North Korea or bust

A nation whose citizens are starved for artistic expression (not to mention food and other basic human rights) will soon hear America's finest. The New York Philharmonic is planning a trip to North Korea in February at the country's invitation. An amazing decision considering that there has been almost no connection to the West inside its borders. The fact that a symphony orchestra is being invited, with the concert being broadcast on government controlled radio, is going to make a huge impact on American relations with North Korea. Not only that, but once people hear the music over the radio, after years of only being subjected to Communist marches, I do believe they are going to be hungry for more.

This reminded me a lot of one of the best movies I saw this year- The Lives of Others, a German film about the role of art in East Berlin during the early 80's. In one particular scene, the main character, a Stasi officer, hears piano music being played over the wire tap that he is listening in on and tears begin to flow down his face. It's almost like a physical starvation. And although I have never lived through a serious time of war or crisis in my own country, I can imagine what it must feel like to be starved for art and music, that it could be this very physical sensation that nearly moves your insides when you finally do hear something beautiful after being surrounded by the cold decay of war.

What is it about the arts that can touch us so deeply? Experiencing art makes us dream. It can take you to a place where you have absolute freedom to be, to express, to create. Kim Jong Il may believe that this will be a harmless little trip that will bring increased glory to his reign, but I think this will be a move that could endanger his power in the long run. I believe that hearing the NY Phil can do this for the people of North Korea and I know they will want more. This could be an amazing way for the figurative and physical walls of North Korea to begin to come down and for messengers of good news and beauty to come in. Not only that, but although classical music can seem like nice, relaxing, background music, the composers that wrote the much of the canon played by symphony orchestras today all live(d) in free societies where democracy and ideas about power to the individual existed, and these messages come out in many great works of classical music. For now, these messengers will be under the baton of Lorin Maazel, and I will be praying that their impact in North Korea is a monumental one.