pm on Apr. 5 on the three major broadcasters in South Korea.

By Kim Mi-young and Park June-yong, staff reporters

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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