By New Worker
correspondent
COMRADES
and friends of Korea joined music lovers to see the Democratic Korean Youth
Para Ensemble’s final performance of their tour of England with the support of
the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled. Their first tour
wowed Londoners in 2015. They did the same last week.
The young disabled artistes of north Korea
put on a splendid performance at St John’s concert hall in London’s West End
last week. Much of the music was Korean folk music played on traditional Korean
instruments such as the Kayagum in addition to a grand piano.
It was an incredible evening. One of the
performers, a wonderful soprano, was only 14 years old; her singing was equal
to that of a very experienced professional singer.
The artistic level was at such a high
level. Indeed, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) every child
is taught to play at least one musical instrument.
Equally impressive was the performance of Onegha, a traditional Korean song
and dance. The dancers, in colourful traditional Korean garb, were just
amazing.
We were treated to a beautiful rendition
of the northern Irish folk song Danny
Boy as well as the classic Irish-Norwegian ballad You Raised Me Up, and the dancers performed part of the story of Beauty and the Beast.
No doors are closed to disabled people in
the DPRK, unlike Britain where the disabled face discrimination and
ill-treatment, or south Korea where they are regarded as pitiful and weak and
some are sent to work as slaves on remote islands.
The concert concluded with a moving
rendition of the time-honoured and renowned Korean folk song Arirang.
Afterwards the chair of the Korean
Federation for the Protection of the Disabled, who were the co-hosts of the
concert, made a short speech saying how the performance can break down barriers
of politics and communication.
