Over our North Korea visit we attended two versions of the Mass Games, "Arirang" which we viewed years ago and "Prosper the Motherland" which is so new that we saw the third showing. There really is no performance thats comparable as the Mass Games involves roughly 100,000 floor performers and 20,000 school kids who serve as human pixles in the background. Each week "Arirang" is performed four times and "Prosper the Motherland" is performed twice. The performers don't get paid by the state although it is an honor to take part. Ticket prices range from 40 to 250 or 300 euros and we got the cheapest seats which were fine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_games
A great summary youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBWOEdy_-qM
The Mass Games take part in Pyongyang's May Day Stadium which has the second largest seating capacity in the world at 150,000. Before the performance, the schoolchildren warm up with with various colors and patterns before displaying the names of the schools their section represents. This youtube clip shows part of the warmup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhKU8dz4ah8
"Arirang" is based upon an old Korean folk song and throughout the Mass Games performance, references to a divided Korea are frequent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arirang
"Prosper the Motherland" is based less upon a story, but more to profile the strengths of North Korea.
The only difference in "Arirang" from the version we saw in 2005 was that military segment was replaced by taekwondo as it better represents a unified Korea. However, the following clip on youtube shows the segment in 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67eBYOBHn1E
Further clips are available on youtube, but they can't fully convey the atmosphere and scale of the performances. We've observed four or five perfomances and continue to be blown away by the perfect discipline and synchronization by all involved. It's hard to imagine the sense of awe that most North Koreans experience upon viewing the Mass Games considering that we've traveled most everywhere, seen or experienced almost everything that could compare, and continue to be amazed.
A 349 image gallery we took is up on kodakgallery for those interested in each scene, click on View Slideshow: http://tinyurl.com/massgames
Friday, August 22, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Thanks for the wonderful pictures of the Mass Games, I especially like the picture with the big blue globe of the world with the red and white flowers in the crowd behind it and with all the performers around the globe! Its amazing how they are able to get all the thousands of gymnasts and performers as well as the schoolchildren to put on such a beautiful show. These videos and pictures make me want to visit the Mass Games one day.
Post a Comment