Concert to ease US, N Korea ties

North Korea has made great efforts to accommodate the orchestra

One of the most eminent US cultural institutions, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, is preparing to play a groundbreaking concert in North Korea.

The concert has been called a remarkable show of cultural diplomacy.

It is the largest US presence in the reclusive state since the Korean war ended more than half a century ago.

The concert comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits neighbouring China to exert pressure over North Korea's nuclear programme.

Ms Rice has welcomed the orchestra's visit - which came about after an invitation from North Korea - but said it would probably not lead to dramatic change.

"I don't think we should get carried away with what listening to Dvorak is going to do in North Korea," said Ms Rice, herself a classical pianist.

The concert, which will be broadcast live on North Korea's state media, will begin with both countries' national anthems.

The US State Department has authorised the trip, despite deadlock on the issue of North Korea's nuclear programme.

If there are extra-musical values attached to this event ... well so much the better Lorin Maazel, conductor

Conductor Lorin Maazel told reporters in Pyongyang that the music was the most important element to the visit.

"If there are extra-musical values attached to this event, which would be eventually of a positive nature, well so much the better. But we are concerned only with making music, interacting with Korean musicians," he said.

'The power of music'

According to the BBC's John Sudworth, who is ravelling with the musicians, the concert will be the most prominent cultural exchange between the US and North Korea in the isolated country's history.

Pyongyang has made unprecedented attempts to accommodate the orchestra, allowing a delegation of nearly 300 people to fly to Pyongyang for a 48-hour period.

Even the anti-American posters that usually line the streets of Pyongyang have been taken down, the Philharmonic's executive director, Zarin Mehta, told the Associated Press.

The concert will feature Antonin Dvorak's Symphony Number 9, An American in Paris by George Gershwin and the Korean folk song Arirang.

Propaganda coup?

The concert comes amid the ongoing diplomatic push to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

The visit has been compared to US orchestral visits to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and the so-called "ping pong" diplomacy with China in the 1970s.

But in an interview, the orchestra's conductor said "there are no parallels in history, there are similarities".

The US government has given its blessing to the trip, and analysts have pointed out that, if nothing else, the event will allow North Koreans to listen to something from the outside world - a rarity in a country where all events are carefully choreographed in praise of leader Kim Jong-il.

But others argue that a visit by such a distinguished institution as the New York Philharmonic gives the North Korean state an air of respectability it does not deserve.

One New York tabloid has called the venture a "disgrace" that has handed Kim "a propaganda coup".

Before accepting the invitation, the orchestra said it insisted the concert should begin with the United States national anthem.

It is not yet known whether the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will be in the audience to hear it.