Korean Job Discussion Forums

K-in-C · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Location: Heading somewhere

Greetings,

The New York Philharmonic is scheduled to give a concert on Thursday at the Seoul Arts Center. Are there any OP's out there who are lucky enough to have tickets to the performance?

I would have eaten kimchi for breakfast, (yuck), during the 40 days of Lent just to be able to see/listen to them play. Alas, I am in Vancouver, Canada so I could not buy a ticket.

K

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

Well, you could have seen a live stream of them playing their historic concert in North Korea on at least two websites:

http://jvc.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=313962
http://www.wi-fitv.com/splash.php

I haven't tried it yet, but on the first site you can watch it via "video on demand" ...

I was thinking of starting a thread about it, but this one will probably suffice (even though the OP is apparently making a joke - while under the influence of ... Canada Cool

)

The concert was broadcast throughout North Korea, and the visiting musicians got a tremendous standing ovation, but the NK media practically buried the story (and Kim Jong-il stayed home to watch it on TV)

The North Korean diplomat in charge of promoting the cultural event officially extended an invitation for Eric Clapton to play there next, but it doesn't seem likely to happen soon:

"Eric Clapton is a well-known musician and guitarist, famous throughout the world," said the official, who declined to give his name. "It will be a good opportunity for Western music to be understood better by Koreans."

Clapton's North Korean debut may not be imminent, however.

Spokeswoman Kristen Foster said the 62-year-old musician had not agreed to play any dates in the country.

"Eric Clapton receives numerous offers to play in countries around the world," she said. "There is no agreement whatsoever for him to play in North Korea, nor any planned shows there."

North Korean authorities have long shunned rock and pop music, although Kim Jong Chol, the Swiss-educated son of national leader Kim Jong Il, is reportedly a Clapton fan.

What a country! Razz

http://www.hdnews.net/wirestories/p0734-BC-People-NKorea-Clapton-2ndLd-Writethru-02-26-0395

K-in-C · Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Location: Heading somewhere

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

Yeah, that link didn't directly broadcast it. I think that this one does, though, but I haven't had time to watch it yet:
http://video.thirteen.org/

Well, I just tried it, and I got the "This video can't be viewed from your location" message - evidently you can only get it in the U.S. (and possibly Canada ...)

It will probably be more widely available in the near future, though ...

OK - Here it is on PBS (and it apparently can be viewed from most anywhere...)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/nyphil/index.html
There's a lot of PBS commentary, though ...