"Sing song diplomacy"

Driving in from the airport this afternoon I heard an NPR segment about Hillary Clinton’s latest slam on Barack Obama’s foreign policy position. Discussing Obama’s professed desire to “pencil in” meetings with leaders of Iran and North Korea without first establishing substantial diplomatic contact, she stated: "We simply cannot legitimize rogue regimes or weaken American prestige by impulsively agreeing to presidential talks that have no preconditions. It may sound good, but it doesn't meet the real world test of foreign policy."

This of course immediately reminded me of another bit of newsworthy détente, namely the New York Philharmonic and their current landmark journey to North Korea (the Philharmonic arrived in Pyongyang yesterday).

The title of my post is a moniker that has recently been attached to the Philharmonic’s North Korean effort – it references another bit of historical international relations, when US ping-pong players were the first officially invited Americans to set foot in Communist China for two decades when they toured the country in 1971 – “ping pong diplomacy”.

But here I find the comparison distorted; when the American athletes entered China they were doing so as participants in a common interest, a sport played in both countries. North Korea has little history of Western art music and no serious classical music culture – and certainly what little classical music there is would be unattainable to ordinary citizens. Its official symphony, the North Korea State Symphony Orchestra, is know mostly to perform music of the patriotic ilk - like Bumper Harvest Comes to Cheongsam Plain, as well as works by (officially, at least) the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il. Music in North Korea, it seems, is not so much art as State propaganda. How does this color the view of the average North Korean citizen towards the Philharmonic’s musical presentation?

Experts on North Korea worry that Pyongyang will seize on the concert as a double public relations victory; on one hand presenting to the world at large that it is a hugely misunderstood country hoping to connect with the rest of the world, and on the other hand leading the domestic audience to believe that the US is allowing such a concert because it supports the Kim regime.

And speaking of the average North Korean citizen, how will they at all benefit from this musical outreach? Certainly none of them will be in attendance at the concert – only the political and military elite will most likely be at the performance. And as for the broadcast on North Korean TV, one must note that there are very few households with a television. Those few who do see the telecast might well think that the Philharmonic (and therefore the US) was expressing approval of the tyrannical regime that rules them. And, anyway, radios and TV sets in North Korea are pre-tuned to government stations that pump out a steady stream of propaganda, leading the country to be labeled the world's worst violator of press freedom by the media rights body Reporters Without Frontiers.

Now, I know there is the “music as borderless ambassador” and “life-changing power of art” gambit; I’m not so cynical as to discount those ideals. Stanley Drucker, the Philharmonic’s principal clarinetist, told reporters yesterday that “…it's important to reach people through something other than politics. What we do is universal. Music is pure in itself; it's what you make out of what you hear." And really, in my heart of hearts, I do believe the truth in the statement. But just as an individual can make of music what they hear, a totalitarian State can frame the same music in a way to serve their own propagandistic purposes. And there is no purity in that. By agreeing to perform under the terms provided by the Kim regime, the Philharmonic seems simply to be playing into the hands of their North Korean hosts.

Today’s coverage from the 80-some-odd reporters following the musicians paints a rather bleak portrait of life in Pyongyang; grey skies, battered housing, few cars, bare walls where anti-American propaganda has been recently torn down. Various international watchdog groups put the percentage of (literally) starving North Koreans at around 7%, and the chronically malnourished at around 37% - and yet, the Philharmonic and its entourage were treated to a multiple-course feast which included a full meal of traditional Korean food followed by another meal of Western delicacies, including sliced pheasant and pepper-crusted salmon. Am I the only one who feels queasy at this, that finds that it reeks of the kind of elitism that undermines the diplomatic underpinnings of artistic ideals?

Philharmonic Music Director Lorin Maazel tells reporters, "I am a musician and not a politician. Music has always traditionally been an arena, an area where people make contact. It's neutral, it's entertainment, it's person-to-person.” Music…neutral? Art…apolitical? Rostropovich is turning in his grave. I’m reminded of Leonard Bernstein’s historic 1959 concert at the Tchaikovksy Conservatory in Moscow with – you guessed it – the New York Philharmonic, and the inclusion in that performance of Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony. And Shostakovich himself, whose career suffered greatly under Stalin’s regime, was in the audience...

And finally, the Philharmonic’s North Korean stint got under way after Maazel offered this doozy: "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw bricks, should they? Is [America's] standing as a country . . . is our reputation all that clean when it comes to the way [prisoners] are treated? Have we set an example that should be emulated all over the world? If we can answer that question honestly, I think we can then stop being judgmental about the errors made by others." Let's think about this; granted, no country is utterly innocent – I’m not trying to downplay the terrible "errors" of Gitmo or Abu Graib or waterboarding. But in comparison to below…?

“There is no organized political opposition in North Korea. The norm for actual or perceived “political crimes” is collective punishment of entire families, including young children. Offenses related to the personality cults of Kim Jung Il and his late father and predecessor Kim Il Sung are subject to particularly cruel punishment. There are no independent nongovernmental organizations of any kind…All media are either run or controlled by the state, and all publications are subject to official censorship…During the food crisis in the 1990s, North Korea began executing people accused of crimes related to economic difficulties, such as stealing grain from agricultural cooperatives. Numerous eyewitness accounts by North Korean escapees have detailed how executions are carried out publicly, often at crowded marketplaces, and in the presence of children.”

From the Human Rights Watch website.

And this does not even begin to touch on the issue of continued refusal to meet deadlines for the disclosure of nuclear programs…

As a musician I truly believe in the universality of music, in its power to touch others, its ability to foster connection and communication and greater understanding, and all the idealism that is an integral part of being an artist. But one cannot discount the possibility of artists becoming unwitting pawns in a larger political game because of those very same ideals. Good intentions are just that; responsibility is intrinsic to art. Without taking a stand on artistic (and thus personal) freedom, the New York Philharmonic's concert becomes nothing but melodious propaganda trotted out by a totalitarian regime.


ADDENDUM

By all accounts the concert was a success, starting with the national anthems of both countries and ending with a rendition of "Arirang", a traditional Korean song, that left much of the audience and some of the orchestra in tears. It would be nice to think that this wonderful moment of connection between individuals will bring about a larger change, and I certainly would not discount the possibility. And I have to say, there's something wonderful about seeing news about an orchestra plastered across the front page of national media. But again, who's to say that the North Korean government isn't using international focus on this human interest story to distract from their continued nuclear non-compliance, for instance? I would be very happy to have my suspicious be proved wrong, but in the meantime I maintain my cynicism.