KOREAN FOLK ARTISTS
A rare treat at Lincoln Center
By Deirdre
Griswold
New York
Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall was the setting for a very
rare treat on Dec. 21--a program of Korean folk music and dance
by Koreans from Japan. Why should such an event be so rare?
Because the performers received much of their training in
socialist north Korea. Until now, that had been enough to bar
such prodigious talent from performing in the United
States.
The Korean Folk Music Instrumental Ensemble is mainly made
up of young people. They coax amazing sounds out of musical
instruments like the yangum and the so-haegum, that are little
known outside Korea but have delighted audiences there for
hundreds of years.
These young people were born in Japan, which forcibly
colonized Korea early in this century. They reflect an
expatriate community that has strong feelings for the
independence struggle led by Kim Il Sung, the legendary
military and political liberator of the country who was
president of socialist north Korea until his death in 1995.
Although they were born long after the 1950-1953 war with
the U.S., the musicians and dancers conveyed great passion
about that struggle. Choso E Pom--Spring in the Past--was about
"soldiers who defend their country with their lives." Even the
flowers "remind them of their native village" and their love of
home, explained the program for the event.
A piece that featured woodwinds and stirring minor chords
was called Nohan Pado--The Wave in Anger. It expressed "the
spirit of people who struggle for freedom and liberation and
for democratization of the society." Both Japanese and U.S.
domination produced repressive regimes that worsened class
divisions in Korean society.
Chot Ponghwa--The First Bonfire--put a spotlight on "Korean
laborers of the 1950s and their noble mentality ... the
creative spirit and pride of the laborers." Another song was
about women spinning together in Cholla Province. Turenori
portrayed the traditional collective working style of the
Korean people and showed how they enjoy themselves with song
and dance during a break. There was no mistaking the
progressive social content of these numbers.
The Lincoln Center audience was made up largely of people
who have come here from south Korea. It is ironic that this
community, who applauded so enthusiastically, would not be
allowed to see such a performance in south Korea because of the
harsh anti-communist laws that have existed there ever since
U.S. occupation.
When technique is flawless, as it was here, music seems to
convey pure emotion. The respect of these young people, born in
another country, for the heroism and sacrifice of their
compatriots half a century ago showed there is much more in
this world than the cynicism and shallowness of commercial
capitalist culture.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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