Perhaps tune could be, ‘An American in Pyongyang’
Posted: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 8:54 AM
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
PYONGYANG, North Korea – There was a first note of discord in the concert hall today – over flags.
"They seem to have short-changed us," said a grim-faced official with the New York Philharmonic, as he hauled down the Stars and Stripes. "There was discussion over flag size, and we wanted the flags to be the same size. So we’re changing it."
So up went a new, bigger flag.
It had happened during rehearsals this morning, which were more like a full show, since the hall was packed. Yet nobody I spoke to could tell me who the audience was. The orchestra had expected a few students, but they looked like officials. As one member of the orchestra quipped to me, it might be tonight’s audience having their own rehearsal.
They did seem to appreciate the humor of the Philharmonic’s Director, Lorin Maazel. After introducing Gershwin’s "An American in Paris," he said: "Perhaps some day a composer will write a composition called ‘An American in Pyongyang.'"
Looking for Kim Jong Il's tips for journos
After the rehearsal I returned to our hotel, the Yanggakdo, a monstrous 42-story building in an island in the Taedong River, which runs through the City. It has been affectionately dubbed "Alcatraz."
Not all the floors are used and if you hit the wrong elevator button you find yourself stepping out into a freezing dark hallway of one of the mothballed floors. With a few minutes to spare, I made for the bookstore, where the majority of publications contain the thoughts and writings of the late Great Leader, Kim Il Sung or his son Kim Jong Il, otherwise known as the Dear Leader.
I was after a Kim Jong Il classic called "The Great Teacher of Journalists." At first the assistant in glowing traditional robes told me she didn’t have it, then confided that she’d do her best to get it. When I returned to the hotel, there she was calling me over in a slightly conspiratorial way, book in hand, and a bargain at 4 Euros (they don’t accept dollars here).
Read the rest of Ian Williams blog in the Daily Nightly blog. See his report on the New York Philharmonic's concert on Nightly News with Brian Williams Tuesday evening.
