NY Philharmonic

Never in my lifetime would I have imagined seeing and hearing the New York Philharmonic Orchestra performing in North Korea! Yet sure enough, there they are! I am watching a live performance in Pyongyang, North Korea and am fascinated by every sight and sound being broadcast!

Broadcast? That alone is just amazing - journalists, news media and broadcast media being allowed into that nation. It is just stunning to see.

I am captivated by the faces throughout the audience, too. As the music plays and the camera pans, it is more and more evident how closed off that society has been over all these decades. It has been more than 50 years their nation has isolated itself from the rest of the world. Faces are stoic. there is no emotion. There are no smiles, no sense of familiarity of the music (classics) although, it is also being reported the NK national orchestra will visit Britain in September and Eric Clapton will visit NK next year. Just imagine, Rock
'n Roll in North Korea!

Just a short while back, Quentin and I had talked about the state of affairs between the US and Korea. Just after he returned from his mission things were really testy between our two nations with North Korea threatening nuclear expansion, and worse. The situation was really looking dire. And now, here we are today with the philharmonic playing in that nation/ I am so grateful diplomatic efforts and concessions have worked and that we are no longer facing a crisis standoff with that nation.