N Korean orchestra opens musical bridge to EU

A North Korean orchestra led by a South Korean conductor performed in Paris for the first time Wednesday, in a diplomatic victory highlighting that "music is bigger than borders". The musicians played with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France under the baton of South Korean maestro Myung-Whun Chung who called the event a "family concert". For the first time in his life, he said, he had got to know another part of his "family" -- North Korean musicians of the Unhasu Orchestra who had come to play with his "French family" from Radio France. Despite the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il in December and Pyongyang saying this month it would suspend its uranium enrichment programme in return for US food aid, tensions remain high. "There are two Koreas politically. But humanly speaking, we're a family," Chung declared, adding that "music is bigger than borders." besides Estonia, France is the only European country not to have diplomatic relations with North Korea, one of the most closed societies in the world. But last autumn a French cooperation office was set up in Pyongyang to act in the cultural and humanitarian fields. The Unhasu musicians, who arrived Saturday from the North Korean capital, and those of the French orchestra gave a stirring performance of Brahms' Symphony number 1. In the first part of the concert the 75 Unhasu musicians with two conductors offered pieces from North Korea's traditional repertoire, including an item for the haegum, a kind of small violin held on the knees, and the kayagum, something like a zither. They were performed by two young North Korean women in flowing pink dresses. Then violinist Mun Kyong Jin played the "Rondo Capriccioso" for violin and orchestra by Camille Saint-Saens on a 1716 Stradivarius. At the end of the concert the ensemble of musicians treated the audience to a special encore -- "Arirang", a song beloved by Koreans and which Chung dedicated to his mother, who was born in Pyongyang and died last year. "Maybe up there she's really enjoying it," he joked. Besides Estonia, France is the only European country not to have diplomatic relations with North Korea, one of the most closed societies in the world. But last autumn a French cooperation office was set up in Pyongyang to act in the cultural and humanitarian fields. The Unhasu musicians, who arrived Saturday from the North Korean capital, and those of the French orchestra gave a stirring performance of Brahms' Symphony number 1. In the first part of the concert the 75 Unhasu musicians with two conductors offered pieces from North Korea's traditional repertoire, including an item for the haegum, a kind of small violin held on the knees, and the kayagum, something like a zither. They were performed by two young North Korean women in flowing pink dresses. Then violinist Mun Kyong Jin played the "Rondo Capriccioso" for violin and orchestra by Camille Saint-Saens on a 1716 Stradivarius. At the end of the concert the ensemble of musicians treated the audience to a special encore -- "Arirang", a song beloved by Koreans and which Chung dedicated to his mother, who was born in Pyongyang and died last year. "Maybe up there she's really enjoying it," he joked.