North Korean accordionists perform A-ha tune in Barents
Barents Spektakel arts and culture festival in Kirkenes near the Russian border opens this week with cross-border artists from around the world. A highlight is North Koreans performing “Take on Me.” See the video here.
The cultural exchange between North Korea and the Barents Region is set up by Norwegian artist Morten Traavik. He is most known in the Barents Region for last year’s Norwegian, Russian border pole installation in Kirkenes, Oslo and Murmansk.
A two-man delegation from North Korea’s Cultural Committee visited Barents Spektakel last year and said to BarentsObserver it is useful to see other places and they hoped to establish more cultural exchange with the festival in Kirkenes, in Norway’s north easternmost corner.
The group of 11 North Koreans arriving in Kirkenes has already made world-wide headlines. The You Tube video of the five young accordionists goes viral on internet with more than 370.000 views.
In addition to the accordionists that will perform the famous Norwegian A-ha group’s pop tone “Take on Me” locals in Kirkenes will also be involved in a North Korean performance.
Morten Traavik and two directors will involve some 250 locals in Kirkenes to perform an outdoor card stunt based on the North Korean Arirang mass games. Standing on a purpose-built snow tribune people will hold up colored cards forming changing pictures. Several of the pictures to be displayed are provided by BarentsObserver’s photographers. The Arirang mass game performance will also be provided with music by the North Korean’s accordionists.
